Category: Cell Phone Accessories

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Apparel Cell Phone Accessories Imaging Wearables

Bornonaboard’s Wrist Mounted Display gives boarders easy access to their cameras

With sports like surfing and snowboarding, it’s crucial to be as lightweight and maneuverable as possible. And while most extreme sports enjoy the use of popular recording devices like GoPros, no matter how much smaller they’ve gotten over the years, they’re still as small as athletes would like them to be.

Enter boarding lifestyle company Bornonaboard. Its goal is to create apparel and accessories that allow people to more easily incorporate wearable technology to their boarding pursuits. The company has already created a set of hoodies and jackets that feature its EyePocket, a small pocket that fits most smartphones snugly to better record the action.

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Cell Phone Accessories Imaging

Vyu360 lets you view 360-degree images, video on your smartphone

Capturing and viewing 360-degree video is becoming increasingly popular thanks to a growing number of virtual reality headsets and cameras.

patent-claimedVyu360 is a top-mounted, patent-pending smartphone accessory containing two panoramic lenses that capture 360-degree video and still images. It works in conjunction with Android and iOS smartphones, and uses their front and rear cameras. The accessory is made of elastic plastic housing, with a rigid rear and front lenses mount. A lens adjustment mechanism allows lenses to be aligned into position and work with different configurations.

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Cell Phone Accessories

The Glowme smartphone case makes every notification a light show

The rise of the smartphone has been accompanied by the many useful — and not so useful — accessories. Whatever their value, people still scoop them all up, prompting half-hearted inventors and passionate pursuers of innovation to create new add-ons in the chase for profits.

An accessory that lands itself firmly in the former category is the Glowme, a silicon smartphone case outfitted with an RGB LED strip housing 20 individual lights. Using the Glowme app, these lights can be customized to light up in whatever way a user wants, from an incoming call, an upcoming turn while driving, or even the music being played. It can also be used as an RGB flashlight or a multi-LED flash for photos, all while using “minimal” battery life. 

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Cell Phone Accessories Displays

NexDock looks like a laptop, but it’s powered by your smartphone

Manufacturers keep trying to make laptop computers that are more affordable for consumers.

NexDock is a new twist on that concept –- a docking station made up of a 14-inch monitor with a built-in battery and a full-size, Bluetooth keyboard that works with Microsoft’s Windows 10 Continuum feature for mobile phones and tablets. The result is basically a laptop that’s powered by a smartphone or a tablet at a fraction of the price of a traditional laptop.

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Cell Phone Accessories Imaging

Pictar helps iPhone users take better pictures

Smartphones continue to be the most popular devices for consumers to take photos with. But, despite the ongoing improvements that have been made to smartphone cameras’ megapixels and other features, dedicated cameras -– especially ILC (Interchangeable Lens Camera) models –- still offer several technical advantages.

patent-claimedPictar is an iPhone camera grip that enhances the camera functionality of Apple’s product in several ways beyond just the ability to grip the iPhone better while taking a photograph or shooting video. Pictar also adds full external control of all camera shooting functions. For example, its shutter button offers a half press mode to lock focus and exposure for easy tracking of a moving object or to create a desired composition, as well as full press for immediate shutter release.

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Cell Phone Accessories

Duplex Case grafts a second phone onto the back of an iPhone 6

Sometimes it would be handy to have a second smartphone on hand. That way, if one of them runs out of juice, the second device can be used to make an urgent phone call. But having two separate devices would be a hassle also because it would require a consumer to buy a second smartphone and then schlep both devices around.

Duplex is a case for the iPhone 6 that doubles as a second smartphone. Its back panel acts as a smartphone, complete with a display. Meanwhile, the case also charges the iPhone. The iPhone Duplex Case frame’s dimensions are 142.3 x 70.5 x 8.3mm, its main body thickness is 6mm, and its total weight is 74 grams.

Duplex ships in June. Future pricing isn’t available. But early bird Kickstarter backers can get one for a pledge starting at $49. Its makers have a modest goal of raising $5,000 by May 11. This is a device that many consumers may find handy. For now, the major obstacle is the fact that it is only for iPhone 6 users. But its makers are developing similar cases for other unspecified models.

 

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Cell Phone Accessories Television

WeKast streaming stick lets all devices stream to your TV

Streaming content from a computer, smartphone or tablet to a large screen is a common way to make presentations now in the worlds of business and education. However, there is all too often a technical problem, such as the inability to get a wireless connection, that gets in the way.

WeKast is a pocket-sized dongle that plugs into any HDMI or VGA port and makes it simple to stream a presentation from a mobile device to a TV, projector screen or other display.

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Cell Phone Accessories

Connex provides a cable as its calling card

Conventional data cables are often either too long or too short to reach the devices they are being connected to. Another frequent issue with cables is that they tend to get tangled up –- especially when there is more than one of them.

Connex is a flat universal data cable that’s been pressed into the shape of a credit card. It’s made of durable synthetic silicone that allows it to stretch up to 18 inches and then collapse again when needed. Connex ships in June at $15 for a Micro USB version and $19 for an Apple Lightning connection version. But early bird Kickstarter backers can get them for pledges starting at $9 or $13, respectively. Its makers hope to raise $5,000 by April 18.

This is an enormously handy accessory to have for a wide range of devices. But a version that can stretch more than 18 inches would be even handier for some consumers. Users of devices that don’t use Lightning and Micro USB, including older Apple devices, are out of luck, so more compatibility options would be nice also.

 

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Cell Phone Accessories Music

Cobble cobbles together improved audio for iPhones

Smartphones have become the main portable device that many people rely on to listen to music on the go. However, just like most smartphone cameras lack the high-end functionality of good standalone cameras, smartphones also tend to not offer the best audio quality either.

Cobble is a battery-free, plug-and-play device for iPhones that combines a headphone amplifier with a digital-to-analog (DAC) converter to significantly improve smartphone music quality. It also works with iPods and iPads, although its compatibility is limited to only those iOS devices with Lightning connectors, from which it draws power.

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Cell Phone Accessories Imaging

Smart Shoot shows your smartphone around a scene for picture-perfect control

Smartphones have become the go-to device for many people to take photos and shoot video with. But they tend to lack several of the high-end features that are typically featured in standalone digital cameras and camcorders, including facial recognition.

Smart Shoot is a pan and tilt, motorized mount for smartphones that provides face recognition, intelligent tracking and free-hand shooting. It uses Bluetooth and works in conjunction with Android and iOS smartphones The product starts shipping in June. Future pricing isn’t provided via its Kickstarter campaign. But early bird backers can get one for a pledge starting at $88. Its maker hopes to raise $80,000 by April 3.

The device has some things in common with Galileo and Swivl, two earlier Kickstarter-funded projects. However, Galileo is designed to work with iOS mobile devices and GoPro cameras, while Swivl can be used with Android and iOS devices, as well as DSLR cameras. The largest potential obstacle for Smart Shoot is that –- from its campaign video, anyway — it doesn’t seem to move as smoothly as the earlier devices.