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MOBILE EXTRAS
INTRO
Improve your reception, and your street cred
with this month’s selection of mobile accessories, tried and tested by as usual
by Rick Maybury
HEAD
ALLGON BASE 2000 FOR GSM, £20
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We haven’t looked at many body-mount antennas
in Mobile Extras, not that there’s anything wrong with them -- quite the reverse
-- but we know a lot of people don’t like the idea drilling holes in their nice
shiny cars. The alternative -- glass-mount
antennas
-- are reasonably cheap, plus they’re easy to fit and remove, but they
do impose a small performance penalty. Body mount antennas have other
advantages, they look more professional, and because they’re mounted high up, out
of the way, they’re less prone to vandalism.
However, the key factor has to be
performance. Part of the reason body mount antennas are more efficient is the direct
electrical connection between the radiating element and the phone, via the
cable. Glass mount antennas rely on a capacitively-coupled signal, that has to pass
through a layer of glass. Inevitably there are losses, that weaken incoming signals
and, to a lesser extent, transmitted signals as well. However the main reasons
body mount antennas work better is that they’re normally located above the
roof-line of the car and the large mass of metalwork beneath the antenna acts
as an effective ground plane, that significantly improves transmission
efficiency.
We generally recommend body mount antennas should
be fitted by a professional installation engineer. They know the best place for
them to go, and they’re usually pretty good at removing, and re-fitting trim. This
is especially true of headlining, which can be a real swine to get back into
place. If you feel confident you can do the job yourself, then the Allgon Base
2000 has to be one of the simplest body mount antennas on the market. The GSM
kit we’ve been looking at has only three parts. There’s a 5 metre cable, with a
female FME connector at one end, and the body mount at the other. To hold it in
place there’s the ‘nut’, which is actually a small black plastic cone, with integral
seals, to prevent moisture from getting to the metalwork; lastly there’s the 50mm
0dB radiator, that screws into the top of the nut. Allgon reckon the seal is
extremely effective and has been tested under water, to a depth of 1 metre.
This will certainly come in handy if you’re thinking of fitting a cellphone to
your submarine...
It requires a 15mm diameter hole in the car’s
metalwork, Allgon have come up with a neat way of threading the base unit into
place. The outfit includes a short length of plastic tubing, that fits over
then end of the radiator mounting screw, making it a whole lot easier get it
into position, and hold it in place. Once it’s in, screw on the nut and tighten
it. Four raised ‘teeth’ on the base dig into the metal bodywork as it is
tightened up, thus ensuring a good electrical connection for the cable earth. That’s
really all there is to it, apart from running the cable, and getting the trim
back into place.
We tested our sample on a Fiat Uno with the
antenna mounted just behind the tailgate. We compared it with a similarly-priced
glass-mount antenna from another well-known company. Both antennas were connected
to a car kit fitted with a Motorola 7500, and the phone’s own aerial. There was
an immediate increase in the strength of the received signal, up from three to
five bars at selected test sites. Without an external aerial calls made from
inside the car were unreliable and frequently dropped when the car was moving.
The glass-mount antenna performed well, especially in built-up areas, but the
quality of contact changed very quickly in some areas. Repeating the test with
the Allgon antenna gave an immediate
improvement, it was much more consistent with far fewer dropouts and clearer
sound, particularly with a marginal signal. If you depend on your phone, and
you spend a lot of time in rural areas, or places where signal strength is
poor, then the Base 2000 GSM could make a big difference.
THE FACTS
Typical Price £20
Features simple
to fit body mount kit with 0dB radiator and five metres of cable, terminated
with a female FME plug
To fit most car kits with provision for an
external antenna
Contact Allgon
Antennas, 27 Manor Road, Didcot, Oxon
OX11 7JZ.
Telephone, 01235 811119
WHAT CELLPHONE VERDICT 85%
HEAD
SAMSONITE SPORTS-LINE 3, £20
Until now the Samsonite brand has mainly been
associated with top-grade leather cellphone cases but now they’re attempting to
broaden their appeal, to a younger audience with the Sports Line range of
holster/pouches. They’re available in a range of colours, and made from 420
denier high-density nylon. This material is extremely durable and water-repellent,
though it’s not billed as either water-proof or resistant. The sides are elasticated, so they can easily
accommodate phones fitted with thicker, heavy-duty battery packs.
On the front there’s a small zippered pouch, just
big enough to store a small bunch of keys a few coins or notes. Unfortunately
the Nokia 2110 case we’ve been looking at isn’t quite wide enough to take
credit cards (on the other hand, maybe that’s a good thing...). On the back
there’s a wide belt loop, help in place by a Velcro fastener. We’re not totally
happy about this arrangement and it will come away from the belt quite easily
if tugged or snagged, moreover, if the fastening isn’t completely square, the
weight of the phone can be enough to undo the loop. The phone is held in place
by a top flap, also fastened by Velcro; it has a cut out for the antenna. The
flap is a fairly loose fit, so it doesn’t obscure the ringer hole on the top of
the case.
