App of the week with a tip or 2!

Hi once again. Let's hope this latest post finds you all warm and well. I'm not sure about you lot but the novelty of the snow has worn off fast, bring on the spring..........now............please!

I was mulling over tonight's blog content and fancied doing something slightly different. So for tonight, and tonight only I will give you my "App of the week" AND a couple of handy tips. My apologies if some of you have heard about the tips but I am sure there will be those that have not so here goes.

I spend a fair bit of time trawling the various iphone 4 forums and this particular subject appears as regular as clockwork. It is a subject that usually finds people in a mad panic because they have inadvertently deleted a favourite app from their iphone, so how does one reinstate that deleted app? Well fortunately the answer is easy.
Log onto itunes and let your device sync. Once the sync is finished go to the left of your screen, locate the library tab and from there select "Apps". This will bring you to a screen full of all the apps you have ever downloaded whether via itunes or via your device. Simply find the missing app, left click and drag it to the devices tab. once you drop it onto the devices tab your phone will re sync with itunes and your missing app will be back. On a side note, prepare yourself for a shock when you see how many apps you have downloaded, I was unpleasantly surprised when I saw how many I have!!

This brings me nicely onto the next tip, pure fluke let me tell you! There will be times when your lovely iphone 4 goes from running like an Olympic athlete to performing like an old BBC computer, yes I really am that old!
The reason for this sudden lack of performance will be down to the number of apps you have running in the background.
Like all computers, any app that has not been fully closed will "hog" resources. Simply pressing the home button does not clear those apps and this is how you do it.
Firstly double tap the home button to bring up your "dock" at the bottom of the screen. If you have done it correctly you will see this,

Next you need to touch and hold any of the icons in view until they start to "shake". Again, if you have done this correctly you will see this,

All that is left is to tap the top left of each icon, thus closing the apps completely. It is worth doing this regularly whilst using your device as it is surprising how quickly you build up a large quantity of apps in the back ground.

Now to the main part of tonight's post and that is a review of my "App of the week", queue the drum roll.

Have you ever yearned to fight the Dark side, shoulder to shoulder with Hans Solo?, well now you can well if you download the following that is! My "App of the week" this week is,

Star Wars Arcade:Falcon Gunner £2.99 from the App store.

The intro screen to this gem of a game lets you know exactly what is in store. Listen to Harrison Ford telling you about the Millennium Falcon as authentic music plays in the background. Don't think I am one of those chaps who attends Star Wars conventions and the like because I am not, but even I found the intro to be very, very realistic.

Once into the game proper, you pilot the Falcon and face a variety of different challenges. You control the Falcon by moving the iphone, thus employing the iphones accelerometer, gyros and compass. You also have control of the ships weaponry, via the on screen joysticks. It may sound complicated but it is a very intuitive way of playing.

The game makes use of the iphone 4's retina display support so the graphics are absolutely stunning. However I have yet to mention the games piece de la resistance and that is AR or Augmented Reality.

Basically by using the iphone 4's front facing camera you can actually play the game as if in real life and let me tell you it is a scream. I can honestly say I have never shot Tie Interceptors in my downstairs toilet, that was until playing this game!

Unfortunately my screen shots do the game a disservice but hopefully give you an idea of what to expect.
The game moves at break neck speed and whilst shooting and steering, you have brilliant sound clips of the various film characters. Sometimes urging you on, at other times being quite rude!
Star Wars:Falcon Gunner's game play is well balanced, the loading screens allow you time to recover before the next onslaught. As you progress you earn credits with which you can buy upgrades to the ships defenses as well as bigger guns!!!!!

I have played for around 6 hours and still feel there is a lot to complete, I have yet to even try the Arcade mode so it comes out top as far a value for money is concerned.

Star Wars:Falcon Gunner is Game Centre and Facebook enabled so no doubt, given time, there will be a healthy community.

It's hats off to the guys at THQ Wireless Inc for what is, in my opinion, the best game currently available. To think we can play this on a mobile phone is unbelievable.

5/5 with no hesitation. Nothing more to say other than GET IT NOW!!!

