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MOBILE EXTRAS
INTRO
Hold onto your assets, keep your hands free
and go green using the power of sunlight with Rick Maybury’s monthly selection
of cellphone accessories
COPY
CROC, £3.99
No, don’t laugh, this piece of foam rubber really
does cost four quid. Amusement, followed by incredulity is a fairly typical
reaction to Croc, but leaving aside the price for a moment, consider this: it
could save your phone from a nasty accident and it improves reception, the simplest
ideas are often the cleverest... The thinking behind Croc is that a lot of
people leave their mobile phones on the dashboard shelf of their cars when
driving, bad idea! The phone can slide about, damaging itself, and anything else
that gets in its way.
Croc stops all that, it has an adhesive
backing and sticks firmly to the dashboard. (The specially formulated glue
doesn’t leave a sticky residue when it’s removed). Simply slide the phone into the cut out ‘teeth’ and there it
stays, until you need it. Keeping the phone still should also help to maintain
better radio contact, so you’re less likely to miss an incoming call. There’s a
couple of little extras; the hole that makes the ‘eye’ of the Croc is a pen
holder, and you probably can’t see it in the photograph, but there’s a slit along
the top edge, for holding toll and car park entry cards. As it stands the Croc can hold around 95% of
current phones, but if it’s a tight fit a row of teeth can be removed. They’re
pre-cut, and easy to extract.
It raises a couple of questions, including
the advisability of exposing a phone to direct sunlight and the gaze of snatch-thieves
waiting at traffic lights, but it’s the price that’s going to raise the most
eyebrows. The trouble is everyone has a fair idea of how much a small piece of
foam rubber costs, and the amount of work involved cutting out a tooth-shaped
slot. Four pounds seems like rather a lot for what it is, but we’ve have to say
that it is a very good idea, and if you can’t be bothered to have a go at making
one for yourself, then it’s probably not a bad deal.
THE FACTS
Typical Price £3.99
Features foam
gripper for a mobile phone, pen and card
To fit most makes and models
Contact Croc
Ltd., telephone 0181-361 2666
WHAT CELLPHONE VERDICT 85%
NOKIA BBT-1L SOLAR CELL BATTERY, £90
The idea of a mobile phone battery with a
built-in solar panel charger seems so simple and so obvious that the first
question has to be, why hasn’t someone tried it before? They probably have, but
it wouldn’t be a practical proposition on most current digital and analogue phones,
which make quite a heavy demands on their rechargeable battery packs. It took a
phone like the Nokia 1610 to make it technically viable. This model is very energy
efficient, the standby time on the supplied battery pack is around 110 hours,
or four and a half days!
The BBT-1L solar battery pack contains high
capacity lithium-ion cells rated at 400mAh, which is a little less than the
standard nickel metal-hydride pack. Without any assistance from the sun it
gives between 40 to 80 hours standby, or 2 to 3 hours talk-time; charging time on
the standard charger is 2 hours. It’s exactly the same size as the supplied battery
supplied and just a little lighter, in fact the only visible difference is the grid-like
structure of the solar panel on the back.
So does it mean you can throw away your mains
battery charger? Probably not, unless you’re planning to retire to a sunnier
clime. Our tests suggest that a full charge, in direct sunlight, takes in
excess of six hours. Incidentally, artificial light is no good, it needs the
real thing, and plenty of it. An hour or two in the sun is enough to keep the
battery topped-up, and depending on the pattern of use and weather, it could
mean reducing the need for a mains charge by 50% or more. In other words, if
you find you have to charge your 1610 battery every day, you might find it
needs charging every other day with a solar battery, if you can find a sunny
spot to leave it in.
Okay, so it’s not a complete solution to the
power problem, but must be good for the
planet? That’s depends if take into account the amount of energy that went into
its manufacture, and the likely impact it will have on the environment when it
is eventually disposed of. In that case the BBT-1L will almost certainly
consume more energy than it saves throughout it’s life, but that should still
be a lot less than a normal battery, so it has some green credentials.
We can foresee plenty of circumstances where
it’s worth having. If you take your mobile phone on holiday, for example. You
might be able to get away with leaving the charger at home, if you’re likely to
be spending a lot of time in the sun. It would be ideal for camping and walking
holidays too, when you may not be able to get to a mains supply for days on
end. It’s dearer than a standard battery but not outrageous for a lithium-ion
pack, so on balance, if you’ve got a Nokia 1610 we reckon it’s well worth
considering.
THE FACTS
Typical Price £90
Features 400mAh
Lithium-ion battery with solar cell charger
To fit Nokia 1610/1611/1620/1630 and clones
Contact Nokia
Mobile Phones, telephone (01480) 434343
WHAT CELLPHONE VERDICT 80%
HAMA SIMPLE HANDS-FREE KIT
Strange but true... German cellphone users
prefer musical ringing tones on their mobile phones, whereas we seem to stick
to the conventional pulsed warble. If you go to Germany you will see a lot of
people wearing a single earphone with a dangly thing just below their chin, and
they’re not all listening to monophonic Walkmans. The Germans have gone in for
hands-free phone kits in a big way. They don’t seem to have caught on so
quickly over here, it may be something to do with the notion of being seen in
public, apparently talking to yourself, that puts a lot of people off. They have
been quite expensive up to now, and not that widely distributed, so maybe this new
range from Hama might start to make a difference.
