Which iPod have I got?

Since Apple launched their original iPod back in October 2001, the range has grown and evolved. Although iPod’s look fairly similar, each one is individual, and has its own range of accessories. Here you can determine which iPod you have, and find out what accessories are available for it.

What does the “G” mean?
When Apple launched the early iPod’s, they weren’t given names like they are today. The original iPod was replaced by a newer model also called iPod. As the newer model had several advanced features over its predecessor, it was dubbed the new generation of iPod, this over time change to 2nd Generation, which in turn got shortened to 2G.

The number preceding the “G” just determines where that particular model sits in the range of iPods. Even now with the Nano iPod, we are seeing 2nd and 3rd Generation models. The original style of iPod is now called the iPod Classic, and no doubt as time goes on, more generations will follow. The only exception to this is the iPhone 3G, where the 3G refers to the technology within the phone, and not the generation of iPhone.

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BlackBerry Cases Guide

BlackBerry devices normally take a fair few knocks in their day to day use, and in order to look after yours and keep it working as hard as you do, a case is a worthwhile investment. Leading manufacturers such as Krusell, PDair, Piel Frama and BlackBerry themselves make cases specifically for the BlackBerry devices, but which case is right for you?

Genuine BlackBerry
Genuine BlackBerry cases are designed to compliment your BlackBerry, while keeping your phone as accessible as possible. BlackBerry are one of the only manufacturers who offer phone specific cases in a range of styles and colours – and the only manufacturer that offer silicone cases. Genuine BlackBerry cases range from Protective Skins to Executive Leather Pouches. BlackBerry Skins protect your device from knocks and scrapes, without adding any extra bulk to your phone while the leather cases add style to your BlackBerry and normally cover the whole device. Your BlackBerry can still be charged and synchronised with out having to be removed from the case thanks to cut outs in the case for chargers and data cables. The BlackBerry pouches are similar in design to the original pouch provided with the BlackBerry Curve. They protect the phone from everyday knocks and some some also feature the magnet that puts your BlackBerry into quiet mode when insterted into the case.

• Genuine BlackBerry Pearl 8100 Cases
• Genuine BlackBerry Pearl 8110 / 8120/ 8130 Cases
• Genuine BlackBerry Curve 8300 Cases
• Genuine BlackBerry Curve 8310 / 8320 Cases
• Genuine BlackBerry 8800 Cases
• Genuine BlackBerry Bold Cases
• Genuine BlackBerry Storm Cases

Piel Frama

The Piel Frama range of BlackBerry cases are hand made, with meticulous attention to detail. Every Piel Frama case is assembled by hand, to create designs that perfectly complement your BlackBerry. As with the Genuine BlackBerry cases, your BlackBerry can be charged and synchronised without having to be removed from the case thanks to cut outs in the leather. Each case has space for storing credit cards or business cards. All Piel Frama cases are a vertical flip design and have a removable belt clip.

• Piel Frama BlackBerry Pearl 8100 Cases
• Piel Frama BlackBerry Pearl 8110 / 8120 / 8130 Cases
• Piel Frama BlackBerry Curve 8300 / 8310 / 8320 Cases
• Piel Frama BlackBerry 8800 Cases

PDair
PDair BlackBerry cases are Executive Leather cases that protect your phone and keep it looking stylish. PDair BlackBerry cases are available in a range of styles, including; Book Case, Sleeve Case and Flip Case. Most of the PDair BlackBerry cases have a magnetic sensor built in that activates the "In-Holster" profile settings. They have a secure belt clip that can be easily removed if not required and have cut outs in the leather to allow your BlackBerry to be charged or connected to your PC with out having to be taken out of the case.

• PDair BlackBerry Pearl 8100 Cases
• PDair BlackBerry Pearl 8110 / 8120 / 8130 Cases
• PDair BlackBerry Curve 8300 / 8310 / 8320 Cases
• PDair BlackBerry 8800 Cases
• PDair BlackBerry Bold Cases
• PDair BlackBerry Storm Cases

Krusell
Krusell BlackBerry cases are designed for the everyday user. Krusell’s "cabriolet" design leaves the keyboard open, making typing much easier, and the open top allows for quick removal of your BlackBerry device. Krusell cases are also compatible with the Multidapt range of holders – a unique interchangeable clip stystem. Learn more about Multidapt.

• Krusell BlackBerry Pearl 8100 Cases
• Krusell BlackBerry Pearl 8110 / 8120/ 8130 Cases
• Krusell BlackBerry Curve 8300 / 8310 / 8320 Cases
• Krusell BlackBerry 8800 Cases
• Krusell BlackBerry Bold Cases
• Krusell BlackBerry Storm Cases

Extend your Mobile Phone's battery life

Want to use less energy and get more battery life out of your mobile phone? Here are our top 5 tips on how to reduce your mobile phones carbon footprint.