Andy.

Review-Exolife battery case by Exogear.

Hi all and first an apology. I have not posted since last week because I have been laid up with a really horrid bug. I have basically slept for the last 3 days and still feel grotty, however I decided to drag myself from my death bed and post a review just to keep the site moving along lol!
Well the weather forecast was spot on. In Leicestershire we have had -10 temperatures and a fair bit of snow. The forecast for the week shows little improvement so maybe it's time to catch up with the chores you keep putting off! Anyway, enough of real life. It's time to put pen to paper so read on.

It has been mentioned that the iphone 4 has a poor battery life. I do not necessarily agree with this statement, I just believe that the iphone 4 offers the users so much that we all spend FAR too much time using them and hence the battery drains faster! For those of you who cannot access a charger during the day, there is an alternative in the shape of a battery case. One of the best on the market at the moment is,

The Exolife battery case by Exogear.

The Exolife is currently on sale direct from  http://www.exolife.co.uk for £54.99, it normally retails at £57.99.

For this you get the case, a USB to mini USB charge/data sync cable and a smokey coloured bumper. The Exolife is available in Black (as pictured) or white but the white is a pre order item. You can also order a pack of three different bumpers which come in green, blue and clear. These cost £11.95 and again are available from the Exogear web site.

The case shell is a shiny, polycarbonate material and has a 30 pin dock connector at its base. The manufacturer claim it is currently the lightest and slimest battery case available. The data available for it makes interesting reading too.

Exolife data.

The battery fitted is a 1500 mAh lithium-ion battery. it provides an extra,
300 hours standby,
7 hours talk time,
6 hours surf time,
10 hours video time and last but by no means least,
40 hours listening time.

So to the layman that means it effectively doubles the life of your iphone 4 battery! And I also forgot to mention the 3 years un limited warranty too!

case showing the 30 pin connector



 

Fitting the iphone 4 is easy, just slide it from the top and push down gently until it sits flush with the base.

iphone 4 partially fitted

iphone 4 fully fitted to shell

Once the iphone is fitted to the shell it is a simple task to fit the supplied bumper to the shell, thus locking the iphone in place. Just a tip, fit the bumper from the top first. Once fitted, the bumper allows easy access to all the iphone buttons and, as it is one of the lightest, and sleekest battery cases currently available, it does not make the iphone bulky to carry or use. 

Exolife in use.

Allow your iphone 4 battery to drain down to single figures before you use the case battery. To turn the Exolife on simply depress the button on the base and hold for about 3 seconds. A small, green led light will come on indicating the case is working. In addition you will hear the familiar sound of the iphone 4 charging.

base showing on/off switch to the left and the covered mini USB port to the right

On the back of the case, just below the Exolife text, is a small, horizontal slit. When in use this will flash with 4 blue segments, indicating how much charge is left in the Exolife battery. It also illuminates to show how much charge is available in the case. To see the charge left simply hold the on/off switch down for about 5 seconds.

rear of case

The Exolife case can be recharged without removing the iphone. The nice feature is that you can also sync your iphone with itunes at the same time. Recharging is self explanatory!

Because the Exolife battery is slightly larger than the one fitted to the iphone 4, you should be able to get a little over 1 full charge plus enough if you really get caught out!

Another nice addition to this case is what is called, Exosave. Basically a posh name for an auto off feature when the case battery is not in use!

Exolife charging iphone 4

So that is the battery side of the Exolife covered but how does it perform as a case? I would say it offers the minimum of protection to your phone and I certainly won't be conducting a drop test! It is certainly not an "Otterbox Defender" when it comes to protection and I most definitely recommend using a screen protector. ( I use a screen protector 24/7 for every case I have tried and use).
I can also see the polycarbonate becoming scratched with prolonged use however, you don't purchase this sort of case for protection alone. It is a battery case that provides "some" protection and it does this job very well indeed. What the makers have also done is to make sure that all buttons are easily accessable and have also allowed a generous cut out around the rear facing camera lense and flash.

