InDepth - the toughest iPhone case

I've got a very special iPhone case for you all today - the InDepth iPhone 5/5S waterproof and weatherproof case. 

This isn't a pretty case to be left in your handbag – although they do look very smart - these are the toughest cases on the market – especially designed in Australia for the tradesmen, the adventurers and the active people who need a case that can take some hard knocks.  This case can take being driven over, taken on a swim, buried in dirt and survive the inevitable drops. 

The InDepth case makes your iPhone resistant to water, dirt, impact and snow. 

There are also some great accessories that you can attach to the case – a floating lanyard, adhesive mount, bike and bar mount, and a bottle opener belt clip.

You can buy an InDepth case here for $99.95 including free Express Post within Australia.  There is also an iPhone 4/4S case available for $89.95.

Would you like an InDepth case?

It’s all very well me telling you about this case, but unfortunately I can’t give it a really good trial – I just don’t think I could be tough enough on it.  So, I’d like one of my readers to take on the job of giving it a really good test run – and you get to keep the case too! 

If you or your partner think you could give an InDepth case a good workout just leave me a comment below telling me what you think makes you (or your partner) the perfect ‘tester’.

 

I'm going to ask the winner to let us all know how the case performed by answering some questions that I’ll provide.  I’ll then publish the review (and some pictures, I hope) on the blog. 

Competition Conditions:

• This competition is a game of skill.
• The prize is an orange InDepth iPhone 5/5S case with belt clip
• Submit your entry in a comment at the bottom of this post.  
• Follow Techie Mum on Facebook here – if you don’t already.
• This competition is open to Australian Residents only.  
• The competition is open for one week – from 30 April to 7 May 2014
• You must own or have access to an iPhone 5 or 5s to trial the case
• You agree to trial and review this case by answering the questions I will provide – within two weeks of receiving your InDepth case.
• No responsibility taken for damage to your iPhone while using this case
• The winner will be announced on Thursday 8 May 2014 on the Techie Mum blog, Facebook page, and Twitter. 
• The winner will be contacted via the blog or by email address where one has been provided.  The winner has four days to reply, otherwise the prize will go to the next best entry.

This giveaway has now ended - the winner is Karen Edwards.  I will be featuring Karen's review of the InDepth case in the next few weeks.

Logitech case+ review

Every now and then a new variation on something we use every day comes out and you wonder – why didn't they think of that earlier?  This is one of those cases! 

Logitech has just released some brilliant new iPhone 5/5S cases that do a lot more than just protect your phone.  Case+ is a smart slim case that will give your iPhone moderate protection from drops and side impacts.  It has soft-touch polycarbonate ends and sides and a metal back shield, with cut outs for all the buttons, switches and ports.  But it’s not just the case that you’ll want, it’s what you can add-on to the case, because the case is just the base for some very useful gadgets….

Case+tilt

The Case+ tilt is a thin panel that attaches to the back of your Case+ and lets you attach your smartphone magnetically to any metal surface – why haven’t I seen anything like this before?  I used it in the kitchen to watch cooking videos with it mounted to my fridge. I've also found a great way of not losing my phone under the papers on my desk – I now stick it to my magnetic whiteboard or the metal filing cabinet next to my desk. 

If you've ever propped your phone up against something to stand it up you’ll love what else you can do with the +tilt panel.  The edges of the panel can click together to form a little kickstand that allows you to stand your iPhone up.  

This was very handy at my father-in-law’s birthday dinner on Saturday night – rather than having to pass the phone around the table to look at the latest family pics we could stand it up in front of a few at a time and they could view a slideshow of the photos.   It would also be perfect for a group Skype call; for positioning your phone if you are recording sound, and watching videos.  It’s meant to form a stand with your phone horizontal, but you can pop the kickstand off and if you position it about half way up your phone it will support it vertically as well.   The stand also makes a handy earphone holder!

Case+drive

Now that it is illegal to hold your phone while driving; and our phones often now replace a separate GPS – a hands free mount in the car is essential.  The Case+drive magnetically mounts your phone to your car’s dashboard or windshield.  There are no clips to hold your phone – with the Case+ on your phone you just place it against the +drive mount and it is securely magnetically attached – in whatever position you prefer.  No clips also means that getting your phone off the mount is just a matter of pulling it straight off.  The +drive mount separates to allow it to be positioned at whatever angle you need.