Turn your phone off!
It may sound silly, but how many times do you turn your phone off when you go to bed at night? Chances are you’ve not had many phone calls in the middle of the night, so by turning your phone off when you go to bed, and back on again in the morning, you’re saving 8 hours a day of battery life and could extend your battery life by a few days.

Turn off Bluetooth.
Bluetooth only needs to be turned on when you need it – by leaving it turned on all day your phone is constantly looking for other Bluetooth devices and draining your battery.

Turn off GPRS, 3G & WiFi.
If you never use the internet on your mobile, you won’t notice any difference by turning GPRS and 3G off – other than having to charge your phone less! If you do use Internet on your phone through either 3G or WiFi, turn them on as and when you need them, other wise they’ll be consuming power searching for networks when there is no need.

Adjust the display.
Manufacturers normally set the screen to its brightest setting to make it look clearer. This only drains power, adjust the settings and dim the screen to a level that you can still see, but is no brighter than it needs to be. Change the screen saver settings too, set it to come on sooner – reducing the time the screen is lit up for.

Leave it alone!
We’re all guilty of it, we get bored, nervous, need to look busy, so we pick up our phones and start fiddling with them. We’re not doing anything on them, only draining the battery. Put it down and find something else to play with!

Solar Powered Bluetooth Carkit

These days we’re all trying to reduce our carbon footprint. Turning things off when they’re not needed, getting more efficient cars, recycling waste, but what can you do to reduce the footprint of your mobile phone?

The one source of power that is all around us, completely free and has no damaging effects on the environment is the sun, and thanks to a new range of accessories, you can now harness the power of the sun to help reduce the power your mobile phone uses.

Solar Powered Bluetooth Car Kits
LG and Iqua have both released a Solar powered Bluetooth Car Kit.

The LG HFB-500 sits on the inside of your car windscreen and charges itself using energy from the sun. While its in sunlight it will charge constantly, and can provide upto 16 hours of talktime, and 1100 hours stand by time from a full charge! LG also provide a car charger, just in case the battery does run out, but as you’ll no doubt be leaving this in your windscreen all day, everyday you’ll probably never need it! If you have an LG handset, you can use the HFB-500 as an emergency charger and charge your phone from it.

The Iqua Vizor Sun is a slightly different concept and is designed to be mounted on your sunvisor. You’ll need to have your sunvisor down in order for it to charge, but its clear keypad makes answering calls easy. Talk time is even more impressive than the LG Handsfree, and it has unlimited standby times when in sunlight.

Solar Powered Bluetooth headset
Iqua are certainly leading the field with environmentally friendly mobile accessories – In addition to their Solar Powered Bluetooth Car Kit, they also offer the worlds first Solar Powered Bluetooth Headset – the Iqua Sun BH-603. Despite having a solar panel built in, the headset weighs just 14g and provides upto 9 hours of talktime in darkness, even more in daylight. As the Iqua Sun draws its energy directly from the sun, it gives you complete freedom from wires.

Solar Chargers:
These are a must have accessory for anyone with an MP3 player, Mobile Phone, Handheld games console, or any other gadget that can be charged using a USB Charging Cable. The Solar Chargers have an inbuilt battery that draws its power from the sun. A range of charging tips are included for most devices. Solar Chargers are ideal for trips away, days out or down on the beach!

Using the Sun to charge your mobile phone and accessories may not be the biggest change you can make, but its certainly a step in the right direction. To help you save more energy, read our post on How to extend your Mobile Phone’s battery life.

BlackBerry Curve 8310 Pouches

As an 8310 owner one of the biggest difficulties I faced was getting a case for my phone. I’m not joking, I see a lot of cases listed in various sites but they all have 8300 in the name. Do all 8300 cases fit the 8310? Do only some cases fit? Is it just me??

So after hours (well actually minutes) of pain staking work, I can confirm the cases below not only fit, but where appropriate leave charging points accessible. So despite the names these will definitely work with the 8310.

PDair Pouch for the BlackBerry 8300 Curve

Genuine BlackBerry 8300 Curve Vinyl Pouch

Genuine BlackBerry 8300 Curve Skin Pouch

New Vodafone Handsets coming – 625, 730, 830 rumoured

Vodafone & Huawei - New handsets coming?

We just heard that Huawei, the company behind the ever popular USB Mobile Broadband Dongle and some of Vodafone’s own handsets, (710, 716 and 810) are set to announce the Huawei U5800 as the Vodafone 730. Details are sketchy, but the handset is thought to be a “WCDMA/GPRS/GSM Mobile Phone with Bluetooth.” The handset is expected to be a simple candybar design as with the current 700 series.

