Use Your Favorite Earphones With iPhone Headset Adapter
As a rule, the iPhone comes with Apple headsets, featuring a combination button and a mic to pick up the phone, pause playing tracks, or move to the next track with a double-click. But why is it always Apple? I personally prefer to use my own favorite pair of earbuds.
Let’s consider some iPhone headphone adapters with iPhone compatible mini plug ending with a button and microphone, as well as a place to plug in any headphones you have, along with a clip to attach it to your clothing in the place not far from your mouth.
The Griffin SmartTalk ($20) features microphone & clicker module, an excellent compact block with smart integrated clip. Its button is very easy to double-click when you want to switch tracks. The microphone has the best sound quality of all the adapters considered, producing clear sound with a minimal noise. The cord is wrapped in nylon, and this way it feels a bit classier than other adapters’ rubber coating. The best choice with short cables and good audio quality.
Shure’s Music Phone Adapter (50$) has an easy-to-use button and fine sound quality, perhaps just a bit noisier than the Griffin SmartTalk. The adapter doesn’t comprise an integrated clip, but goes with a plastic clip clipped itself onto the cable. And as a result the adapter’s attractive microphone button module flops around.
The Shure adapter’s mini plug is pretty stable, with an extended plug rotating at 45 degrees to reinforce the cable. But as soon as you point the plug in the wrong direction, its angle may cling to the pocket while putting the phone away. Not bad, but the price tag is doubled pointlessly.
Boom Bags’ iJack (20$) features a small, tapered silver mic button module with a clip integrated. Its microphone turns to be the loudest of all, but it has high gain. So it is the noisiest microphone. The button is easy to click a single time, but it is really difficult to double-click. So it may pause your iTunes track instead of moving to the next one.
Newer Technology’s iPhone Mic Extender Cable (15$) and FastMac’s iPhone Mic Adapter (14$) are the cheapest ones, and it feels that way. They are identical to one another, with integrated clips and unattractively large black plastic mic button modules. The buttons were rather difficult to double-click and sound quality is poor, not competitive with the Griffin or Shure adapters.
Apple iPhone Accessories: Case Mate Universal Privacy Screen Pro
Are you obsessed with the idea of keeping the curious eyes off the screen of your iPhone? You don’t want anyone to read the SMS, mails and bank account info, do you? Well, now there is a solution for you - Case-mate Universal Privacy Screen Pro for iPhone. It offers a viewing angle of 45 degrees and costs only $19.95.
So what’s the Case-mate Universal Privacy Screen Pro? It is:
- 2″ x 3″ Privacy Screen
- Graph Sheet (for sizing)
- Screen Cleaning Cloth
- Applicator card
The manual says that in order to fit the size of the screen one has to cut the protective canvas. But as the case is designed for the iPhone you won’t have to cut anything. Good luck to the happy owners of Blackberries and Treos!
The application of the screen is as simple as possible. The screen uses static cling. One has to stick the screen to the screen of the iPhone and it will remain there. In fact, there are no noticeable reasons for the protective screen to fall of the iPhone as it seems to hold there quite securely.
But the greatest thing about the protective screen is that it really works. When you look at the iPhone from a different (apart from 45 degrees) angle it is impossible to decipher the symbols depicted on the screen of the iPhone.
So, in fact the privacy screen fulfills its major purpose - deterring those nosy folks who peer over your shoulder.
The conclusion
Pros
- Very Easy to Apply
- Screen Quality and Brightness is Unchanged
- Dramatically Decreases Viewing Angle
- Texture of the iPhone’s Glass Screen Remains the Same
- Made of High Quality Materials
Cons
- Dust Builds Up Along the Top and Bottom Edges
- Does Not Cover the Full Face of the iPhone
- Prone to Scratches
5 Reasons iPhone is Not What I Wanted - Exposure
OtterBox iPod Nano 3G Waterproof Cases For SummerTime
It’s springtime, and it means that summer is just around the corner with its showers. The case is whether to leave your iPod at home or get it wet. There is no reason to worry, because there are cases from OtterBox designed to keep your portable player safe and waterproof.
OtterBox iPod Nano 3G Armor Case 40$
The Armor models expand the line of truly waterproof iPod cases. A gasket forms a watertight seal as you close the case with your nano in it, keeping out water. Rubber bumpers inside create shock protection, and plastic case itself is crushproof.
Nano being in the Armor case, the Hold switch is inaccessible, but a thick membrane over the iPod’s Click Wheel controls playback and volume. With its 4.4^2.8^0.6 inches, an Armor case with 3G iPod nano is more weighty than the iPod alone.
A removable belt clip on the back functions as a place for wrapping excess headphone cable. An optional armband ($15) can be chosen instead.