That yellow lever you can just see in the picture above is used to attach the +drive to your dashboard or windscreen – twist it until it clicks to lock, and untwist to unlock.  Which means it is really easy to change the position of your Case+drive mount.  Transfer it from the dashboard to the windscreen – or back again – great for suiting different driver preferences.   If you want to make your +drive even more secure and you've got just the one spot where you always use it on your dashboard, you can first attach the included ‘dashboard mounting adaptor’ (adhesive on one side) which you can then attach the +drive to.  You don’t need to use the adaptor if you attach to your windscreen.

Whilst you want the convenience of being able to use your phone in your car if you have to, you don’t want it obstructing your vision.  The Case+drive is so much smaller and neater than any other car mount I've seen – it's about a third of the size of my old phone mount.

The clever Logitech people also include a metallic universal phone adaptor, which means any smartphone can be used with the Case+drive – not just an iPhone.  The thin plate is placed either inside a slim phone case or directly onto the back of a phone. 

With Case+ you can buy exactly what you need - just the case or with the accessories you want:

You can find out more about the case+ products, including the case+energy, a battery pack, that I haven’t reviewed here.

These products are available online from the Logitech site, and at retailers around Australia, including JB Hi-Fi and Dick Smith.

Guess what lovely readers... I have a case+tilt to give away!  All you have to do to have a chance of winning is to make sure you have liked Techie Mum on Facebook, and leave me a comment below telling me where you'd most likely stick your case+tilt and why.  The most creative entry will win.  You've got until Sunday 23 March to enter.  Entry is only open to Australian residents.

Disclosure:  I was given the Case+tilt and Case+drive to trial and review.  All opinions are my own.

Giveaway Terms & Conditions

• This competition is a game of skill.
• Submit your entry in a comment at the bottom of this post.  
• Follow Techie Mum on Facebook here – if you don’t already.
• This competition is open to Australian Residents only.  
• The competition is open for one week – from 17 March to 23 March 2014
• The winner will be announced on Monday 24 March 2014 on the Techie Mum blog, Facebook page, and Twitter. 
• The winner will be contacted via the blog or by email address where one has been provided.  The winner has four days to reply, otherwise the prize will be redrawn.

This competition has now closed

The winning entry from Jennifer B creatively added some poetry too....

That Logitech case on my filing cabinet in plain field of view. No office handbag scrambles when calls come through.  And watching never-ending You-tube makeup how-to's... on the frame of my mirror! I'd stick it there too!!!

Eve's Power Bank winner

Thank you to everyone who entered the Eve’s Power Bank giveaway.

We have a winner – Lisa!

Lisa, could you please email me your address and I will post your pearl white Power Bank to you straight away.

Keep following my Christmas Techie Gift Guide for more ideas for presents and more giveaways.

If you missed this post you can read all about this wonderful device here

Eve's Power Bank

Today is the start of my 2013 Christmas Techie Gift Guide.  Twice each week until Christmas I will be reviewing and writing about products that I consider would make good Christmas presents - with a techie flavour.

Eve's Power Bank

Our smartphones and tablets have now eliminated so many other things that used to fill up our handbags – notepad, diary, address book, camera, MP3 player, books; and we rely on them for so many tasks – our phones are no longer just for making calls and sending texts.  There is one glitch in our reliance on our mobile devices – battery power.  If we forget to charge them occasionally we can be ‘stranded’ – out of touch & out of reach.  Even if you do remember to plug it in to charge; have you ever left the house without your phone because you forgot it was plugged in charging?   I do it all the time, I mean – I DID it all the time – but not anymore.  Look what now lives in my handbag! 

This is an Eve’s Power Bank – how cute is it? 

Eve’s Power Bank is a portable charger for your smartphone, tablet and most other mobile devices.  It has its own internal battery that can be drawn from to top up the power in your devices. 

The Power Bank can be charged up by plugging it into mains power using its cable connected to the USB port on a power plug (from one of my phones’ charging cables), or you can charge it by connecting it to a USB port on your computer.  Once it’s charged, pop it into your bag and you’re ready for the next time the battery in your devices gets a bit low.

