Posts tagged apple
Review: iPhone 5 Dock from Mobile Fun
03 months ago
Docks are designed to allow you to sync and charge your phone while it is sat upright on your desk or bedside table. This one (showing off my very dusty iPhone!) is from Mobile Fun.
The dock is good for charging and syncing your phone with your computer, as well as plugging into the mains to charge quicker. It comes with a fairly short lighting to USB cable (also black – it’s long enough to go from the floor to my desk) which is useful, but not the USB mains adapter. The dock is small and actually looks great in glossy black – it has a non-slip base and has a good weight to it.
I’m impressed with how sturdy my phone is when sat in the dock. I worry about things like this being unstable or a bit precarious, and as a result breaking either the lightning connector or connection inside my phone. But this is very solid and my phone clips on very positively and doesn’t wobble around at all. Good.
I’ve now got this sat on my desk at work – my phone can charge and I can see the screen, there’s also no chance it’ll get accidentally swiped off my desk or lost under a pile of papers (not that I ever have massive piles of papers on my desk – if I can’t see the table there’s a good chance I’m stressed!). I can’t decide whether it’s most useful there or at the computer at home, I might need to buy another one. Thankfully they are a lower price than the official Apple ones at £21.95.
You can get a range of iPhone 5 docks from Mobile Fun.
Disclaimer: Mobile Fun sent me this dock to review here on Splodz Blogz. I have not been told what to say and have been no less honest as a result of receiving the product for free.
Review: Mobile Fun Lightning to USB Cable
04 months ago
One of the problems with upgrading to the iPhone 5 or the new iPad is that because Apple changed to their new lightning connection, using old accessories requires new cables or adapters (or new accessories entirely).
Whether you believe lightning is genuinely better (faster, smaller, etc) or that it’s just an exercise to make our old accessories defunct, the fact remains the same for all, and it makes upgrading to a new Apple product more expensive than simply the price on the ticket. Whether it’s a sound dock, a car charger, or the extra cable you bought so you had one at home and at work, it all adds up.
It’s taken a few months, but “fake” lightning cables and adapters are now available to us. Mobile Fun sent me one of their lightning to USB cables to try out. It retails at just over half the price of the Apple genuine one (£11.97 instead of £19.95) and so represents a significant saving, but I was very interested to see if the quality was there.
The cable itself is very slightly shorter than the genuine Apple one I got with my iPhone 5 – 104cm vs 106cm, so not enough to make a real difference (unless you really need that extra two cm!). The plastic coated cable is (again, very slightly) thicker, and the casing for the connections at either end is more bulky and feels cheaper. The lightning connection itself looks a bit different – it’s not as smooth or refined, again seems more cheaply made. The below photo shows the genuine Apple cable on the right, and the copy on the left.
But the proof is in the using… and I can confirm that it works. I used this cable with no problems to charge my phone from the computer and using the mains adapter, and synced my phone with iTunes too and it didn’t complain. I also checked it worked with LincsGeek’s iPad (my pad is an old iPad 2, and it does feel old I have to say!) and it’s fine there too. It is perfect to keep plugged into the computer for charging/syncing, leaving the one that came with my phone for in the office.
I admit I would generally rather by the real thing when it comes to my tech, but there is nothing wrong as far as I can tell with this cable and why spend £20 when you can spend £12 and still have the same functionality. For something like a cable and similar accessories then copies like this one make so much sense. I’ll let you know how it holds up compared to my Apple one after a year of use!
You can see lots of iPhone 5 accessories on the Mobile Fun website – this cable can be found here.
Update 27th January
Since writing this review I have realised that while this lightening cable does work for both charging and data exchange, most of the time it only works one way around. One of the good things about the new Apple lightening connector is that it is not supposed to matter which way in you put it – there is no right way. But this cable only seems to work if you get the cable in the “right way round”. I say most of the time as on occasion it does work both ways, it’s very strange. This could of course be this particular cable rather than a problem with all of them, but I thought I would put a note here to tell you. The cable is still very useful, and I am continuing to use it.
Disclaimer: I was sent this cable so I could review it on Splodz Blogz. I have not been told what to say and have been no less honest as a result of receiving the product for free.