Also in the pipeline are a Vodafone 830 and Vodafone 625. The Vodafone 830 will support HSDPA/UMTS/GPRS/GSM and Bluetooth and is thought to be of a sliding design.

The Vodafone 625 (aka Huawei U1100)is a WCDMA/GPRS/GSM/EDGE Mobile Phone with Bluetooth. This phone can operate in virtually all countries, automatically switching between WCDMA 2100 and GSM/GPRS 900/1800/1900 networks.

Watch this space!

Having problems with your Nokia Charger?

Mobile Fun have put together a simple guide to help you to determine which type of Nokia Charger you need for your phone. This simple guide lets you know exactly which charger you will need and shows you all the different charging options available. Check out our full guide to Nokia Chargers.

Nokia Chargers

Classic Nokia Charger
This is the original Nokia Charger connector, the one that everyone will have lying around at home. No longer used on any of their current handsets, this is a 3.5mm connection used on handsets from the original Nokia 5110, right through to the Nokia 6230i.

2mm Nokia Charger
This is the current Nokia Charger, used on most of their handsets. With phones getting smaller in size, Nokia reduced the size of the charging pin down to 2mm. If you have the classic Nokia mains or car charger, you can use the Nokia CA-44 Charging Adapter to reduce the size of the charging tip from 3.5mm to 2mm.

Micro USB Nokia Charger
Starting to appear on the higher end Nokia phones, the Micro USB Charger uses the same port as some handsfree kits and data cables (not at the same time!) These ports provide a faster transfer rate, which is why they can normally be found on the latest Multimedia handsets.

Charge Anywhere
Historically you could only ever get chargers to use at home or in the car. Now you can charge your phone just about anywhere. You can now use a USB Charging Cable connected to a spare port on your PC or Laptop, an Emergency Charger that uses a standard AA Battery, a wind-up charger or even Solar power.

How to solve A2DP problems with the Jabra BT320s

If you are experiencing issues while trying to listen to your music on your Jabra BT320s, this troubleshooting guide should point you in the right direction.

On some handsets, users may find that although they can make and receive calls perfectly fine, they may not be able to hear music in stereo if at all. In order to resolve this there are 2 possible fixes:

Fix 1: Hard reset of BT320

• Delete the pairing from your phone. If you are not sure how to do this, please consult your phones user manual.
• Turn off the headset.
• Plug the charger into the headset 3 times, keeping it plugged in for 4 seconds each time before unplugging it.
• Pair the headset to your phone.

Fix 2: Software Update
If the Hard reset hasn’t solved your problem you may need to update the software in your headset. The cable required to update the headset is not included with the headset and is not currently available from Mobile Fun. The cable is the same as a Sony DSC-S650 Digital Camera.

• Download and install the Jabra Software Update Tool.
• Follow any on screen prompts.
• When the update is finished, pair the headset to your phone.

It is extremely important that you do not turn off your computer or unplug the headset during the update process as this could cause irreversible damage to your headset. Mobile Fun will not accept any responsibility for any damage caused to your headset during a software upgrade.

How to pair your Jabra Headset to your phone

Before you can start to use your Jabra Bluetooth Headset or Bluetooth Car Kit you will need to pair it with your phone. Pairing is the name of the process that allows your phone to find and connect with another Bluetooth device. In order to pair your devices you will need to put your headset into pairing mode and enter a passkey.
For detailed instructions on how to pair your Jabra Bluetooth Headset or Car Kit, select your device from the list below.

Apologies in advance for how badly laid out this post is – I’ve moved from a self hosted blog to a wordpress blog and can’t lay it out how i’d like at the moment.. will try and get round to tidying it up soon.

This will take you to the Jabra Pairing website and guide you through how to get your devices working. If you can’t see your phone listed on the second stage, select the closest available model.

• 
  Jabra BT135
  Pairing Instructions
• 
  Jabra BT 2020
  Pairing Instructions
• 
  Jabra BT125
  Pairing Instructions
• 
  Jabra BT530
  Pairing Instructions
• 
  Jabra BT5020
  Pairing Instructions
• 
  Jabra BT4010
  Pairing Instructions
• 
  Jabra BT2010
  Pairing Instructions
• 
  Jabra BT3010
  Pairing Instructions
• 
  Jabra BT2040
  Pairing Instructions
• 
  Jabra BT8040
  Pairing Instructions
• 
  Jabra BT2050
  Pairing Instructions

Stereo Bluetooth Headsets:

• 
  Jabra BT620s
  Pairing Instructions
• 
  Jabra BT3030
  Pairing Instructions

Bluetooth Car Kits:

• 
  Jabra SP500
  Pairing Instructions
• 
  Jabra SP700
  Pairing Instructions
• 
  Jabra SP5050
  Pairing Instructions