I have used the case off and on for about 4 weeks and it is brilliant. I can easily go for the whole day without worrying about running out of battery power and trust me when I say that I use the iphone 4 lots!
The Exolife is light and slim and nowhere as bulky as other, comparable makes of battery case. It is so easy to use even the most ham fisted users (me) can use it with ease!

This case will make the perfect main Xmas present to the iphone 4 lover in your life so get ordering now!

I have no hesitation in giving the Exolife battery case a 5/5 on the "keebs"rating!

I will be back later this week with a look at what's hot on the app front. I will also do another review so you will have plenty to keep you interested. Until then,

stay warm and safe,

Andy.

What's new in 4.2?!

Hello again and if you have been here before, welcome back. For those that are new to my blog all I can say is "where have you been?"! You will have to excuse me it's been a long day!

Today's post is entitled What's new in 4.2, so sit back, turn down the lights and read on!

As I mentioned in my previous post, Monday saw the release of IOS 4.2, basically an upgrade to the iphone 4 operating system. The release was mainly aimed at Apple Ipad users, bless them they are playing catch up with us, the iphone 4 users!, but there are some new additions to the iphone 4, not all fully functional as yet. I will try and explain what is new below.

New SMS (text) tones.
Prior to 4.2 the iphone 4 had a paltry 6 text tones and some of those were ordinary at best. With the new upgrade we now have access to 17 new tones!

To access the new tones do the following,

Tap settings>tap sounds>scroll down to the new label "Text Tone".

You can also assign these tones to individual contacts by doing the following,

From your contacts widget select the contact you wish to assign>tap edit>scroll and tap on the setting "text tone">select the tone you want to use>tap save.

Most of the new tones are really nice. My current favourite is Sherwood Forest, however Telegraph is extremely annoying lol. All in all the new tones are a very welcome addition.

Parental controls.
I actually prefer to call these new settings "annoying friends who fiddle with my iphone 4" settings! We can now prevent apps from being deleted and adding friends to Game Center. To access these controls do the following,

Tap settings>tap general>tap restrictions and from there you can alter restrictions to suit yourself.

Volume slider widget.
We can now access a new on screen volume control.

To view the slider you have to access the multi task dock at the bottom of your iphone screen. To do this double tap the home button. Then scroll left, past the ipod controls, to the volume slider.

Air Play.
Unfortunately I do not have access to Air Play. To gain access you have to have either an Apple Ipad or Apple TV. Basically Air Play allows users to stream music from the iphone 4 to these other devices. Should you be lucky enough to have one or both of these then you can access the Air Play controls by repeating the steps for the on screen volume widget and/or via your YouTube viewing screen or Ipod screen.

If someone is currently using Air Play regularly perhaps they could leave their thoughts etc in the comments box below.

Air Print.
Now this new addition is not fully functional at the moment. It basically allows the user to wirelessly print pictures and/or documents directly from the iphone 4. Currently there are only a very limited number of printers that have the relevant software to enable this and these are restricted to certain HP models. However I understand that there will be more makes of printer accessable in future updates.

If you do have one of these printers then you can print by doing the following. From a document look for the little icon that looks like a box with an arrow coming from it as seen below.

Showing the print icon.

To print a picture again you need to tap on the same icon as above. This will bring you to an option screen as seen below.

Print option.



Once you have tapped on the relevant icons you will get the print option screen as shown below.

Printer options page.






From this screen select your printer and number of copies you wish to print.

Once Air Print is fully functional it will be a very welcome addition as you will be able to print, literally on the go. There are some after market apps available from the Apple App store. I found one that supports my Kodak wireless printer but, alas, I can only print photos at the moment.

Find text in Safari.

This setting within Safari is really handy. It allows the user to search a web page for a specific word or phrase. For example, you are reading an article on Iphone cases and it is very text heavy. If you type a keyword you are looking for, i.e Leather Case in the google search window, you can scroll down to where it says "on this page" ( number of relevant matches) and the page you are viewing will have the phrase highlighted. You can tap the "next" button at the bottom of the page and it will take you to each search phrase in turn. This is extremely useful when you want to search a document swiftly but thoroughly.

