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MOBILE EXTRAS
A windscreen holder for your handset, a
grown-up car kit, smart suede cases, a PC data card and a finger-singing Nokia
phoney clone… It’s time once again for our monthly accessory round up
COPY
LONGMILL HANDS-FREE CAR KIT, from £120
Virtually all of the hands-free car kits
we’ve seen recently have been the ‘simple’ kind, mostly compact all-in-one
designs that plug into the car’s cigarette lighter socket and can be fitted in
a matter of minutes, so this one from Longmill makes a bit of a change. It’s a
full car kit, with a proper cradle, designed to fit a specific make or model of
phone. There’s a separate speaker and microphone, and everything connects up to
an interface box, containing the amplifier, switching and charge regulation
circuitry.
The kit is unusually comprehensive; in fact
the only thing you might want to add is an external antenna. Our review sample
was designed for Motorola Micro TACs and 6200 series phones. The cradle
features a pair of quick release buttons, antenna coupler and contacts that
charge the battery pack directly. The connection to the phone’s accessory
socket is made via a plug on the end of a curly lead, so the phone can be
hand-held, for private conversations. The other end of the connector lead plugs
into a socket on the underside of the cradle. Mounting hardware is supplied in
the shape of a simple hinged bracket that bolts onto the back of the cradle.
Two leads emerge from the holder, one is
terminated in a standard antenna coupler, and the other goes to the interface
box. This is small enough to be tucked away behind the dashboard or in the
centre console. The box has five sockets; it should be impossible to mix them
up, as only two are alike. From left to right there’s a jack for the
microphone, next to that there’s two 2-pin sockets, the first is for radio mute
and ignition sense, the second is for the speaker. An US-style socket is used
to connect the interface box to the cradle, and on the far right there’s a
two-pin power socket for the 12-volt DC feed.
Ample cable is supplied for the power
connection, microphone and cradle lead, only the speaker lead is likely to
cause problems. It’s around 1.5 metres long, which might not be enough in some
cars, where the wire has to take an indirect route, under the dash and around
trim, to stay out of sight. The speaker is a fairly conventional design and
it’s mounted on a swivel bracket. The microphone on the other hand is unusually
large. That’s because all of the pre-amp circuitry is built into the module, a
spring clip on he back attaches it to the sun visor.
The supplied instructions are reasonably
concise and shouldn’t pose any problems for an averagely competent DIYer or
anyone who has fitted a car radio. Once
it is connected up there are no preliminaries to worry about. An indicator on
the cradle glows red to show charge in progress, it changes to green when the
charge cycle is complete. There are no controls, volume is adjusted from the
handset and in the case of Motorola phones, hands free operation is selected
automatically. Getting the phone in and out of the cradle proved to be a little
tricky at first, there’s a bit of a knack to it, but you soon get used to it.
It should also get easier as the retaining clips loose their stiffness and ease
up with use.
Speaker volume is best described as adequate,
it’s loud enough for most modern family saloons but you may find yourself
asking callers to speak up if your car is not very well soundproofed. The
microphone on the other hand is very sensitive, which is good and bad. It means
you don’t have to shout to make yourself heard, but it also picks up a fair
amount of road noise, which also counts against it, if it’s going to be used in
a noisy vehicle. Sound quality, at both ends of the line is good; audio output
is a touch shrill maybe, but that’s no bad thing when it comes to hearing
speech in a noisy environment.
The kit has plenty to commend it. The
performance isn’t about to set any new records but it should be fine for most
cars. A definite notch up on most simple car kits, and not that much more
difficult to fit.
THE FACTS
Typical Price from
£120 (excluding installation)
Features full-function
hands-free car kit, integral charger, cradle, ignition sense, radio mute,
separate speaker and microphone, antenna connection
To fit most popular makes and models
Contact Longmill
Ice, telephone 0181-451 6461
WHAT CELLPHONE VERDICT 87%
ON GLASS UNIVERSAL HOLDER, £20
It’s difficult to know what to make of this
one. It’s clearly designed for anyone who wants a phone holder for their car,
but for whatever reason, doesn’t want to drill any holes or make any kind of
permanent or semi-permanent attachment. The On Glass Universal Holder is a
strange-looking contraption. It’s made up of a pair of hinged feet, with
suction pads on the ends; these are connected to a telescopic arm with a
mounting bracket.
The idea is the two suckers attach to the car
windscreen and the phone clips on to the end of the telescopic arm, or a second
fixing bracket on one of the legs. The arm extends outwards, to put the phone
within easy reach of the driver. There’s three ways of attaching the phone. The
outfit includes a pair of stick-on mounting studs, which slip into a notch on
the top of the holder. If the holder is turned upside down it can be used to
hold phones in carry cases with belt clips. Lastly it can be used with an
optional dedicated cradle; at the time of writing one was available for the
Nokia 8110, costing a further £8.00.
It fits easily enough, and there’s plenty of
adjustment, so it can be set to the most comfortable position but it looks very
ungainly, and not at all secure. Only gravity keeps a phone with a mounting
stud in place and it looks a bit perilous, especially on bumpy roads, where the
phone jogs around in the holder. To be fair the suckers grip tenaciously and
the phone never once came out during our road test, but it looked as it might…
Depending on the make and type of car the holder could also interfere with the
vehicle’s controls or instruments, we suspect it may also be unsuitable for
cars with steeply sloping windscreens, so try it for size before you buy.
It’s an interesting and unusual idea, not the
prettiest accessory we’ve seen, but it is functional and if you absolutely
cannot fit a conventional holder in your car, or you need to be able to move
your phone from one vehicle to another quickly, then it’s worth
considering.
