Mobile Phone Reviews

The folks out at the Max Borges Agency have sent a lot of great stuff out our way over the last few months, and this time they’re going to send us a product so strange and so impressive that it started out as an April Fool’s joke.  We’re talking about the iCade, and it’s both bizarre and impressive.

The iCade, basically, is a painted structure of what I guess is plywood, which also holds not only an iPad (you’ll need to supply that, of course), but also the controls that you see pictured below. You’ll set the tablet in the cradle, which can then connect via Bluetooth to the iPad, and then can serve to control the games in front of you.

In fact, this is geared toward one specific game, or game package, that we’ve already covered: the Atari pack. And indeed, this was built for an Atari line of games. It looks like a cabinet that might well have hosted some of the greats: Burgertime, Centipede, any of those might well fit. And now, this cabinet lets you get all the greatest retro-style thrills. The controls work fairly well, and you get a full variety of buttons here. In fact, it feels just like a round of Street Fighter 2 back in the days of the old style arcade.

The question will be, of course, is if you will be willing to shell out the $99.99 that the folks out at ThinkGeek want to get for one of these. It’s an exciting piece of hardware, sure, but is it worth it to accomplish one purpose, and that one not very useful at that?

Still though, if you want a truly authentic gaming experience on the small and the comparatively cheap, then you’ve got it right here in the iCade.

The Good

Provides authenticity in the extreme

Controls work well

The Bad

Only serves one purpose

Score 8 / 10

If you’ve got an iPad 2 out there, then you’re one of the many folks who knows how useful the tablet can be in getting your everyday computer-related tasks done. But you also know that the rear casing, with the camera aperture, is often subject to bumps and scratches and the like, and that’s what the folks at Proporta have managed to fix. They sent out one of their Impact Protective Back Shell units for me to review for you, and the result is surprisingly nice.

The Impact Protective Back Shell from Proporta is made from polycarbonate, and slips over the back plate of your iPad 2, protecting it from scratches and bumps. There’s even a small hole in it for the camera aperture, thus allowing you to take pictures with it in place. It’s extremely lightweight, works with the iPad Smart Cover, and takes bumps and scratches like a pro.

When I said in the headline that this gives you a note of extra security for your valuable tablet, I meant that quite literally. It’s just a NOTE. Just because this case doesn’t so much as scratch or crack following an eight foot drop onto concrete–and I tried just that–don’t expect that same kind of protection to be transferred to your iPad 2 in general. And no, I did not actually try the eight foot drop with an iPad 2 and this case.

Still, the key points remain. For protection against scratches and minor jolts, no problem. For protection against drops onto concrete, look elsewhere. And you’re going to have to shell out a pretty fair lump of cash for that protection, too, as the Proporta Impact Protective Back Shell sells at 24.95 in pounds sterling, or roughly, $40.52 US.

But if you want a nice looking and thoroughly sharp way to give your iPad 2 a little extra protection against the various slings and arrows of life, well, take a look at the Proporta Impact Protective Back Shell.

The Good

Lightweight

Stylish

Simple to use

The Bad

Expensive

Only slight protection

Score 8 / 10

Related posts:

1. Proporta Impact Protective Crystal Back Shell Case Review–Tough But Limited
2. Proporta Aluminum Lined Leather iPad 2 Case Review–Multipurpose Value
3. Proporta Aluminum Lined Leather Case (iPhone 4) Review–More Than You’d Expect

The folks out at Light In The Box sent out a pair of their iGloves (gloves geared toward iPad, iPhone and iPod touchscreens), and I’ve got some good news for anyone who finds him or herself having to work a touch screen in winter–these work pretty well.

The iGloves are pretty much just what they say on the box, gloves for the touch screen controls of your favorite piece of Apple hardware. They’re reversible, so lefties and righties alike will be able to use them with equal aplomb, as the pictures below will bear out. The index finger and thumb of one glove are made with a conductive material that lets you use your touch screens, and the gloves themselves keep your hands warm.

I’ve seen this kind of thing before, so I was a bit skeptical as to whether these would work. So I slapped on a glove and set out to test them in the best fashion possible: a game of Fruit Ninja. And sure enough, I was hacking and slashing with incredible rapidity as each of my finger motions was recorded and played out precisely as I laid them out on the screen. Just to be sure it wasn’t the tightness of the gloves doing the job (and these gloves were sufficiently tight for me to replicate the classic Isotoner experiment of picking up a dime), I tried playing with the other, non-conductive glove, and sure enough, I couldn’t even slide to power off, let alone cut fruit.

There is a down side here, though–you’ll see that, despite their claims of One Size Fits All, larger-handed folks will be hard-pressed to get the things on. Also, in terms of cold resistance (as tested by a frozen block of chicken stock in my freezer), these things are only slightly warmer than nothing, as it took three seconds to feel cold through the gloves.

Still though, they only cost $11.49 for the pair, so while they may not be great gloves for running a snowblower, they will handle your standing-at-the-bus-stop-with-your-iPod needs reasonably well.

The iGloves are surprisingly effective, and a good solid overall solution to the problems of keeping your hands warm and touch screen-friendly all in one package.

The Good

Touch screen-related functions work great

Reversable for lefties and righties alike

The Bad

Poor cold-weather functions

Larger handed folks need not apply

Score 8 / 10

Related posts:

1. Isotoner smarTouch Glove Review–Great For Mobiles, Bad For Cold
2. Fivepoint Gloves for using your touchscreen in the cold
3. Apple Invents iPhone Winter Gloves

The folks out at the Max Borges Agency have sent over a lot of great stuff for us to review, and if you’re really into iOS portable gear–iPhone, iPad and iPod–then you’re going to really want to hear about this. Today we’re covering the XtremeMac Incharge Duo charging dock, and it’s going to keep your [...]

The folks out at the Max Borges Agency have sent over a lot of great stuff for us to review, and if you’re really into iOS portable gear–iPhone, iPad and iPod–then you’re going to really want to hear about this. Today we’re covering the XtremeMac Incharge Duo charging dock, and it’s going to keep your gear juiced up and ready to go at most any given time.

The XtremeMac Incharge Duo charging dock offers two charging slots on which you can charge two of your three favorite pieces of iOS gear at a time. You’ll even get a variety of specific inserts for the various subclasses of your favorite devices, like the iPhone 3G, or the iPod Touch second generation, ensuring that your particular pair of devices will get charged on the charging dock.

The great thing about this is that it works, and reasonably well, at charging your iDevices. The down side, though, is that it’s really only useful with your iDevices. If you don’t already have two out of the three, then this thing is going to be absolutely useless to you. If you do, then chances are something like this will be very helpful for you (though some may question why you need something like this to begin with when most computers offer several USB ports, or you can always get USB to AC adapters and charge them up that way. But still, if you want a convenient dock for them that also does recharging, well, you’ve got it right here.

The XtremeMac Incharge Duo charging dock is really only useful in certain situations, but if you qualify for those situations, then you’re going to be pretty happy with it.

The Good

Highly useful for multiple-Mac item situations

The Bad

Only useful for multiple-Mac item situations

Score 5 / 10

Related posts:

1. Hands on with the XtremeMac InCharge Auto Aux
2. InCharge Auto – Iphone Car Charger from XtremeMac
3. XtremeMac releases InCharge FM for Apple’s iPod models

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