They’re ‘simple’ kits, that include just the adaptor module that
plugs into the phone’s accessory socket, and the earphone with the in-line microphone.
You could use one a car, but to bring it up to basic hands-free spec you would
also need a cradle or holder, and a car-cord, to power the phone and charge the
battery.
The two models we’ve been looking at are for
the Ericsson 388 and family, and Nokia 1610. The earphone and mike are the same
in both cases, the modules both fit into the base of the phone; the Nokia unit
has a second socket for an external power supply, the Ericsson version has a
RJ-11 (American type) phone connector socket for the same purpose. Fitting in
both case take just a few seconds, the Ericsson unit is kept in place by a
couple of grippers, the Nokia module is a friction fit, and will come unplugged
if knocked.
The modules add a centimetre or so to the
depth of the phone, so they may not fit your carry-case any longer. The in-ear
phones area conventional design, they come with a foam protector, so they’re
not too uncomfortable. A couple of centimetres downstream of the mike there’s a
tie clip, to stop the lead flapping around. The lead is long enough for the
phone to be left in an inside or outside jacket pocket, though check to see if
your model routes the ringer through to the earphone. If not then it would be
wise to keep the phone some place it can be easily heard.
We tried both kits on their respective
phones. Earphone volume on the Nokia version wasn’t very loud, making it
difficult to hear the caller against a background hubbub. Volume levels on the
Ericsson were okay. Speech quality at the other end was fine on both models,
microphone sensitivity is sufficient to pick up the user’s voice, but largely ignore most other nearby noises. Build
quality is good, they’re easy to fit and use. The price, whilst not exactly a bargain,
is heading in the right direction. Worth considering if you do a lot of walking
and talking.
THE FACTS
Typical Price £40
Features simple
hands-free kit
To fit most popular makes and models
Contact Hama
UK, telephone (01256) 708110
WHAT CELLPHONE VERDICT 78%
PLANTRONICS CLA132-EN CELLULAR HEADSET £80
The second hands-free kit this month is intended
for in-car use and comes supplied with a power cord. The cord is a conventional
enough design, not dissimilar to ones we’ve reviewed from a couple of other
well known accessory companies, who obviously source from the same factory. The
headset is unusual though. It is designed to fit either ear, the earpiece and
hinged microphone boom can be detached from the rubber ear-hook. This can be
bent to shape, to fit the wearer’s ear, so in theory it should be very
comfortable. Actually it’s not too bad and it feels reasonably secure; these
things are either too tight, or so loose that they fall off. It’s possible to achieve
a satisfactory compromise with this one, though our guinea pigs found it
involved considerable trial and error, to get it right.
Despite the fact that the microphone boom ends
up around halfway down the wearer’s cheek, speech quality at the other end is
reported to be quite good. Keeping the mike out of the way of the mouth also
helps avoid embarrassing heavy-breathing sound effects. The earphone is typical
of the type; it wasn’t especially loud on our Nokia test phone, and rather
tinny, but that suits speech quite well. As we said earlier the car cord is an
old friend, it’s a straightforward design with a delta-V control circuit; voltage
and current checks were satisfactory.
As with so many cellphone accessories the price
is contentious. You can pick up a car cord for around £10, but let’s be
charitable and say this one is a really top-notch model that could sell for £30.
With the best will in the world the headset is not worth £50, or anything like
it, even taking into account the various margins, mark-ups and marketing
factors. It does the job, and does it adequately well, but we have to say that
at £80 or thereabouts it is somewhat overpriced
THE FACTS
Typical Price £80
Features combined
headset and car power-cord
To fit most popular Ericsson, Motorola and Nokia
models
Contact Plantronics
Ltd., (01793) 842200
WHAT CELLPHONE VERDICT 70%
HEAD
PHONEY OF THE MONTH
MATTEL SKIPPER PHONE FUN
COPY
Barbie’s perky teenage sister likes to keep
in touch, she has no less than three phones. The two smaller one are rather boring
cordless models, but it’s the very pink MicroTAC lookalike that caught our eye.
It has some really useful features, that Motorola and co would do well to consider.
The flip opens up to reveal a small notepad. It’s handy for taking messages
from Barbie’s boyfriend Ken, using the aerial, which doubles up as a pencil.
The keypad is hinged; behind it there’s a compartment for a tiny address book A
rotating message display below the heart-shaped earpiece has announcements in six
languages, so it’s educational too...
THE FACTS
Typical Price £9.99 (with Skipper doll)
Features Skipper doll with hairbrush, pink
phone has built-in notepad, address book and message display, pencil antenna
and it comes with a pair of miniature cordless phones
Looks like Micro TAC-ish
Power source a little girl’s imagination,
ahhh.....