Eve’s Power Bank comes beautifully packaged in a little box, which includes a collection of 10 swappable connector tips for just about everything you could possibly want to charge.  However, if there happens to be a device that there isn't a connector for, you can just use the cable that came with that device to connect it to the USB port on your Power Bank. 

To charge your devices you just connect it to your Power Bank and press down on the leaf on top to turn it on.  Then you’ll see what I think is one of the best features of this device – four lights indicate how much charge is left. 

Along the bottom edge, you’ll find three ports – one normal USB, one micro-USB and a special USB port for iPads.  Having more than one port means that you can charge more than one device at the same time.  With a full charge, my Eve’s Power Bank fully charged my LG phone, and my son’s completely flat Huawei at the same time, and there was still enough charge to top up my husband’s Samsung phone.  That was with the standard 3200 mAh capacity Power Bank, but if you carry a lot of devices, you might prefer the high capacity 6400 mAh. 

Eve’s Power Bank is very light, only 90 grams, and compact – just the right size to not get lost in your bag.  It also comes in six gorgeous colours – hot pink, pink, apple green, lime, sky blue and pearl white.  The higher capacity Power Bank is slightly heavier and a little thicker.

I've lost track of the number of times my little apple has come to my (and my family’s) rescue over the last few weeks.  No more hoping a phone will last until it can be plugged in – you’re not restricted to a mains power for charging when you have a Power Bank.  My sons are always using my iPad, which means I usually grab it on the way out the door and find that the power is about to run out.  Now I can just leave it connected to my Power Bank in my bag and give it a power top up.

Eve’s Power Bank is from Roaming Connections; an Australian owned and operated company who source stylish, practical and innovative technology solutions, including the largest range of power banks in Australia.  You can buy your Eve’s Power Bank from their website for $44.95 for the standard 3200 mAh, or $69.95 for the higher capacity 6400 mAh.  

This would be a great Christmas presents for anyone who uses mobile devices – so, ANYONE!

If you run a business, this could also be a great idea for a corporate gift – they can be personalised with your business logo, and it only takes about four weeks for custom printing, so there’s still plenty of time before Christmas.

A GIVEAWAY

Roaming Connections have very kindly provided an Eve’s Power Bank for one of you to win.  To enter you just have to 

• Like the Roaming Connections Facebook Page here 
• Like Techie Mum on Facebook if you don’t already
• Tell me, in the comments on the blog, which Techie related gift you would like to receive for Christmas

In addition to the prize, Roaming Connections would also like to offer my readers a very special deal.  Just use the promo code TECHIEMUM and you will receive a free iPhone5 to USB cable with any purchase from the Roaming Connections website.  Just click on the link below to be taken straight to the site and see the range

https://www.roamingconnections.com.au/products/cat/mobile-phone-power-banks-2

Disclosure: 

Roaming Connections provided me with one Eve’s Power Bank that I could trial and review, and one as a giveaway for my readers.   I will never promote a product on Techie Mum that I don’t really like.

Giveaway Terms & Conditions

• This competition is a game of chance.
• Submit your entry in a comment at the bottom of this post.  You don’t need a Google account.  Just sign in as anonymous and leave your email address.
• Like Techie Mum on Facebook here – if you don’t already.
• Like Roaming Connections on Facebook here
• This competition is open to Australian Residents only.  
• The competition is open for six days – from Monday 4 November 2013 to Saturday 9 November 2013. 
• The winner will be randomly chosen from those who have entered on Sunday 10 November 2013.
• The winner will be announced on Monday 11 November on the Techie Mum blog, Facebook page, and Twitter. 
• The winner will be contacted via the email address provided.  The winner has four days to reply; otherwise the prize will be redrawn.

This giveaway has now closed and a winner has been selected.  Make sure you follow Techie Mum on Facebook so you don't miss any future giveaways.

SmartOne charger winner

I received some amazing entries in my competition to win a SmartOne charger.  After reading your stories I am so glad I have a SmartOne – what disasters have befallen some of you through lack of battery power.

It took a while to sort through them all – but I do have a winner …… drum roll please…….

