Sometimes it’s not about the phones themselves, but about the accessories, and this is that story!
Bowers & Wilkins T7
The T7 is Bowers and Wilkins first portable Bluetooth speaker and we think it’s quite a fine attempt for a first shot at something. Then again, Bowers and Wilkins are known for their quality and style and it’s quite evident from these speakers. The T7 are quite chunky. With speakers, though, you know you have to sacfirice on portability to get good audio quality. The upside to the chunkiness is that you get a mammoth battery. They cost well over Rs. 20k, but we’d still love to get our hands on them.
SoundPEATS Qy7
The SoundPEATS Qy7s bluetooth earbuds were designed specifically for use during running or exercising. They comes with adjustable earbud tips and lobe stabilizers for a comfortable yet secure fit. They are also water and sweat proof so that your intense workout sessions don’t ruin the earbuds. You can choose between all-black or the nice green-black colour in the picture. They’re simple with a minimalistic control system, and have a decent battery life of 6-8 hours. Also quite reasonably priced, so maybe they’re not quite out of our reach.
Stands/Docks
Steelie Car Mount
This car mount is designed by Nite Ize innovations and aims at giving you a secure and stylish smartphone mount. This mount isn’t phone specific, and works on just about any phone. The Steelie uses powerful magnets to secure your phone. One magnet socket attaches to the back of your phone, and a ball component that goes on your dashboard, or whatever surface you want to mount your phone on. The dome shape of the ball component allows for a wide range of viewing angles.
Stands/Docks
Breffo Spiderpodium
The Spiderpodium is an extremely versatile stand. Its uses exceed that of simply mounting your phone on to a car’s dashboard. You can mount it just about anywhere if you can find something to grab onto. So cycle or bike handlebars, bag or purse straps, no problem. It’s got a surprisingly strong grip so you don’t have to worry about it dropping your phone. Also it should work with just about any phone (even tablets) since it’s highly adjustable; plus it’s cheap.
Stands/Docks
WoodPuck
The WoodPuck: Bamboo Edition Qi wireless charger pad is appealing for many reasons. First off, it’s made out of bamboo. Yes, bamboo! Not only does this give the WoodPuck a nice wooden finish, it’s also sustainable and eco-friendly. Secondly, you can do away with the hassle of dealing with tangled wires and cords. Thirdly, it’s very good looking, so you can show it off instead of hiding it in a corner. Its wireless charging capabilities however, only work with Qi enabled phones, so keep that in mind if you plan to get this for yourself.
Lens
Olloclip
The Olloclip lens series is pretty neat. They come in a bunch of variations, including various angle, colour, and zoom options depending on the kind of pictures you want to take. Olloclip cases come with integrated rail mounting for tripods and the option to attach external light sources to it. They also add an extra protective layer for your phone, as an added benefit. These lenses are made primarily for iPhones but there are variants for the Samsung Galaxy models as well, which kind of restricts its usability. It doesn’t matter though, we’d really love to get our hands on one one of these.
Lens
Easy-Macro
The Easy-Macro is getting a mention here because of its uniqueness. Easy-Macro is arguably the only smartphone lens accessory available right now that will fit rather snuggly into your wallet. So you don’t have to worry about bulky phones or large bulges in your pockets. The other unique thing about the Easy-Macro lense is its simple design. It’s literally just a blue strap with a lens on it. Ingenious! Simplicity however, is often appealing, and the added benefit is that the Easy-Macro will work with any smartphone – past, present or future – so long as they don’t suddenly decide to make phones triangular or something.
Lunecase
The Lunecase is a case made specifically for the iPhone. It’s only available for the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 S as of right now. Once the case is snapped onto your phone, it gives you a notification whenever you receive a call or a message. The notification shows up in the form of a glowing icon that displays on the back of the Lunecase. The Lunecase will show you call notifications even before your phone starts to ring. It’s highly customisable, and has quite a few design options and colour schemes to choose from.
Solpro HELIOS SMART
The Solpro HELIOS is a solar powered charger which is used like any other powerbank or USB charger. The Solarpro HELIOS comes with 3 solar panels which, you guessed it, can be used to charge it with solar energy – it gets bonus points for using a renewable energy source. Of course it can be charged via cable as well. The HELIOS comes with 2 output ports for charging, 1A and 2.1A. You can charge anything from smartwatches, which have smaller batteries, to large pads which require more power. You can use the 2.1 output to charge phones faster as well.
Powerbanks
TeckNet iEP900
The TeckNet iEP900 is an all-weather powerbank with decent battery capacity. At 9000mAh, it’s not the biggest powerbank we’ve seen, but it’s one of the sturdiest. It’s waterproof, dustproof, and shockproof, making it a very reliable gadget indeed. Its got a nice rugged design and look to it as well and it comes with a compass and a flashlight. They also throw in a karabiner as well, making it even easier to carry this handy gadget along with you. Definitely something we’d want on our camping and hiking trips.
Tag Heuer Connected
Let’s get right to the point. The Tag Heuer Connected is a ridiculously good looking watch. Plus, it’s Tag Heuer! At a glance it looks like any other Tag Heuer watch but upon closer inspection you’ll notice it’s more bulkier than their usual stuff. Despite the bulkiness the watch is supposedly super light and extremely comfy. Tag Heuer uses it’s own custom displays with watch faces that are very detailed and look downright amazing. They’ve also adjusted it so that all your other smartwatch features are also noticeable but not quite in your face and intrusive.
Controllers
Moga Pro Power Controller
The Moga Pro Power Controller is something every avid Android gamer needs in their lives. It eliminates the need to use the on screen controls for the game. The Moga Pro is laid out similarly to an Xbox Controller, which is a good thing, since it has a familiar feel to it. Its “SMRT lock” feature allows it to accommodate the larger smartphones that we find in the markets today. In addition to a microUSB in port for charging, its got a USB port to charge other devices as well, such as the phone which is currently using the Moga Pro Controller.
Controllers
iControlPad
The iControlPad, unlike the Moga Pro, has a more retro feel to it. It looks like an old school NES controller, with additional features added to it of course. It’s also far more portable, and can fit in your pocket like a phone. Also it’s supposedly compatible with anything that has a Bluetooth chip, so it should technically work with most devices today. Furthermore, the iControlPad has a universal holder, so you can strap most of the not-too-large phones to the top of the controller.
Others
ChargeCard
The Chargecard is a handy tool to have on you at any time. It takes up about as much space as a credit card, so you can pop it into your wallet and leave it there for whenever you might need it. On one edge of the card you can find either a microUSB connector which should work for most android and similar devices, or another connector made specifically for iPhones. There’s a USB connector in the middle of the card at the end of a foldable rubber arm. All you need to do is plug in your phone to one end, fold out the USB connector and connect it to wherever you please, again without the hassle of wires or cords. We’re really against tangled wires.
Others
NFC Ring
The humble NFC Ring can do many things. In addition to being water resistant and never needing to be charged, these rings can unlock your smartphones just by sliding your hand (the one that’s wearing the ring, obviously) across the back of your phone. You can share links to pictures, websites, etc and turn the Bluetooth and WiFi on your phones on and off with the swipe of your hand. Furthermore, you can lock and unlock your doors with NFC Rings if you swap your locks for NFC enabled ones, lowering the chances of you losing your keys.
This article was first published in our 15 year Anniversary Special June 2016 issue of Digit magazine. To read Digit's articles first, subscribe here or download the Digit e-magazine app. You could also buy the Anniversary Special June 2016 issue here.