New type fonts in Note.

At last we have two more type fonts other than Helvetica in notes. These are Chalkboard, as seen below,

Chalkboard font

And Marker Felt as seen below,

Marker Felt font

To access the new fonts do the following. From settings tap notes>tap on desired font.

Although not ground breaking these two new fonts are a very welcome addition to the rather limited settings in notes, I really like Marker Felt which looks really nice with the default yellow back ground.

Well that's it for 4.2. I hope you find my post informative, it really is worth playing with all these new settings. Once Air Print is fully functional the iphone 4 is going to move onto yet a higher level of functionality in comparison to ALL the other, current smart phones on the market.

I will be back later with a review so remember to check in from time to time. I do publish a link to new posts on Facebook so feel free to add me as a friend.

Andy

Review-Sony Ericsson HCB-150 bluetooth car speakerphone

Hi there once again. I hope you have all successfully upgraded your iphone to the latest version of the operating system which was released yesterday. I will post on the new features later this week but there are some nice additions to play with.

Today I wanted to continue the Xmas theme with a review of an item which would make a nice present for the driver in your family. The item in case is the Sony Ericsson HCB-150 bluetooth car speakerphone which is available from MobileFun.co.uk for £24.99.

The Sony comes nicely packaged with a car charger and easy to follow user guide. Out of the box it is only pocket size and nicely put together.

Switch the Sony on and you have a nice OLED display, it is easily paired with your bluetooth device and a bonus is that you can pair up to 5 separate mobile phones. All the buttons are nicely back lit and easy to find.

The Sony syncs all your phone book contacts, which are then easily accessed at the touch of a button. It also provides text to speech, as long as your mobile phone supports this, making use that much easier. It mounts to your cars sun visor using the strong metal clip and once mounted it is nice and discreet.

To receive a call you simply press the "green" phone button. To make a call  press the "green" button and scroll through your phone book using the large, centrally located button.

Another really nice feature of the Sony is that it can be used as a desktop speakerphone, the display auto rights itself depending on which way you have the unit placed.

In use I have had no problems in being heard by the caller or vice verse. The Sony comes with dual, 2 watt speakers so the clarity is clear and the volume is easily adjusted to suit your needs.

Sony claim the HCB-150 has up to 25 hours talk time and a massive 700 hours standby time, I am not one to doubt them as I have only had to charge my unit once since I started to use it. I do switch it off when I'm not in the car.

I have already mentioned the in car charger that comes supplied however I am not a big fan of leads everywhere in my car. MobileFun supply a mains charger for £8.47 which does the job brilliantly.

I really like the Sony. Yes it lacks some of the bells and whistles of other, far more expensive car speakerphones. But what you have is a truly portable device that performs its job each and every time. You can't get better than that so I am very happy to give it 5/5.

Well that's me done for another evening. I hope you find this review informative, you never know it may be one less Xmas present to worry about!

Andy.

App of the week

Hi guys. Hope the Xmas shopping is going well. If you are anything like me you are yet to start. Don't forget to check out my Xmas gift idea's posts, you never know it may solve 1 or 2 problems!
Today I thought I would introduce you to a really interesting little app, but first a question. How many of you have partners who are in denial about snoring or talking in their sleep? I know I deny everything but now there is an app that will reveal exactly who does what in their sleep! It is called,

Sleep Talk Recorder 59 pence from the App store.

Sleep Talk icon in red

For 59 pence this handy app is a must buy because it really works and the results for me were hilarious. I have now eaten a large plate of delicious humble pie and apologised profusely to Amanda!

How do I use it?

First off I suggest you go into settings and make sure you set sensitivity to high and set filter to "enable". Then choose how many minutes you want it to run before it activates. Generally when I go to bed I am asleep fairly quickly so I set my activation to 35 minutes.

Settings screen.





Now the producers of Sleep Talk suggest users pop their iphones onto a charger. This was fine by me because I generally charge my phone at night and use an Apple charging dock which I have on my bedside table. It is also suggested that your phone is no more than 3 feet from you, which again is no problem.