Congratulations to Tracy Heffernan 

Here is Tracy's winning entry:

I sold my friend's rather expensive amp on eBay on her behalf. The buyer and I arranged to meet in town the next day to hand it over. His last email said he would transfer the money via PayPal in the morning before he left home. Well, I had further to travel so I rushed out the door early without checking if the payment had come through - not to worry I thought, I will just check my account on my phone when I get to the meeting place. Halfway there my phone started that tell-tale slow 'meep meep' to let me know it was running out of charge. It's ok I thought, I'll make it. By the time I pulled off the highway it was flat. He was such a nice chap 'oh yes, I paid' he said. I handed it over with my heart thumping - I had either just done my friend a huge favour or lost her $600. I was meeting people for lunch; 'may I borrow your phone?' 'sure!' .... and my forgotten passwords are saved on MY phone.... that was a long drive home before I could check on my computer. Yes, he had paid, told you he was nice! But I will never forget that sinking feeling and I vowed to never let my phone go flat again!



Tracy has an online store and Facebook Page - Mother Baby Store.

Tracy, could you please email me at admin@techiemum.com with your address and I’ll pop your SmartOne in the mail to you. 

SmartOne charger

On the weekend I travelled to Melbourne for my nephew's 21st Birthday party.  I thought I'd take advantage of the travelling time to get some work done.  The trouble was, I was only taking carry-on luggage - so no laptop bag.  This was the perfect opportunity to see if my iPad could place my laptop (I'll save that for another blog post).

The big problem is that my sister is currently renovating her home and surviving with one power board providing electricity to almost the entire house.  For me, this meant nowhere to charge my devices, except at a rare moment when there was a spare spot on the power board.  And I did have a few devices with me - iPad, Bluetooth keyboard for the iPad, two phones (work and personal) and a camera.  There is no way my phones could last the entire weekend without charging – and I was expecting to take quite a few photos.

Just last week I found a solution - I took one other device with me - A SmartOne charger.

This little device can fully charge all my devices without the need for a power point.  All you have to do is charge up the SmartOne (it takes about 3 hours to fully charge via any USB port) and when you need to charge one of your devices just connect it to your SmartOne via one of the connectors that come with it.  You don't have to carry a lot of cables if you have multiple devices either - all the connectors you’ll need are cleverly attached to each other.  The multi-plug connector includes iPhone 4, Micro USB, Mini USB and standard USB along with an iPhone 5 adapter.  So you can charge most smart phones and tablets, digital cameras, video cameras, iPods, and more. 

My SmartOne ended up getting more use on the weekend than I had planned.  First, I used it to charge my Bluetooth iPad keyboard (I actually forgot that it requires charging - not sure where I thought it got its power from!); then my sister couldn't find her iPad charger so my SmartOne gave it a power topup; one of my phones; and my camera after I decided to video the speeches at the party.  

You can use the SmartOne over and over again – just charge it up and it’s ready to go again.  Another thing I love is that while your device is charging you are not attached to a power point.  SmartOne comes in seven colours - blue, magenta, black, white, green, yellow and pink.  It is very lightweight and small so you can easily pop it in your handbag and you’ll never get caught with a flat battery again. 

SmartOne is from Smarter Charger, a 100% Australian company, based in Adelaide.  You can buy SmartOne online for just $29.95 at www.smartercharger.com.au

Now that I'm home again my SmartOne will be living in my handbag, for whenever I forget to charge my phone - which is far too often.  

 GIVEAWAY!

Would you like a SmartOne?  I have one to give away.  All you have to do is leave me a comment below on this blog telling me of the worst situation you've been in resulting from having no charge in one of your techie devices.

Disclosure:  Smarter Charger provided me with one SmartOne that I could trial and review, and one as a giveaway for my readers.   I will never promote a product on Techie Mum that I don’t really like.

Giveaway Terms & Conditions

•  This competition is a game of skill.
• Submit your entry in a comment at the bottom of this post.  You don’t need a Blogger account.  Just sign in as anonymous and leave your email address.
•  Follow Techie Mum on Facebook here – if you don’t already.
•  This competition is open to Australian Residents only.  
• The competition is open for one week – from 2 September 2013 to Monday 9 September 2013. 
•  The winner will be announced on Wednesday 11 September on the Techie Mum blog, Facebook page, and Twitter. 
• The winner will be contacted via the email address provided.  The winner has four days to reply; otherwise the prize will be redrawn.

This giveaway is now over.  Congratulations to Tracy Heffernan.