The finish, cut and standard of construction are
all very good; the stitching is neat and it feels as though it should last. The
price, for a Samsonite product, is very attractive, though bear in mind what we’ve
said about the security of the belt loop
THE FACTS
Typical Price £20
Features Velcro-fixing
belt-loop and top flap, zip pouch, elasticated sides
To fit most popular makes and models
Contact Hama,
Unit 4 Cherrywood, Chineham Business Park, Basingstoke, Hants RG24 OWF, telephone
(01256) 708110
WHAT CELLPHONE VERDICT 80%
HEAD
ORA CHARGE AND TALK, £45
The popularity of their hands-free phone kits
has prompted ORA to upgrade the dangly microphone and earphone supplied with
the outfit, with a lightweight boom mike headset. Other components in the kit
have also been replaced, it now includes an air vent-mounting bracket, that
attaches to the dashboard phone holder. The car charger cord remains the same
though, this plugs into the car’s cigarette lighter socket, powering the phone
and charging the battery at the same time.
We’ve been trying out a kit for the Nokia
2010/2110 and clones made for Philips and Mercury. The other end of the car
cord’s curly lead plugs into the phone’s accessory socket; one side is clearly
labelled, though quite why they chose the word ‘top’ when it plugs into the
bottom of the phone, is a mystery. The headset plugs into a mini jack socket on
the back of the charger module, the lead is around 1.5 metres long. The air
vent mount is relatively easy to fit, alternatively the holder can be screwed
directly to the dashboard, if you don’t mind drilling a few holes.
The headset can be worn on either ear. It
took a couple of minutes to figure out how to wear it, a simple diagram or
picture would have been helpful. Once in place it is reasonably secure. It’s light
and comfortable to wear for extended periods. The microphone boom can be bent,
to suit the contours of the wearer’s face. Sound quality from the earphone is okay,
quite trebly but that’s all to the good with speech. Volume level is adequate
on the Nokia 2110 though it could have done with a little more pressure on the
earphone as there’s a fair amount of leakage. The microphone performs well too,
transmitted audio is clear, sensitivity is fairly low so background noise isn’t
a problem.
The new headset is a great improvement over
the previous arrangement, it’s far more comfortable, and speech quality is
better. A quality hands-free kit, that works well and is sensibly priced.
THE FACTS
Typical Price £45 and £60
Features hands-free car kit with car cord,
dashboard holder and air-vent mounting kits
To fit most popular makes and models
Contact ORA
Electronics, 28/29 Faraday Road, Aylesbury, Bucks HP19 3RY, telephone
(01296) 415445,
WHAT CELLPHONE VERDICT 88%
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UNIVERSAL BELT CLIP, £0.99
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Belt clips for mobile phones don’t come much
simpler, or cheaper than this one. It’s sold by Tandy and bears a passing
resemblance to a little holder kit we reviewed last year. There are two parts,
a low-profile sleeve, that sticks to the back of the phone or battery pack, and
the actual spring metal clip. The idea of the detachable clip is to allow the
phone to fit into holders, cases or chargers. It’s kept in place by an adhesive
pad, that the manufacturer’s recommend be allowed 24 hours to fully cure.
To use the clip the metal spring slides into
a slot on the back of the mounting pad, it clicks into place and can only be
removed with a screwdriver blade, or similar, to lift the end of the spring and
release a small catch. The backside of the belt clip is hinged and opens out to
form what we can only suppose is some sort of leg or foot. Presumably it’s some
kind of desk stand, though not a very good one, and all of the phones we tried
it with toppled over; there’s no mention of it in the brief instructions on the
back of the packing.
The adhesive is very strong indeed and we had
enormous trouble removing it, so it should be pretty secure. The steel clip is
good and springy, so there’s little or no danger of the phone coming adrift, if
you’re a bouncy walker or indulge in occasional hop skip or jump. If you’re looking for a cheap and simple
alternative to a conventional carry case or holder this could be it.
THE FACTS
Typical Price £0.99
Features removable
belt clip
To fit most phones
Contact Your
local Tandy store
WHAT CELLPHONE VERDICT 88%
HEAD
PHONEY OF THE MONTH
HEAD
GSM EASY LINK PHONE
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Motorola are the clear favourites for the
phoney cloners, so this Nokia 2110 lookalike is a bit of a rarity, nay, a
collectors item that can only become more valuable with the passage of time...
The size, shape and button layout are almost perfect, only the stick-on dummy display
gives the game away. The noises are the usual mixture of ringing tones, unrecognisable
tunes and an oriental sounding voice saying things like ‘operator’ and ‘information,
may I help you’. At a distance it looks
quite realistic; we can see all kinds of opportunities for gags and wheezes, if
you’ve got a real 2110 some sleight of hand skills and a sense of mischief...
THE FACTS
Typical Price £1.99
Features five different tones, tunes and
voices, retractable antenna
Looks like Nokia 2110
Power source 2 x AA cells
Contact novelty shops and market stalls
WHAT CELLPHONE VERDICT 60%
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Ó R. Maybury 1997 0804
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