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First up in our “mobile accessory” category is the ZUS Smart Car Charger from a company called Nonda. On first glance this looks like your ordinary USB car charger. But this one has a few features that we thought were worth noting. For instance, the built-in lighting that can be useful in increasing visibility in darker environments. Another feature is what they call Smart Device Detection. They say this will detect what type of device is plugged in, delivering the highest quality and fastest charge to that device. They say it’ll charge twice as fast as a typical car charger. Probably the most handy feature is the Smart Car Locator. When you park your car, ZUS will save the location automatically. Then, you can use the ZUS app to help locate your car when you return. You can find the ZUS Smart Car Charger inline for under $35
Next is an accessory we’ve talked about on our radio show. Many people think the only way to backup their iPhone or iPad is hooked up to a computer, with a cable. Products like the PhotoFast Max eliminate that need. You’ll notice this device has an Apple 8-pin connector on one end, and a standard USB on the other. You can back up content from your iOS device and store it directly on the Max. They have storage capacities from 16GB up 128 GB, so all iPhone and iPad models should be supported. With its app, you can do other things like view and share pictures, listen to music and watch videos straight from the device. If you’re going on a long trip, you can save all your music video content on the device and save the storage on your phone or tablet. The PhotoFast Max starts at around 55 dollars for the 16 gig version and goes up to about 200 for the 128 gig version. For all you Hello Kitty fans, they’ve got a line of these just for you! The USB 2.0 16 gig version sells for about 50 bucks and goes up to the USB 3.0 128 gig version for about 240 dollars.
The last mobile accessory we’re looking at this week is one that I personally can’t live without. Rugged phone cases are very popular, especially for clumsy people like me. OtterBox’s Defender Series rugged cases have been popular for years. These cases have a hard plastic shell wrapped in a rubber membrane that will not only help protect against drops, but will keep dust out of all those areas that dust should stay out of. Personally, I have always sworn by my OtterBox case. I still have one on my older iPhone 5. Just a couple weeks ago, it went flying out of my hand while I was walking the dog and landed on the concrete sidewalk, unscathed. The OtterBox Defender Series cases start at around 50 bucks for the complete case and are available for most of the popular phone models.