Vuzix Wrap 920
It's a little-known fact that it was Blake's 7 that first predicted a personal media player with slimline playback glasses. That was in 1977, and Vuzix now makes the gadget a reality. The Wrap 920 is cream of the crop, with a pair of tiny 640 x 480 screens that appear before you as a larger display that's the equivalent of a 67in TV seen from 3m. Sound comes through two in-the-ear 'phones. The 920 is surprisingly comfortable to wear, and the viewing's not bad either, though widescreen material appears in a 4:3 ratio and you might find yourself noticing the screen's pixels. Ideal for sitting back, relaxing and zoning out to 1970s sci-fi.
Reg Rating 70%
Price £250
More Info Vuzix
Just Mobile Xtand
If you're watching a film on the iPhone's screen, you don't want to be holding the handset for a couple of hours - or to leave it flat on the desk. It's better to lift it up at an angle, and Just Mobile's all-aluminium Xtand holds up your phone so it won't slip over. The iMac-style stand has a padded base so it won't slide, either, and the screw-on handset holder can be easily rotated for portrait or landscape viewing. The integrated cable tidy even makes the Xtand a great phone holder for your desk.
Reg Rating 80%
Price £25
More Info Just Mobile
Ten Essential... iPhone Accessories
COMMENTS
Hey Poindexter
..wanna buy a bridge, and some snake oil to go with that iPhone valve amp?
eh?
"World+Dog will tell you that Apple's iPhone earphones aren't up to much. We don't agree"
April the first was a while ago. The crappy space fillers that ship with the iPod roll off like hell around 150Hz, and are flaccid all over the range- and more importantly, they leak like hell, and make your fellow travellers want to kill you.
How anyone (other than someone with a curious low frequency hearing impairment) could seriously claim that these headphones are any good is beyond me.
To some people, maybe
Well my wife has "the internet" turned on all of the time on her iPhone and she only charges it every two-three days. Guess what? Not everyone gets awful battery life out of every phone.
I'd also say that a tech journalists idea of "essential" is not necessarily the same as the average person, so simply because there are three may just be an indication of the choice available rather than the reflection of an actual concern.
So, no, I wouldn't say it was a concern any more than two or three carry cases in an 'essentials' list means something is difficult to carry.
And I don't see why a spare battery is a better solution than a battery jacket for anyone who wants a longer battery life. In fact, having had no less than three battery doors for my N95, I'd say the spare battery is not without it's pitfalls.
How much use is a spare battery in a phone that can't keep it in because of a broken compartment?
So, when you get to the end of the second day and have two flat batteries so you might manage to put the phone on charge overnight. With two batteries you can only charge one of them at a time, meaning you either need to get up in the middle of the night to charge the second one, do without one of them or buy a charger that can charge the other battery outside of the phone. On top of that you rarely encounter phones that are designed to have the battery compartment opened regularly, often making the act of changing batteries awkward at best and damaging in other cases (N95).
With the battery jacket, you plug the phone in and charge both.
*That's* why I call the "spare battery solution" inelegant
Sure, being able to swap the battery would give you better flexibility, but if I had to pick one I know which one my phone did. Of course, that assumes a phone that doesn't need the battery removing on a regular basis because it crashes. Unlike my N97.
£25 for a stand for a phone?
Indeed. Cable conduit? surely you can build one out of a business card. Works perfectly acceptably with an iphone w/o any case.
(yeah, and I always have a business card + a knife of some description).
http://www.instructables.com/id/Simple-business-card-iPhone--iPod-stand/
re: eh?
Not to mention that they fall apart at the drop of a hat, any hat.
