Olloclip for iPhone 5

Today, I’ll be reviewing a little bit of a different product for you guys.  That product is the Olloclip for the iPhone 5.  Olloclip is a photo lens attachment that easily and quickly slides  on to your iPhone to provide a few different styles of photos similar to how you swap lenses on a DSLR camera.  It sounds like a novelty at first mention, but it’s surely something to speak about for photo buffs.

The Olloclip is nice and small making it easy to tote around with its included small bag.  They also provide lens caps for both sides to ensure nothing scratches them.  So, you must be wondering what kind of shots can this lens attachment take?  There are 3 different variations as follows; Wide angle, Fisheye & Macro.  The wide angle makes for nice wide shots.  The fisheye is extremely pronounced making the lens alignment very important to maximize the effect.  The macro lens focuses at about 15mm (very close and very cool).

The idea of having 3 different lens attachments that you can hold in the palm of your hand to enhance your camera (iPhone!) is an extremely neat idea.  The product works flawlessly and I am a big time fan of it.  For $69.99, it may be a little bit of a sticker shock but remember you are getting essentially 3 different lenses all-in-one.  You surely cannot buy a quality DSLR lens for as little as this, let alone 3. 

iCarbons for iPad Mini

The product for review today is an iCarbons wrap for the iPad Mini.  Skins or wraps like this serve a dual purpose which is dressing up your device as well as providing a good amount of scratch protection but of course won't do much in the event of a drop.  I am a huge fan of using gadgets as they came from the factory (avoiding using any type of case) and iCarbons is perfect in every way.  

I had the opportunity to review an iCarbons wrap for the iPhone 5 and I couldn't have been more excited to check out their iPad Mini version.  They were nice enough to send over a black carbon version.  I was also fortunate enough to get a version with the apple logo cut-out before apple put the hammer down on that.  I see that they are now offering versions that do not cut out the apple logo at the time of this writing (06MAR13).  

I recall being impressed by the exact cuts that they're using which fit the device absolutely perfectly.  Well, the iPad Mini version is certainly no exception.  The pieces of the wrap fit the device in the most exact and perfect way.  It is almost so perfect to the point that the installation was a little bit of a challenge.  I would have to say that is my ONLY gripe on this and I can't even justify it as a complaint. Every single cutout around the perimeter of the iPad is cut with extreme precision - absolutely no issues accessing any buttons or switches.  

Like mentioned above, installation takes a little bit of patience but with the help of iCarbons instructional videos, it wasn't too bad.  The back piece took quite a few tries to get the top and bottom to align perfectly.  The nice thing about these skins is that you can lift them back up repeatedly when aligning it without loss of adhesion.  Moving to the front skin install, I started at the bottom and worked my way to the top which took me about 3-5 minutes.  

All in all, I can honestly say, BUY THIS!  It is an amazing product and well well worth the money; $24.95 for the front/back and $14.95 for either front only or back only.  

Mophie Juice Pack Helium for iPhone 5

The product that i'll be reviewing for you guys today is all new from Mophie and it's called the Juice Pack Helium.  Mophie has been a household name when it comes to battery cases for your iPhone and is top dog as far as i'm concerned.  Mophie products are targeted to the user whose work day goes beyond 9-5 and having extra battery power is paramount.  

Lets start with my first impression of the Juice Pack Helium.  Holding the case in hand, you will immediately notice the premium soft touch finish of the case; it is REALLY nice.  The next thing I noticed is that they have finally moved the status LED's to the back of the case versus having them on the bottom.  In addition to that, when the case is being charged, the lights will illuminate for 30 seconds but will turn off after that as to avoid being bothersome when you have this charging on your nightstand at night.  The last major thing I noticed is that the charging port has moved to the bottom instead of the side which should help out a lot with broken ports like the prior cases.  

The case itself is surprisingly lightweight (2.44oz) so it doesn't feel like a brick when installed.  The Helium design is pretty typical of their iPhone battery cases which will add length to the device but certainly does not inhibit with the speaker and mic on the bottom of the phone.  Starting there, you'll see that the headphone jack is recessed by a large amount and Mophie has included a headphone extender to offset that issue.  There is nothing more that Mophie can do about that since Apple moved the headphone port to the bottom.  The left side of the case has one large cutout that is wide open for the volume buttons and silent switch; no issues using any of those.  The top of the case is similar and has a perfectly sized opening to access the sleep/wake button.  Like I mentioned above, the back side of the case contains the status LED's, a button that illuminates those LED's to check charge status and a switch to trigger the battery on and off.  The opening for the camera and flash is black lined so it does not cause any flash back.  

As for the technical specs of the all new Helium, it packs a 1500 mAh battery which is touted to provide roughly an 80% charge of your device.  This will vary of course based on your usage while it is charging along with your phones settings i.e. email push etc.  This amount of power should suffice for most users without a doubt.  One thing to note is that you cannot sync your phone over the provided wire.  You will have to sync wirelessly to iTunes.  This should be a non issue for most people especially since most users sync to iCloud over night anyways.

So, with all that being said, I love the Helium case and certainly recommend it.  You simply cannot go wrong with a Mophie product.  The Helium case retails for $79.95 and is available in 2 colors - Dark metallic and Silver metallic.