Once you have set it up tap the record button and you will get a screen with a big green bed on it. When you are ready to turn the lights out just tap the bed icon and make sure the bed turns to red. That's all you have to do. Leave your iphones microphone to record your nights shenanigans and prepare yourself for a red face in the morning lol!

Stand by mode

Record mode

In the morning go to the history screen. You will see a little graph of your nights recording, it is handily dated and timed.



History screen





Tap the graph and you will be taken to the play back screen.



Play back screen



Tap the blue "play" arrow and listen! The nice thing here is you do not have to listen to the whole night. The program auto skips from the end of one part of a recording to the beginning of the next.

The play back clarity is excellent, if a little quiet, the sensitivity of the iphone 4 microphone must be very good.

You can choose to delete or save the recording. If you save it you can email it or even better, share it on your Facebook page!

Save and share screen

I have run Sleep Talk Recorder most nights. It is amazing what goes on when you sleep, I have deep and meaningful conversations about the most inane things imaginable lol! I have yet to record anything notable or suitable for Facebook!!

Overall Sleep Time Recorder is well worth the money. It runs without problem and has the potential for some very funny results. I have absolutely no hesitation in giving it 5/5 and suggest you give it a try too.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend,

Andy

iphone 4 case review-Proporta Alu-Leather Case

Hi once again. I have just checked the weather forecast for next week and the weather man says it may snow! Get your warm clothes at the ready and prepare for the UK to shut down for at least 2 days!

In this post I thought I would introduce you to a very nice iphone 4 case. The case in question is called the Proporta Alu-Leather. It is available and in stock at MobileFun.co.uk, (shameless plug for my site sponsor!!), and is priced at £22.47 so consider it a more up market product.

So what do you get?
 

Proporta Alu-Leather Case

As you can see from the image, the Proporta Alu-Leather case is a custom made, hand crafted, flip style case, beautifully made in a high quality leather. Available in black only, it has contrasting hand stitching throughout, whilst the phone area has a quality black and cream pin striped material. The flip front is of contrasting, cream leather with an Aluminium plate. The aluminium is neatly stitched into the leather and for an extra touch of class, is embossed with the manufacturers name. It is held closed by a hidden magnet.

Proporta Alu-Leather interior







Pin stripe material



Embossed aluminium plate



Using the case.

I have used this case extensively for the last 5 weeks. The leather really is of the highest quality, you will find none of that rather unpleasant and easily worn "leatherette" here! The case offers a high level of protection due in part to the aluminium front plate, not that I suggest you drop,throw or generally abuse it in anyway please! All ports, buttons etc are easily accessed, I have used after market earphones and have had no trouble with the 3.5mm jack as is commonly found in other cases. I found that the case remained shut, the magnet powerful enough to negate any unwanted opening.

The camera and flash cut out is slightly obscured when the case is very new. I found I had to push the phone hard into the case initially, but after a few days use and the case "settling in" this problem was sorted. 

  

Lens and
flash cut out





 



Earphones easily attached

 
   

volume and vibration controls

 





There are two slight niggles I have about the case, both are very minor but are niggles none the less. Firstly you cannot use a desktop charger when your iphone is in the case. However, It is no big issue to remove your phone when charging or syncing. Secondly I found that the very corners of the iphone touch screen were slightly obscured. I found this particularly prevalent when using the touchscreen keyboard.

Overall I will give the Proporta Alu-Leather case 4/5. It is only let down by the aforementioned niggles, but if you are looking for a more upmarket case and like the flip fronted style then I have absolutely no hesitation in recommending it to you.

If you have any questions about this, or any other product mentioned in my blog, feel free to leave your questions in the comments box.

Stay safe and warm,

Andy

Xmas gift ideas-part 2

Hi there on what is a very cold November evening. The central heating is on, the curtains are drawn and I am sat in front of my PC, pen in hand so to speak!

Following on from my earlier post, Xmas gifts part 1, here is the second installment cunningly called Xmas gifts part 2! In this post I will give you some ideas for more affordable "stocking filler" type presents for the iphone lover in your life. If you have any questions about where to buy any of the gifts I suggest then feel free to ask.



