We've enthused about Proporta's mobile chargers ever since day one, with capacities rising from just over 1000mAh to 3400mAh, then to 5000mAh and now this, the Turbocharger 7000, at a whopping 7000mAh. In this review, I look at what you get for your money and assess its performance, its build quality and its worth, in terms of keeping smartphones, games consoles and even tablets charged and working.
Smartphone loudspeakers are a mixed bunch, many are good enough while some make us wonder why manufacturers bothered to fit them in the first place. If you like to use your phone as a boombox, external speakers are definitely the way to go. However, some of them are so bulky or elaborate that they rather defeat the object of using a converged device. The XMI X-Mini II mini speakers might just offer a compromise of compactness versus quality and power. Read on for our review and photos.
It's a problem, to be sure. You're on holiday and you want to take your Nokia N8 or X7 or similar onto the beach. But, rightly, you're utterly paranoid about sand and splashed seawater ruining your expensive smartphone. Or perhaps you like hiking - or canoeing or any other outdoor pursuit that involved water in any quantity. What you need is this, the BeachBuoy Waterproof Case - I have to say that I'm enormously impressed.
Continuing my run of cases for the Nokia E7 Communicator, I here review the Noreve Tradition Leather Case, a luxury design that again sees the E7 staying in situ. With some of the best-smelling(!) leather I've yet experienced, this is definitely a top end case design and beautifully crafted, with only one or two minor quibbles.
Professional cases for the Nokia E7 Communicator continue to trickle in - here's OtterBox's 'Commuter' accessory. Fresh from the triumph of the N8 design, how on earth did OtterBox cope with the sliding, hinged E7? And how bulky and/or useable is the end result? Is the form factor a bad 'fit' (pun intended) with the idea of an all encompassing, totally protected phone?
I'd originally planned another case review roundup for the Nokia E7, but several of the possible cases have failed to materialise, so I'm going to tackle a few of the best cases individually. Starting with the Nokia CC-3009, a simple, yet superbly made shell that both protects and enhances daily operation.
In one of those "why the heck haven't we reviewed this before?" moments, I look at Nokia's really rather spectacularly useful DC-11 universal charger. Talk about hiding its light under a bushel, the DC-11 has several rather unique benefits - though if you want to avail yourself of one you might have to shop around, since at full RRP it's on the expensive side!
Following my review of the comprehensive (but very expensive) OtterBox Commuter case, I thought it only fair to round off 'accessory week' with a look at its vastly cheaper sister case, the Impact. Living up to its name, it provides significant drop protection and is superbly constructed - I think we may have a winner, especially in the value for money stakes.
Accessory week here on AAS rolls on.... (at least for me!), with the Trexta-made and Nokia branded CC-3002 'Hard cover', available in grey, red or blue. Could this be the perfect low profile N8 in-situ case or will this too fall at the last hurdle?
The accessory genre of portable battery pack is well established, of course - the Proporta ones are best known. But a twist on the concept is to have solar input as well, giving extra flexibility when away from computers and power sources. The Scosche solBAT II Solar is a recent example, so I got it in for review, only to find a showstopping problem almost immediately. It's interesting tech though, so do please read on...
