For years, many have been trying to figure out how to add physical gaming controls to the iPhone: a few solutions have surfaced so far, such as the BladePad and the iControlPad, but many of them are either too bulky or just downright unpractical. Luckily, there’s a new case in town: albeit in prototype stage, it has the potential to make your gaming experience much easier and keep the nacho smudges off your iPhone touchscreen.
This holiday season and beyond, we’re going to be bringing you more hands-on reviews of the products you love, and whether you’re in the market for a new device, peripheral or accessory, we’ll be featuring many of the market essentials here at Redmond Pie. Now, the iPhone 5 is one of, if not the most sought-after gadget on the market at present, so what better place to start, we thought, than to get on the hunt for some of the most interesting, quirky and robust cases for the revered handset. Heading off the series of cases for the sixth-gen Apple smartphone is the BookBook from Twelve South.
The iPhone is an accomplished example of polished engineering, but as with all great devices, it's far from perfect. Like many of the large mobile vendors, Apple drip-feeds the features by year, so while the general consumer response is one of positivity - Apple's customer satisfaction regularly scores highest in most fields - it's not like there aren't features out there we still crave. The style of build with any Cupertino device - particularly the iPhone - tends to make hardware modification or upgrade a no-no, but the folk of Photojojo have once again come through with their intuitive wrist strap for the latest and greatest Apple smartphone.
It was just a few short days ago that we told you about former Black Eyed Peas frontman and general music legend Will.i.am's maiden entry into the murky world of iPhone accessories. Dubbed i.am+ (rolls right off the tongue?) and available only via Selfridges in London, the range includes two varieties of the same case that promises to help iPhone photographers take better pictures. We've heard that before though, haven't we?
Last month, we told you of the grand return of the famed BookBook case. Looking like a book, but functioning as a wallet accommodating credit cards as well as your iPhone, creators Twelve South delighted long-time users by taking the wraps off the iPhone 5 version. As well as having been adjusted to snugly embed the longer, slenderer Apple smartphone, the new BookBook finally offers a hole for the camera, so your device no longer needs to be slid upward in order for the pointing-and-shooting to commence.
The notification system for those using an iPhone has improved a great deal over the past couple of years, something which has been helped greatly by software enhancements like Notification Center of iOS 5. However, there is always room for improvement, and while Research In Motion's BlackBerry brand continues to slide, one feature of those old devices many users tend to miss is the notification light.
The Lightning dock has been on the market for six weeks now, with the iPad mini and iPad 4 joining the iPhone 5 as the first devices with the new proprietary connector. As is always the case with new Apple gadgets, sites like eBay are awash with thousands of Lightning connector accessories, and while some are more reputable than others, none have yet been released by any of Apple's official accessory partners. Belkin does fall under that umbrella though, and in showcasing a series of accessories for the aforementioned devices, is the first company to officially announce Cupertino-authorized Lightning goods.
Apple's Lightning to Micro USB Adapter can now be purchased by those residing in the United States. Hitherto, only Europe has seen the connector, which, as the name quite overtly suggests, allows one to connect an iPhone, iPad, or iPod with Lightning connector to a micro USB cable, for purpose of syncing with a computer or simply charging.
The iPhone 5 may have been out for a number of weeks now, but accessories and peripherals for the new device - at least from Apple - have been at something of a premium. As has been documented numerous times, there's no official dock for the new Lightning-connected device as yet, and perhaps surprisingly, no iPhone 5 cases retailing in any of Apple's Stores. While there's not likely to be a Lightning dock anytime soon, the Cupertino company's official retail stores have begun stocking cases for the brand new smartphone.
Another year as brought another iPhone, and as has been the case all too frequently, yet another controversy. Sure, the problems haven't been on the same level as the Antennagate scandal of 2010, and perhaps not even as significant as the battery issues with the early iPhone 4S devices, but the metal backplate of the iPhone 5 has certainly agitated more than a few consumers.