First off today are earphones.



"in ear" earphones



Searching around it is clear to see they have become serious fashion items and the choice is huge.  As with all fashion items the prices are vary varied too. You can buy a pair for as little as £7 and spend as much as £400 for the top of the range options.

The favoured style at the moment seems to be the "in ear" type. These are designed to actually fit into your ear canal and whilst that sounds pretty unpleasant I can, from experience, say that they are extremely comfortable. The "in ear" phones generally come with a variety of soft foam attachments so that the user can find the perfect fit and I have to say they work really well. Gone are the days of earphones falling out because they don't fit properly. If you take the time to find the best attachment, these will stay put for as long as needed.

Take the time to shop around because price does not always equal performance. If I were to buy some as a gift I would ask to listen to a variety of makes. Most come with an in line microphone which is very useful for phone calls, a lot also come with basic earphone controls too. If you intend to order online then do so sooner rather than later because these are the sort of items that will sell and will no doubt be "out of stock" if you leave it until the last minute.

My next gift idea are screen protectors.

screen protectors

Whilst not the most glamorous of gift items, screen protectors are certainly very useful and will be a very welcome gift. Anyone who owns an iphone or ipod should use these as they really do provide a good level of protection against scratches. Personally speaking screen protectors are a "must have" for even the most careful of iphone user. Definitely not an item to break the bank, a decent brand will cost in the region of £10.

The final gift idea for this post is something that all avid iphone users will know and understand. They are Apps (or applications).

Apps cover everything from the latest games to top of the range sat nav software. They range in price from as little as 59 pence to as much as £49 pounds and currently there are over 250,000 available in the Apple App store.

Apps are only available online but are very easy to buy and this is how.

Go into the App store and select the App you wish to purchase as a gift. Scroll down past the description and pictures of the App in operation and you will come to this page.

"gift an App"

Click on the "gift this App" button and follow the instructions, it's that easy. 

Apps make the perfect gift for friends and will always be gratefully received. Trust me when I say there are Apps for everyone!

I hope there is something in this list to inspire your Xmas gift idea's, I will be back with more next week.

Stay safe and warm,

Andy.

App of the week and a handy tip too!

Hi guys. Well after the brief respite from the bad weather yesterday it was back to more of the "wet stuff" today! I can see why people have holiday homes in the sun. Personally I would sooner hibernate until late April and save my money for some "boys toys"!

Today I thought I would give you all a break from the thought of Xmas shopping and look at an excellent game from the App store. In addition I have come up with a few pointers on how to get the most out of your iphones battery so read on.

The app I have chosen to review is certainly not new, in fact it has been round for at least a year. The fact that it is still in the "top 25 apps" on the App store, currently sitting at number 11, is a good indication of it's success and popularity. The game in question is,

Doodle Jump. 59p from the app store.

Don't be put off by the start up screen. Let me assure you that this clever little game is totally addictive and the in game animation is a lot of fun.

The idea behind Doodle Jump is quite simple. You play the strange little character who I assume is called Doodle! I have an affinity to this chap as, like him, I have quite a big nose lol! The aim of the game is to get as far up the screen as possible. That's it! You jump from one platform to the next and as you do so, the area you have covered vanishes so, should you fall there are no platforms to save you or, if you hit a monster you die and start again.

You control Doodle by tilting the iphone left or right, Doodle jumps for you. You also tap the screen to fire at the monsters, there is nothing else too it. There are various types of platforms, some are fixed, some move. Some break as soon as you have taken one jump from them and there are a variety of comedy monsters trying to really spoil your day. Doodle does get some help from springs and trampolines, cleverly situated on the platforms. There are also items like propeller hats, jet packs and ships that will briefly take you further up the screen.

The game play is perfect. It is relatively straightforward in the earlier stages and gets progressively harder the further you progress.

A nice feature is, that it is linked to the iphone Game Centre so you can see how well you are doing either locally or globally, in my case it's how badly! There is also a stats page in the options settings.

