For those looking at the 3100mAh battery though, it’s worth noting that given the size, Mugen Power provides a new back cover for the phone. This means your standard i8910 will be chunkier than normal with this battery. The sleek looks will inevitably be spoiled, but it seems like a great option for those who do a lot of travelling. Both batteries are in stock from the Mugen Power website right now. The 1550mAh battery will set you back $29.95, whilst the larger 3100mAh battery costs $96.95.

MobileFun, a specialist retailer of mobile accessories, kindly sent over the Desk Genie for us to review. The device costs £14.99. MobileFun applies a small delivery charge on top of this depending on whether shipping is to the UK or mainland Europe. Click through to read our impressions of this charging desk stand.

The Desk Genie itself comes in a small white unmarked cardboard box. Inside the box you’ll find the stand itself, a manual, USB cable and a number of mobile adaptors that should fit a number of cell phones.

I didn’t find the manual to be very useful, it gives you instructions on how the Desk Genie can be used as a USB hub and card reader, but there is little information on getting started with charging your handset. You can have a look for yourself by downloading the instructions from here.

Inside the box you’ll find a number of different phone adaptors that should fit various mobile phones on the market. For a full list check out the MobileFun product page. The cable on the right side is what these adaptors connect to, this is then connected to the charging stand.

The stand itself is made from plastic and is L-shaped in design. The picture below shows the non-slip surface covered in its initial protective plastic, once removed it is black rubbery surface. The base holds a couple of USB ports on one side and the card reader on the other. You can’t see it here, but the front of the stand has a blue LED, which lights up when charging. It measures 59 x 102 x 106mm and weighs 95g.

The back of the Desk Genie has a mini USB port and DC power jack. The USB port is connected to your laptop or PC and the power jack is connected to your mobile, via the short cable described above.

One side of the base holds the 8-in-1 card reader. There are 4 slots here that should allow you to transfer files from a number of different formats including SD, MMC, MicroSD and M2 cards (the latter two without adaptors). We tested a couple of memory cards that worked without issue.

The other side holds two USB 2.0 ports that can be used as a hub for your laptop or PC. These ports can be used with USB memory sticks and Bluetooth dongles. This worked as advertised without any complications.

Set-up is straight forward, but one issue we had is that the power cable does not fit snugly into the port. The cable header is a bit too big and is restricted by the stand. You have to force the cable downwards to make sure it’s connected (even then it’s not snug).

Once it’s all setup it works as advertised. The Desk Genie is purely a charging device only, it cannot be used to sync to your PC, which is probably the main disappointment. Had you been able to power your device whilst having access it would have been an easier sell.

However, as a charging device it works very well and the addition of a USB hub and card reader is a nice touch. The non-slip surface also works, you can place your mobile in almost any position (maybe if you want to watch a video whilst travelling) and it won’t come off.

I questioned the use of this cell phone holder when I first received it, but as I’ve tested it over the last few weeks I’ve become increasingly fond of it. I have set it up with my desktop PC and it’s taken permanent residency there. It’s not one of those accessories that you think is a must-have but it is surprisingly practical. Overall, we were pleasantly surprised by the Desk Genie, if syncing to your PC isn’t a priority than it comes recommended.

Many thanks to MobileFun for sending through this charging stand for review!

MobileFun, a specialist retailer of mobile accessories, kindly sent over the DriveMultiSolar for us to review. The device is also known as the Clip and Talk Solar Edition according to the retailer and costs £29.95. MobileFun applies a small delivery charge on top of this depending on whether shipping is to the UK or mainland Europe.

It utilizes the latest Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR standard so you shouldn’t have any issues with compatibility. This standard also enables better security and automatic pairing compared to Bluetooth 2.0.

The ‘ecological’ message of using a solar-powered device is emphasized on the side of the packaging. Whilst solar power can’t be used in a lot of gadgets, this is one area where it works beautifully – especially considering many will keep it attached to the underside of the car windscreen (solar panel facing skywards).

