Eco-this, eco-that – the whole world seems to be eco-mad at the moment! Good job the guys at Jivo in Ireland are on the ball. They have a biodegradable iPhone case called ‘Leaf’ which is injected with ‘Eco Pure Resin’. This allows it to degrade in 1  to 5 years once dumped in landfill. The product has an indefinite shelf life though and the packaging is also 100% biodegradable. I now have one on my phone, and it’s quite nice! It has a rubberised feel to it adding some extra grip and a nice big leaf on the back in case you forget what it’s called…

Jivo also have some eco-headphones, ‘Elements’, which are made from renewable cedar-wood. I’ve not seen (or heard) these in use but we will try to get some for review in the near future.

They also have a range of other, non-eco, cases and accessories so head over to their website and see what they have on offer!

If you haven’t seen these then basically they comprise of a Powermat (charging station) and some kind of adapted device to allow it to get charged by the Powermat. The adaptation, initially, was an external case for the iPhone or a new backing for some of the Blackberry devices. They have since added a huge range of products to their line so you can charge digital cameras, smart phones, Sony PSP, Nintendo DS, iPod etc. Some of these require the Powercube which contains various adapters to plug into your device (so not really wireless anymore but at least it means less chargers to carry with you!). Continue reading »

Griffin have released kid friendly headphones that have their volume limited to 85 decibels, a volume limit recommended by regulatory agencies.

Given the ease with which children’s hearing can be damaged by loud music, particularly as they seem almost permanently attached to either a computer, an MP3 player or a portable games console, solutions such as this are to be applauded. 85 decibels is plenty loud enough for even the most ardent fan of loud music.

Designed and built specifically for children, the funky ‘myphones’ are an ‘on-ear’ design that sits on your child’s ears and so does not block out external sounds with soft and importantly, washable, ear pads.

Continue reading »

The Exspect Triple USB Travel Charger is the answer to a lot of techno geeks prayers. Quite simply it does what it says on the box. It is a compact charger providing 3 USB ports having interchangeable plugs to cater for just about anywhere in the world.

The Exspect Triple USB Travel Charger is available for £20 from Amazon.co.uk and other gadget retailers.

So what did I think of it? Continue reading to find out:
Continue reading »

Some time ago we reviewed the Morphie Juice Pack a battery booster for the iPhone. Now the juice pack is a great accessory but it does mean that none of the cases for the iPhone can be used, until now. Morphie have just announced a range of Premium Leather Hip Holsters for the iPhone with Juice Pack. These retail at $29.95 and are available from the Morphie website.

The Morphie press release follows:
Continue reading »

Not wanting to be sexist, but my wife in common with many other women (and some guys) has difficulty typing on the iPhone. This is because she has long nails and it is awkward for her fingertip to touch the screen in the right place. My wife solved her issues accidently by breaking her nail. Now this is not the best of solutions so Ten One design have come up with a solution that can save your nails. There are two products: the Pogo Stylus and for budding artists the Pogo Sketch.

The full press release from Ten One follows:
Continue reading »

The Navigon iPhone Navigation application has been in the iTunes App store for some time now. Although this is a good seller it is not so useful if you have no way to mount the iPhone in your car. There have been a number of very good third party mounts available for some time now, but nothing from any of the software manufacturers until now!

Whilst I was at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin I met with the guys from Navigon who told me about a new mount that is to be available in October. This mount is based on the award winning PND mount with an interchangeable holder for the iPhone. Whilst it is not an active mount (having an integral power connector) it does come with a cigar lighter power adapter and charging cable.
Continue reading »

There is an abundance of cases for the iPhone available varying in quality from cheap plastic to expensive leather ones. The range of cases from Trexta fit into the upper price range but are justified by the quality feel of the real leather used to manufacture them.

Trexta are a new company with manufacturing based in Turkey and also China. They are creating a worldwide distribution network and the cases will soon have a quality reputation rivalling that of Krussell or Proporta. The price ranges from about £20 through to the top of the range models at about £70.
Continue reading »

One of the more unusual iPhone accessories on show at IFA was the Vestel TV with iPhone Dock. This has a 19″ screen with the iPhone dock on the stand and comes in a number of colour variants . The TV has built in software to recognise and connect to the iPhone to provide AV services. Unfortunately this didn’t work on the one I tried very well. The iPhone claimed it was not compatible, then the TV hung when trying to connect to the iPhone.
Continue reading »

Hama the popular aftermarket accessory provider has 2 games grips for your iPhone. This week saw the the IFA Consumer Electronics show in Berlin, Germany. At the show Hama had a huge stand, most of which was for trade buyers only, but they did have some neat gadgets on display outside.

The best of the iPhone ones were games grips for the iPhone. They had 2 on display one a traditional shoot-em-up type grip, the other a racing steering wheel. Although neither of these grips offer any additional control features they do allow the iPhone to be firmly secured providing the freedom and confidence to be more aggressive during gameplay.
Continue reading »