Review: J2O Fridge Pack
04 months ago
I am a BzzAgent and this is a Bzz Review…
I was recently sent on one of the new J2O Fridge Packs to try at home. I am already a fan of J2O, I enjoy the juice drinks very much and, even though they are very sweet, they are something nice to have when I go out. I have been known to buy the packs of bottles from the supermarket to put in the fridge at home, but not very often.
J2O now comes in cans. To begin with I wasn’t really sure what the point of that was. Glass bottles give the drink some sophistication, make it a bit special, and of course look great. But when I thought about it I realised that cans are more every day, and that’s what J2O are trying to do, make this a more every day at home drink.
The cardboard box is designed to go in the fridge with the cans inside, making them easily accessible without having them rolling about the place (a problem I always have when I buy the bottles – they are fine when in that cardboard sleeve, but as soon as you take one out the bottles have to all sit on the shelf taking up space and rolling about). I appreciate fridge packs, they do make the fridge more organised and mean you can reach in a grab a can easily. Each pack comes with six 250ml cans – they are the size of Red Bull cans – which means you get slightly less drink in these (275ml in the bottles); but the price of six cans is about the same as four bottles so you are getting better value here too. I expect cans are cheaper to make than glass bottles, and probably easier to recycle so the move to cans does make sense. Oh and of course with cans you don’t need a bottle opener!
Taste wise, well I have to say I do think the drink tastes a bit different. It’s strange how the container can have an effect on the flavour. It seems thinner somehow, I’m not sure. This is easily solved, though, just pour it into a glass!
At the moment you can get Orange and Passion Fruit and Apple and Raspberry flavours in the Fridge Pack cans in Tesco. I hope they become more widely available as I wouldn’t mind being able to get these more regularly.
Disclaimer: I am a BzzAgent and was asked to take part in the J2O Fridge Pack campaign, which meant I was sent some drinks to try at home in return for telling other people what I think about them. I have not been told what to write and I have been no less honest as a result.
Snap Happy: 13th October
07 months ago
by Splodz
in Photography
Have Your Cake - Well, Caramel Apple
iPhone 5: How Much?!
18 months ago
by Splodz
in Gadgets & Tech
Like many people I have been eagerly awaiting the iPhone 5 announcement. I’m no fan boy but I do love my iPhone and don’t go anywhere without it, and I really love having new tech. I’ve been out of contract on my iPhone 4 since January, sitting on a price effective O2 simplicity rolling contract while I wait for Apple to do their thing. I chose not to get the 4S, realising the 5 would probably be out before Christmas which would hopefully show more improvements than the small jump on that occasion. In the mean time I would happily continue to use my 4.
And the announcement came yesterday. We all knew it. The phone is different. A different size, new screen resolution, better camera, new processor, maps have changed, wifi is stronger, and so on. Apart from the annoyance that to continue to use my fabulous Bose Soundock I’d have to buy an adapter as the new connector won’t fit, I’m happy with what Apple have unveiled. There are loads of blog posts all over the web for and against the new spec – I’ve read loads of them and have concluded that I do indeed want one.
So I hopped on the apple website to see if the all important numbers have been announced yet. They have. From £529. £529. From £529. Ouch.
The mobile networks haven’t given us their contract pricing yet (I suspect they’ll have to do that today as you can pre-order the pay as you go one from tomorrow), and I would consider a new contract if the phone was at the right price. I’m more than happy to pay good money for good things, but £529?
I’m not surprised. Not at all. But the actual number when it’s written down seems very high. It’s more than a new iPad. More than it’s going to cost to have my aircon condenser unit replaced on my car today.
And that’s “from”. The 64GB one, that I would want (need) will be more still.
To be fair, I’ve actually got no idea now what the iPhone 4 was at launch on pay as you go. And I can’t remember what I paid for mine on the 18 month O2 contract I went for. But It wasn’t over £500. Was it?!
Sorry Apple, but unless the contract deals are really good, I suspect you have priced me and many other people out. So I’m disappointed. At the moment - I’ll reserve total judgement until I see the full list of prices of course.
I still want one.