Contact toy shops everywhere
WHAT CELLPHONE VERDICT 70%
MIGHTYMINI MAG-MOUNT, £20
Cellphone antennas are probably one of the
least exciting accessories to look at -- ‘seen one, and you’ve seen ‘em all’ --
but they can have the biggest impact on the range, quality and reliability of
contact. Antenna design is something of
a black art, with no end of extraordinary claims being made for some products,
but the reality is that many mobile antennas are only marginally more efficient
than the bendy wires and rubber prongs fitted to most handsets. Fixed body-mount
aerials work best of all but many vehicle-owners are reluctant to drill holes
in their shiny cars, which means most people end up using glass-mount twigs.
There is another option, and that’s a mag-mount antenna. Unlike glass-mounts,
which depend on a ‘lossy’ capacitive coupling between the radiating element -- through the window glass -- and the
handset, mag-mount and body-mount antennas are in direct electrical contact
with the phone or the cradle. However, mag-mounts have one more very important
advantage, they’re normally located high up on the vehicle roof, in the middle
of a large expanse of metal. That provides a very effective ground-plane, which
improves the shape and consistency of the radiating pattern. It gives all-round coverage, and eliminates the blind
spots suffered by most glass and body-mount installations.
That brings us to the Mightymini Magmount,
made by US-based Antenna Company, and marketed in this country by Andrew. The
design looks fairly conventional but it incorporates a number of neat touches.
For example, the base of the magnet is covered in a non-slip vinyl material,
that should minimise the possibility of damaging the paintwork. It comes with 3
metres of thin coaxial cable, pre-terminated in a mini UHF connector. The
antenna is a 3dB gain type with an open coil radiator. Gain in this context
refers to the shape of the radiating pattern; if you could see it, it would resemble
a doughnut, concentrating the RF energy outwards, parallel to the ground. In
other words, less of the signal is wasted, radiating uselessly upwards, into space.
The 30cm whip is made from a springy steel wire, topped with a little ball; it’s
mostly decorative, though you would be surprised how many people manage to poke
themselves in the eye on car aerials...
Installation couldn’t be much simpler The
usual technique is to pass the cable through an open window, or better still,
between a door and the vehicle body. It’s important to choose the location
carefully, to prevent the cable being crushed. Find a spot -- usually near the
top of the door, where the gap is wide
enough for the cable, and the rubber door seal is thick enough to cushion the
impact. Once inside the car the cable can be routed behind trim and the
dashbaord, to the cradle; 3-metres should be long enough for most vehicles. The
magnet is quite powerful and once in place, takes quite an effort to dislodge
it. The unusually comprehensive instructions recommend moving it from time to
time, to prevent damage or discolouration to the paint finish.
We compared the Mightymini with a typical
glass-mount antenna and were suitably impressed with the results. The signal
strength meter on a Motorola GSM phone showed an immediate increase, from three
blocks to five at one location, and clear contact was maintained in an area
where the line is prone to drop. Some mobile phone users have expressed
concerns about the security, or rather the lack of it with mag-mount antennas. Mightymini
is no different to most other types of mag-mount in that respect, and a
determined vandal would have no trouble removing it, though it has to be said that
most mobile antennas can be unscrewed without too much difficulty. In fact it
may be that it’s slightly less vulnerable, in the middle of the roof. The
standard of construction is very high and our initial impression is that it is
well weatherproofed, though we reserve final judgement until it has made it
through British Winter.
If you’re out and about on the road a lot and
have been experiencing problems with dropped calls, particularly in rural
areas, then Mightymini might just make the difference. It could be the best £20
you spend on your mobile phone.
THE FACTS
Typical Price £20
Features mag-mount
antenna for ETACS and GSM cellphones, 3dB gain, 300mm radiator, 3 metre
pre-terminated cable
To fit car kits with antenna connection
Contact Andrew,
telephone (01734) 776886
WHAT CELLPHONE VERDICT 85%
PHONEY EXTRA....
TALKING EXECUTIVE PHONE, £1.99
Ericsson will be pleased to know they’ve
arrived at last! One indicator of a mobile phone’s success is how long it take
the phoney cloners to copy it. This one
is unmistakably based on the chubby little Ericssons, the attention to detail
is most impressive, though we’re not sure how often most users are likely to
see ‘Kwong Fei’ in the caller display. Nevertheless, it has an interesting repertoire
of bleeps, tones, tunes and the inevitable nasal voice saying ‘operator, may I
help you’. At a distance it’s good enough to fool most people. So, next time
your down the pub, with someone who has an Ericsson phone, wait for them to go
up to the bar, when they return watch their reaction when you drop the phoney
on the floor, or into a pint of bitter. Hours of fun...
THE FACTS
Typical Price £1.99
Features melody,
bleeps and voice messages
Looks like Ericsson
337
Get it from your
local market or novelty shop
WHAT CELLPHONE VERDICT 50%
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Ó R. Maybury 1997 2105
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