Dec 14
Reviews David
battery, bp-4l, bp4l, charging, e52, e55, E71, e72, energy, extended, li ion, lithium, mAh, mobile, n97, nokia, phone, power, replacement, storage
As mentioned previously on my blog, I use a Nokia E55, which uses Nokia’s largest battery, the BP-4L. Now, if phone batteries don’t float your boat, then stop reading now. But wait, do you have a Nokia phone? Is it perhaps the E90, E71, E52, E55, N97, E72? Then if you are using any of those, would you like even more battery life? Well in that case, maybe batteries aren’t such a boring subject!
I’ve been testing an extended version of the BP-4L, sent to me for review from MobileFun.co.uk.
Continue reading …
Nov 2
Reviews David
accessories, bizz, bluetooth, bluetrek, card, charging, drive, flash, free, hands, handsfree, headset, mate, memory, micro, mobile, mobile mate, pairing, reader, sandisk, sd, sdhc, secure digital, usb, writer
We have a hardware review today. Mobilefun.co.uk have kindly sent me a Bluetooth headset to try out – the Bluetrek Bizz.
The BlueTrek Bizz Bluetooth Headset
Continue reading …
Aug 19
How-To Guides David
accessories, battery, charging, electrical, energy, mobile, mobilefun, phone, power, powerpal, retractable, usb
I thought I’d share some alternative ideas for charing up your mobile phone today. Even the most compact mains chagers are bulky, and they give you yet another cable to be collecting dust and taking up space. So here are my two favourite methods for getting my phone topped. In fact, in all the time I’ve had my current phone, I have never used the mains charger.
USB charging my phone
1. USB Charging
These days, the chances are, when you’re at home and at work, you’ll have some time at the computer. What you may or may not know is that USB ports provide power, as well as carrying data. So my first suggestion, and my everyday charging method, is by USB, with a neat & tidy little retractable USB charger. I got my 2mm Nokia charger from Mobile Fun.
Retractable cables are great for saving space, although I have found that you need ot handle with with care because they can become quite fragile. With the charger I use, I occaisionally have to wiggle and turn it before my phone announces that it’s charging. Not great, but I do prefer it to a proper USB cable.
In the future, USB charging is going to become more common place. One of the worst things about mobile phones has been all the different types of connector. Last year all the major phone manufacturers got together and agreed to use a common standard, which was “Micro USB“. This has the added advantage that it will be one single port for plugging your phone into your computer (some of us do this!) and for charging. That is, you’ll be able to use your phone’s data cable to charge it from your computer’s USB ports!
Charging my phone with the PowerPal
2. The “PowerPal”
For times when I’m going to be away away from the charging station that is also called my laptop, I can run my phone from an AA battery, by means of sexy looking chrome tube, known as the Power Pal, which I also bought from Mobile Fun (I’m not advertising, they just sell handy stuff!). This comes with a selection of popular charging tips which plug into the top of the tube, and should charge most things, but do check before you get one! As you’ll see from the picture there’s a bright blue light to show it’s working. This light is fine in daylight, although in a dark room, say if you’re charging over night, the blinking light can be rather distracting.
The advantage of this thing is that you can buy AA batteries from anywhere, so you are never short of an energy source for your phone. It is slower to charge than USB because it’s charging current is 300 mA, rather than USB’s 500 mA.
I could power mine with any old AA battery, but I choose to use the USBCell, so that I can even top this up from my laptop’s USB ports too!
Update: I have done some further testing with the PowerPal since I originally posted this. I was having some trouble getting as much charge out of it as I expected. Although after eliminating other possible factors I think it must be the electronics of the device itself. I let my Nokia E51 get down to one battery bar, and charged it with the PowerPal using an Energizer Lihtium AA battery. Once the AA was discharged, my E51 was still only showing four bars (out of seven). The E51′s battery is 1000 mAh, so I would have expected to get at least one full charge out of any good quality AA battery.
Jan 9
How-To Guides David
batteries, charging, usbcell
A wireless mouse which is charged from the mains is no wireless mouse! Although if you have a battery powered mouse you need one of those cumbersome battery chargers.
There is another way! Batteries which charge directly from a USB port!
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