TrulyObscure - article - gadgeteer - Black Friday's Mobile Roundup

Posted by Greg May Nov 28, 10:10 AM to gadgeteer : -

So, now that we’re all stuffed appropriately with turkey, it’s time to call family and friends. If you are traveling, this means carefully watching your battery life, worrying about your connection, and feeling a little embarrassed that you haven’t customized your phone. To help prevent these holiday horrors, we’ll take a quick peek at a few different products that should help.

The first item on our holiday mobile checklist is the Cell Ranger Port- a device that plugs into any USB port and purports to increase your cell phone range and offer a better connection. They also offer a model which uses your car’s cigarette lighter for power. It’s very easy to install- no software, only one cable, but the antenna needs to be 10 or so feet from the plug which can be a bit of a hassle (and leaves an ugly cable trailing). We have a dead spot in our office, and thought the Cell Ranger might fix it- and the results were somewhat disappointing.

Basically, you need to hold your phone quite close to the antenna to receive any boost. In addition, only incoming signals are boosted, not outgoing ones. We still had dropped calls and missed ones as well, though we did see a raise of 1 or 2 bars and our iPhone’s signal information showed the expected increase. If these devices improve they could definitely become important, but currently they are limited enough that we would suggest making sure that you test thoroughly, and perhaps make use of Cell Ranger’s 30-day money-back guarantee. The CellRanger does work, but within strict limits, and is a tad pricey at $150. As a final note, the manufacturer will be releasing a new unit in early 2009 with an expanded range- hopefully we’ll be able to clear away larger dead zones for good!

Offering a solution to your battery issues, the iPWR will help- if you have an iPod Touch or iPhone (original or 3G). It’s a fair bit larger than many external batteries on the market, but it also offers 50% more juice than any other iPhone rechargeable out there- and was enough for us to use our iPhone for a couple of days without needing an outlet. The iPWR charges via mini-USB, which isn’t as convenient as some options, but works OK. It also balances weight and style well, feeling durable without weighing too much, and looking fairly attractive with a glossy finish (though it does attract fingerprints). On the iPod Touch, the battery does block the headphone connector, which is unfortunate. In short, this is the best external battery we’ve tried for the iPhone, but you’ll need to let it charge a fair while (up to 10 hours), and it isn’t the best option for the iPod Touch. Available online, for around $50.

The last thing you want is to have your phone elicit a collective shrug from people- which is why you might want to look into skins. You simply peel off what is basically a large, thick sticker and carefully apply it to the back of your phone. Less durable than cases, they are nice simply because they add practically no weight, and can have brighter colors and more variety of art than most cases. For the iPhone, you can also download a wallpaper that matches your skin in seconds. We tried two of the larger skin companies- MusicSkins and Gelaskins- and there are no real differences between the actual stickers. Even the pricing is similar- $15 for iPhone 3G skins. Both firms also offer skins for other devices, even laptops. The only major thing separating the two companies is their art library- and Gelaskins is much better for interesting art, while Musicskins is definitely superior for those wanting to deck their device out like their favorite band. Both skins have held tight to our phones, get attention, and with art like ExplodingDog (MusicSkins) and H.R. Giger (Gelaskins), you’re sure to find something to match your tastes.