OtterBox iPod Nano 3G Defender Case 30$
The iPod Nano 3G Defender Case features a slim water-resistant design consisting of a hard-plastic internal shell with a silicone external skin as a cover. Your 3G iPod placed between front and back of plastic shell, which snap close together when closed. Then black-silicone skin is stretched over the shell for additional layer of shock protection.
Hold switch is also inaccessible, like Armor’s. The iPod’s screen and Click Wheel are clearly observed and can be used through openings in the case. A thin, clear-polycarbonate sheet protects iPod and is much thinner than the membrane on the Armor case.
Although you may connect Apple’s USB dock cable through Defender, you wom’t be able to use other dock-connector accessories. Also a strip of silicone over the bottom-front of the case is too thin.
So Defender offers slightly less shock protection than Armor case, but the price is less as well.
Striking Zeppelin Shaped iPod Speaker System By B&W
Bowers & Wilkins, or B&W in brief, has been making quality speaker systems with unique and stylish designs for nearly 50 years. The company has recently introduced the iPod via a high-end desktop speaker system called the Zeppelin.
Zeppelin includes a cradle to hold all dock-connectors for iPods, charging even third-generation models (it is supplied with special authorization chip for the third-generation iPod nano or classic, and the iPhone), composite and S-video output jacks for using TV, a remote control and an auxiliary-input audio jack. The Zeppelin also includes a USB port for installing software updates.
B&W applied all their awesome aesthetic and audio design principles to the Zeppelin. Dirigible-shaped enclosure, associated with system’s name, is really massive - 25 inches wide, 7.5 inches high (with a stand) and 8 inches deep. The front side of Zeppelin is black, backside has a chrome cover that reflects the shiny rear of an iPod.
The Zeppelin’s rubber-foot base can be handled slightly upwards, an additional stand lifts the system’s back so the speakers radiate horizontally 17 pounds of weight with no handle makes the device hardly transportable. The dock connector is placed on a spring-loaded hinge and tilts forward for accommodating the player while pressing against a rubber bumper, so there is no need for plastic dock.
The Zeppelin’s remote control is a glossy-black and chrome-plated device with a smooth surface to feel great in a hand.
The Zeppelin possesses the rear auxiliary-input jack, a built-in digital-to-analog converter, a Tone Control setting that enables you to choose a bass level, a new Backlight setting to control the screen lighting in different modes.
Some newest iPhones and iPods’ screens show the Zeppelin’s volume level resembling the iPod’s own volume bar. B&W boasts that iPhones signals won’t cause any audible GSM interference.
The Zeppelin is really good in sound quality. It houses five speaker drivers: a 5 inch central subwoofer, left and right 3.5 inch drivers and 1 inch metal-dome tweeters. And all these are empowered with a 50 Watt amplifier for the subwoofer and dual 25 Watt amps for both channel drivers. So the sound quality is great, especially at lower volumes.
The price tag of 600$ makes Zeppelin one of the most expensive iPod speaker systems. Although the sound quality can be found the same in cheaper products, the design makes it number one anyway.
iPhone + Skateboarding = ?
We’ve spoken a lot about weird iPhone accessories, iPhone fakes and all other topics. But so far I’ve never written a post (neither thought I) about implying the iPhone theme to other than wireless devices. What am I talking about? About a year ago I was asked to write a post about furniture pieces that are made in car-part shapes. These furniture items come as custom ones, so they cost much more than ordinary ones. Moreover, it has been indicated that all the objects that have car-like shapes sell better and faster.
So what conclusion did I arrive at? Well, the iPhone is an incredible hit out there. People seem to go absolutely crazy about it, especially with the forthcoming release of the 3G iPhone. I though that if the iPhone theme is applied to any kind of device it can become more popular with the customers.
In order to prove my hypothesis I ran a Google search. Do you want to know what I found? In fact, there were quite a number of things that borrowed iPhone’s appearance or shape, or even functions, but there was one that attracted my attention incredibly:
iPhone skateboarding deck
I just couldn’t believe that two completely incompatible things like a deck for a skateboard and an iPhone could be combined. But on seconds thought I thought that the deck looked impressively awesome. It is black, it is an iPhone-related. What else does a deck need? =)
The deck has been created by the company Girl Biebel and it costs $45.99. it is an average price for this sort of product.
After reading and writing about my wonderful discovery I decided to find out how people treat the looks of the new deck. So that’s what I’ve found:
- I like to flip through my brother’s catalogs sometimes too. A lot of the decks have great designs!
- thats a sweet deck, i love girl skateboards
- yes, people get really creative with those things! the one above is great. i used to live across from someone who made custom longboards which were hand carved as well as painted/sprayed. so cool.
- clever!
You see that people love the deck? Isn’t that a reasonable proof to the fact that all (may be not all but the overwhelming majority) of iPhone-like devices are appreciated by the audience?