There are currently six different themes for Doodle Jump including Halloween, jungle, space and others so the variations are nice. All in all it is an excellent package, the game play is fun and it is one of those games that you can literally pick up and play when you have a few, spare minutes.

It is a 5/5 from me, get it you won't be disappointed.



On a different note, I am sure those of you who use the iphone 4 a lot will have noticed just how quickly the battery drains. There are steps we you can take to help prolong battery life and these are as follows.

1. Turn 3G off when not using it. To do so go to Settings> General> Network>    Enable 3G OFF


2. Turn off Bluetooth when not using it. To do so go to    Settings>General>Bluetooth>OFF

3. Turn off Wi-Fi if you’re not using it. Settings>Wi-Fi>Off.

4. Turn off Push Notifications. Settings>Notifications>Notifications OFF.

5. Auto adjust Brightness. Set the slider to half way and go to Settings>Brightness>Auto Brightness ON.

6. Turn off vibrate. Flip the Switch on the left side of the phone up.

7. Turn off Push Email. Settings>Mail, Contacts, Calendars>Fetch New Data>Push OFF.

8. Fetch new data manually. Settings>Mail, Contacts, Calendars>Fetch New Data set to Manually.

9. Turn off the Equalizer (EQ). Settings>iPod>EQ>OFF

I run these settings and it certainly helps my battery life.

Well that's it for another post. I will be back over the weekend with some more Xmas gift ideas. Until then stay safe and warm.

Andy

Item review. The Desk Genie by MobileFun.co.uk

Hi once again. I hope you are all safe and well and have survived the recent deluge without too many problems. Oh the joys of Winter!

The post today is my first ever item review for a device kindly provided by the blog sponsor MobileFun.co.uk. If you have any constructive comments about the review then please feel free to post them.

The item in question is the rather handsome Desk Genie, a stand alone desk top stand and charger, that is unique to MobileFun.

The Desk Genie is a generic, mobile phone desktop stand and charger which is suitable for a very large range of the current mobile phones including, thankfully, the iphone 4! It is also a memory card reader for 8 different types of memory card and a powered, 2 port USB 2.0 hub. An awful lot then considering the rrp is only £14.99!

USB ports.

What comes in the box?

8 slot card reader.



Well as you can see from the picture, in addition to the stand and USB power lead, the buyer also gets a bag containing numerous mobile phone attachments for all the major phone manufacturers, making it truly universal. Also included is a charging lead and a user manual.

How does it work?

The Desk Genie is well made from a durable plastic, the front has non slip, rubberised type finish which is very tacky to the touch. This allows you to place your mobile phone in both portrait and landscape modes without the need for any clips or brackets. You literally place your mobile phone in your preferred position and the phone stays put!

 

iphone in landscape mode
.



iphone in portrait mode.









You then simply plug the USB power cable from your PC into the back of the Desk Genie, this powers the USB hub. Select the phone charger attachment suitable for your phone, attach it to the charging lead and plug the charging lead into the phone and Desk Genie and you are done. Once powered up, the Desk Genie has a rather nice blue strip light at the front.

The Desk Genie at work.

The Desk Genie has proved to be a welcome addition to my work station. I use it not only for charging my iphone but also when I want to sit and read any emails etc, the angle the iphone sits at is perfect for me. The addition of a card reader and extra USB hub is very handy, lets face it, we are always short of USB ports and the card reader means everything is nicely in situ without lots of extra cables trailing everywhere. I can also see myself using it as a stand alone item if I want to watch videos or use my blue tooth keyboard so it really is a jack of all trades for me. One tip is, should the front screen lose it's tackiness, simply wipe it with a damp cloth to restore it.

The only down side for the iphone user is there is no data link cable but that is a small minus point in what is a very handy item.

MobileFun.co.uk are onto a winner with this item so with Xmas getting ever closer I can thoroughly recommend it and priced at £14.99 it won't break the piggy bank! Why not check this and some nice iphone 4 cases at MobileFun you never know it may solve that "difficult to buy for" person in your life!

I will be back later this week with more Xmas gift ideas so until then stay warm and dry!

Andy.