Other features include a noise cancelling omni-directional microphone. The 16-bit digital signal processor (DSP) the Solar Car-Kit filters the surrounding noise and reduces the echo of your own voice. You also get Text-to-Speech (TTS) technology that enables the device to announce an incoming callers name or phone number.

There are a number of accessories included in the box, including the DriveMultiSolar Bluetooth speakerphone, in-car charger, USB charging cable, windscreen mount/bracket with suction cups and user manual.

Nexxus has included a reasonably detailed manual for the DriveMultiSolar. This covers how to install the mount as well as thorough instructions on how to pair & sync the Bluetooth device with your phone.

Nexxus has covered every base in terms of the accessories provided, they even include a couple of extra rubber mounts, just in case the old ones degrade.

The car charger is designed for convenience of use. It includes a round grip that makes it easy to plug in & out of the car. The charger voltage is DC5.0V 550 mAh. The DriveMultiSolar takes around three hours to charge directly.

The charger has a modular approach, which means you won’t find it attached with a cable that can be messy when stored. It simply has a USB port at the back that is used to attach a USB cable when needed. The fact that these USB cables are easy to source, means it should last a long time if the cable malfunctions.

Lastly, we have the obligatory LED that lets us know if the charger is attached corrected. The thumb grips can be seen on the side.

Nexxus includes a USB to Micro USB cable in the box. This means you can use it to charge the DriveMultiSolar from both the car and PC/laptop.

The windscreen mount is made out of tough clear plastic and includes two rubber suction cups on the top and bottom. Foam buffers adorn the corners of the bracket to stop it scratching the windscreen.

Nexxus were also thoughtful enough to include two extra rubber suction cups, just incase the others get lost or damaged.

The DriveMultiSolar uses Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR (enhanced data rate) that operates on the 2.4 GHz – 2.48 GHz unlicensed ISM frequency band. It is designed to work up to 10 metres, which shouldn’t be in issue given that it will be used in a car. The DriveMultiSolar can store up to eight paired devices in its memory. It also supports headset and handset 1.5 profiles.

The design of the device has been well thought out. A large button at the top is used to answer/end a call, power the device on/off, put it into pairing mode, redial the last number called and activates voice dialing. As you can probably tell, this key has quite a few functions, which are all well explained in the manual. To start using the device you have to keep this button pressed for about four seconds until you hear a short beep and the blue LED flashes five times.

Underneath this is a silver rocker bar that is used to increase/decrease speaker volume. The whole thing is quite small and has dimensions of 92.5 x 54 x 15.5 mm.

The mute button sits to the left of the device and the USB charging port sits on the right. Before using for the first time, you are recommended to fully charge the device from the USB port (either through the car charger or PC).

A large solar panel occupies most of the backside of the DriveMultiSolar. Nexxus has used as much space as possible to ensure that the most amount of light is captured.

The DriveMultiSolar uses a 650mAh lithium-ion battery. It takes around three hours to charge via USB or 18 hours via the solar panel. Once fully charged, the device is quoted to give you up to 13 hours of talk time and 800 hours of standby time (excluding solar use).

I’ve been testing it for a fortnight and the battery is still going strong. However, I’m a light user when it comes to making calls in the car and it would be interesting to see how well the solar power could supplement the battery for more heavy users. For reference, a 2-hour solar charge will give you around 1 hour of talk time.

The car kit is easily attached to the windscreen via the rubber suction cups. Installation is a breeze and to be honest once it has been set up, there’s probably no need to remove it. It’s best to place it out of sight, it is recommended to place it towards the top edge of the windscreen.

To pair the kit to the phone you need to put the device into pairing mode by turning the kit off and then pressing and holding the answer button for about 10 seconds until the lights flashed red and blue. You then need to search on your phone for Bluetooth devices and select the Bluetooth car kit.