THE FACTS
Typical Price £20
Features multi-function
holder, suction cup fixing, mounting clips supplied
To fit any pocket-size cellphone
Contact Ball
Ltd, telephone 0181-574 0003
WHAT CELLPHONE VERDICT 85%
BTG SUEDE AND LEATHER CASES, £20
We don’t seem to see all that many new
cellphone cases these days. It’s not altogether surprising; they have become
commodity items, basic cases are now absurdly cheap, so cheap in fact that some
dealers literally give them away, and to honest, most of them are not that
interesting.
We thought these new suede cases from BTG
merited our attention for a couple of reasons. They’re made from coloured
suede, which is quite unusual, and they’re tailored specifically for the
Ericsson 638/688 series. We’ve also included a new leather case for the
Ericsson 768, for good measure.
The suede is very soft and supple, it smells
nice and is available in a range of five colours (blue, mauve, red, green and
brown). The colours are quite restrained, just enough to get your phone noticed
but without going over the top… Elasticated sides allow for higher capacity
batteries; the transparent panel at the front is not so stiff as to make
button-pushing a chore and a Velcro flap keeps the phone securely in place.
There’s a sturdy spring steel belt clip on the back; the inner surfaces are all
lined and all of the holes are in the right place. The leather case for the 768
is made to a similar high standard, the stitching is neat and there were no
loose ends on our samples
Okay, so it’s not the most exciting accessory
we’ve seen this year but suede and the splash of colour makes a welcome change,
they are very well made and the price seems fair. If you didn’t get a freebie
case with your new Ericsson, or if you did and it’s a load of rubbish, then
these BTG cases will provide smart-looking protection for your handset.
THE FACTS
Typical Price £20
Features elasticated
sides, Velcro fixings, lined interiors
To fit Ericsson 628/688/768
Contact BTG
Ltd., telephone (01992) 825825
WHAT CELLPHONE VERDICT 80%
COM 1 MOBILE DATA CARD, £205.62
Mobile data communications – the ability to
send and receive faxes, e-mail or surf the Internet -- was touted as one of the
big advantages of digital cellphone technology from day one. It has taken a
while for affordable reality to catch up with those early promises, and it is
still the case that not all phones are data compatible. Nevertheless, the means
for laptop and handheld computers to communicate with digital mobile phones,
and the wider world, has become a lot more accessible recently.
We’re talking about PCMCIA cards, or PC Cards,
as they’re known these days, and in particular mobile data cards, which are the
cellphone equivalent of a modem, (okay, they’re not modems really, but you know
what we mean). The Com One DC2110 is one such card. It’s a straightforward,
fuss-free design, intended specifically for GSM and PCN digital phones, (and
DCS mobiles, used in other countries, including the US), it is capable of
operating at speeds up to 9600 bps, the current network maximum. It supports
all currently used transmission and error correction modes for data, fax and
SMS. The card is capable of working with most data compatible phones, though at
the moment connection cables are only available for the Nokia 2110 and clones.
There’s not much to see on the outside, it’s
a standard Type II card, with a detachable connection port on the end. The plug
has a pair of teeth that latch on to the card when it is pushed into place. The
only small point to watch out for is the connecting lead to the phone, which at
just 30cm, is on the rather side.
Installation software and utilities are
supplied on two 3.5-inch floppy discs. One is for PCs using DOS, Windows 3.1
and Windows 95; the other is for Mac users. Windows 95 automatically recognises
the card as soon as it is plugged in and configuration is fairly painless. It
takes a little longer with Windows 3.1, and we didn’t bother with DOS, life is
too short…
A suite of software called Fax Tools is
included in the outfit; this also comes on two 3.5-inch floppies. They contain
various utilities for creating and sending faxes, address book management and
data communications. All worthy stuff though we suspect a lot of Windows 95
laptop owners will prefer to stick with their own applications.
Our sample card was slightly touchy at first,
this may or may not have had something to do with the well-used PC Card
contacts on our trusty Digital laptop, however, following a few light taps on
the case it appeared to settle down and behaved itself thereafter.
It’s difficult to say too much about
performance, a lot depends on the phone it is used with, and the quality of the
connection, which can vary wildly. Suffice it to say, it worked fine in 5-bar
signal conditions, 3 and 4 bars sometimes caused problems, below that contacts
are simply too unreliable. Com One isn’t especially cheap nor does it have any
particularly unusual features but it is easy to set up and it does the job;
take a look if you’re not interested in any frills.
THE FACTS
Typical Price £205.62
Features PC
card, data, fax, SMS, GSM/PCN compatible, supplied with installation discs for
DOS, Win 3.1/95 & Mac, plus Fax Tools software for Windows 3.1 & 95
To fit Nokia data compatible digital phones
Contact PPCP
Ltd., telephone
WHAT CELLPHONE VERDICT 80%
PHONEY OF THE MONTH
SEE-THROUGH NOKIA LIGHTER
This one has us slightly puzzled. It’s a
miniature Nokia-shaped lighter, the sort that’s designed to burn your fingers.
It’s transparent, so you can see the works, but here’s the really weird bit.
Inside there’s a battery, microcircuit and a series of tiny red and green LEDs,
that flash in sequence for several seconds after the aerial/trigger is pressed.
Figure that one out…
THE FACTS
Typical price £2.50
Features phone-shaped
lighter with red and green winky lights
To fit your trouser pocket
Contact Brighton
Station Sunday market
WHAT CELLPHONE VERDICT 80%
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Ó R. Maybury 1998 0603
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