The car kit also supports multipoint technology, enabling you to connect two phones at a time. You first need to enable multipoint by pressing and hold the + button for about 3 seconds. As long as both phones are in range, it will then connect with the last two phones that it had connected to previously. When a call comes through to either of the handsets, the kit automatically connects to the phone that’s ringing and route it through the speaker.

In practice this worked very well, picking up calls separately and I was even able to make outgoing calls easily too. Personally I only carry one handset at a time, but there are plenty of people that have one business and one personal handset.

The DriveMultiSolar has a 2 Watt speaker that should be loud enough to hear the other person whilst driving. Testing it around the local roads was no problem, however I didn’t get a chance to see how it would fare on the motorway at higher speeds or in bad weather conditions (wind, rain etc). In all the calls I made, the Bluetooth signal held together and didn’t experience any dropouts.

Overall, I was very impressed by the DriveMultiSolar car kit. Use of a solar panel fits perfectly with this type of device. The fact that for most users you’ll probably never need to charge the kit speaks volumes. It can just sit on your windscreen to make calls whilst on the move, both safely and legally. Pairing was easy and call quality was good. For just £29.95 it offers great value for money too. Recommended.

Many thanks to MobileFun for sending through this Bluetooth car kit for review!

However, there is one caveat and that is battery life. Using Garmin on my i8910 is the quickest way to drain the battery. I’ve been looking for a solution for a while and luckily, help was at hand. MobileFun, a specialist retailer of mobile accessories, kindly sent over the DriveSafe Car Kit for the Samsung i8910 HD. This kit not only includes a holder for the handset, but also a charger too – not bad for only £12.95 + P&P.

The kit comes in a small box from ‘SPK EASY’. These guys do a number of these kits for various mobile phones, hence the i8910 white sticker in the bottom left. Whilst it is labelled as a ‘Windscreen Suction Holder’ the kit does include a car charger too (as seen in the graphic).

The kit includes three pieces: 1) the flexible arm with suction cup, 2) the mobile cradle and 3) the micro USB car charger.

The flexible arm has a socket at one end made from plastic. The four indentations are used to clip the cradle into.

The other side includes a suction cup (the picture below shows it still with the wrapping over the end). The flexible rubber arm was easily malleable to move into position.

The ratchet lever below is used to attach the suction cup onto your windscreen. The lever needs to be pushed forward when attaching it, this arches the cup so that when the lever is pushed back suction is created. It can be a bit fiddly to get on, but once you do it doesn’t move.

The rubber cup intentionally sits separately to the plastic behind it. This means that when the holder is attached it allows some flex to move it one way or the other.

The small plastic cradle is designed to hold the Samsung i8910 HD and fits the lower part of the phone.

The i8910 HD car charger is typically what you find with any other mobile car charger. A small red LED at the bottom highlights when the charger is plugged in and working correctly.

The i8910 fits easily into the cradle, although we did have problems making sure the cradle part didn’t stop coming off the flexible arm. This was mainly when trying to get it into the position needed (it’s best to do this without the handset attached!)

We did have an issue with the car charger connecting to the handset. If the i8910 is fully seated, the micro USB port is partially blocked by the cradle. This means that you can’t easily plug the charger in. We got round this by plugging the charger in first and then carefully pushing the back part of the cradle behind the charger. This worked with ease but it’s a pretty major design flaw in our eyes.

It is also worth noting that the charging cable isn’t that long, even when stretched. It means that you’ll need to place the handset in the middle of the screen rather than to one side. However, once we got past these niggles, the DriveSafe car kit worked as advertised.

Despite some of the flaws, you have to remember that the car kit offers good value for money. Had we not had issues with trying to plug in the car charger then this would have been an easy device to recommend. However, as it stands you will have to decide whether this is something that you can get round like we did.

Many thanks to MobileFun for sending through this car kit for review! MobileFun deliver across the UK and Europe.