Review: Mobi Products World Wall Adapter for Dual S&C Cables

Casey Chan — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 17:19:05 +0000

Are you a frequent international traveler? Are you always confused by international electrical outlets? Have you realized that there are a gazillion different electrical outlets requiring a gazillion different plugs? Well, the Mobi Products World Wall Adapter for S&C Cables for iPhone 3G, iPhone ($34.95) tries to simplify the tangled messy world of cables by giving you almost every solution in a simple adaptor. How does it perform?

Read on for the rest of the review!

Design

The design is quite simple, it looks minimally more complicated than a classic adapter. But the truth is, the Mobi Products World Wall Adapter is a multi-faceted tool that packs a lot of versatility in one body. You have options for charging via US outlets, British Outlets, or European Outlets and at the same time carry the same options for charging from US, British, and European electronic devices.

Specifically, if you are from the United States and need to charge your iPhone in the UK, it’ll work. If you’re from the United Kingdom and need to charge your iPhone in the United States, it’ll also work. It’ll work both ways, more ways, and pretty much always. With the Mobi Products World Wall Adapter, your country and destination is likely covered if you’re reading this on the Internet. It’s like the Swiss Army Knife for travel adapters.

Also, the charger has two USB ports available for charging. Thank god USB is universal because if each region had their own USB, well that would be more of a doozy than the electrical outlets.

Usability

I found the Mobi Products World Wall Adapter to be a very convenient accessory to have when traveling. I was in Europe for a couple weeks and my only adapter was this Mobi Produts Adapter and it worked flawlessly. I didn’t have to go searching for different adapters for different countries and different electronic devices; I was easily able to charge my laptop, iPhone, and camera with this one adapter.

The On/Off switch and Indicator Light made it easy for me to determine if the adapter was working and its light weight made it unnoticeable when moving from station to station. However, because the adapter includes so many different charging capabilities, it is a little bit bulkier than ideal size, but this can be forgiven since the adapter packs so many features into one device.

The execution of the Mobi Products World Wall Adapter is smart and purposeful. It all is designed to look like a one piece device but when put to use, the usefulness of all three adapters shines through. The inclusion of the three main electrical outlets allows the adapter to be compatible with over 150 countries worldwide. There are also built in surges and spikes protection system to protect your electronic devices from potential damage.

Final Thoughts

If you’re looking for a travel charger that simply does it all in any circumstance with any plug, look no further than the Mobi Products World Wall Adapter. Traveling without charging fear is traveling with a peace of mind. I found it incredibly easy to interchange the adapters and overall, a breeze to use. If you are looking for a great travel charger, you can’t possibly go wrong with the Mobi Products.

PROS

Simple, Straightforward Design
Two USB Ports for Charging
As close as you can get to a Universal Charger

CONS

A tad bit bulky

Final Rating: 4.8/5

Review: SPE Headphone Adapter for Apple iPhone

Dieter Bohn — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 22:24:00 +0000

The iPhone’s recessed headphone jack has been a headache for those who prefer to use their own headphones instead of the stock Apple headphones. The new Smartphone Experts Headphone Adapter ($9.95) solves that problem handily — and without sticking out too far either.

Read on for the full review.

The Headphone Jack

The iPhone is clearly the best smartphone out there for listening to music, Jobs himself saying that it is (at least before Apple’s big announcements today) “the best iPod ever.” So naturally Apple one-upped most other smartphones out there by using a standard 3.5mm headphone jack. That’s the good news. The bad news is that the jack is deeply recessed, meaning that many, if not most, standard headphones don’t actually fit into the jack – they’re blocked by the iPhone’s casing.

That’s what happened with my favorite pair of headphones, a standard in-ear isolating set from Sony. As you can see from the photo above, no dice. What to do?

The Competition: Belkin

The Belkin headphone adapter was first to market and definitely deserves some credit for that. The problem with the Belkin adapter is that it sticks out — it sticks out a lot. At just over 2 inches beyond the top of the iPhone, it’s not a very ideal solution. Really the only point in Belkin’s favor is that it is able to flex, but it doesn’t stay in place when you flex it. So at the end of the day you have an adapter that stick out a full 2 inches before you plug in your own headphones. Not great.

The Solution: The SPE Adapter

The Smartphone Experts adapter is a much simpler design, just a short, black plug that fits into the iPhone’s jack. It’s simple black plastic with some grips on the side. The adapter fits nicely into the iPhone and doesn’t wiggle around when it’s inserted. Unlike the Belkin, it’s not flexible, but since it feels sturdy when inserted I’m not worried it’s going to weaken the solder points on the jack by putting horizontal pressure on them.

However, the main benefit, if you haven’t gathered by now, is that the SPE Adapter is shorter by just over half an inch. It doesn’t seem like much on paper, but it definitely feels like a lot.

Sound Quality

The adapter converts the 3.5mm jack to.. 3.5mm, although it’s important to note that headphones with a microphone (such as Apple’s stock headphones) will work, but the microphone will not. Sound quality is just fine to my ears – definitely no significant change from plugging in directly to the iPhone. Well, one significant change: I much prefer the improved bass of my in-ear sound isolating headphones and the richer sounds overall they provide. So sound quality: as good as your headphones — which means that in many cases it will be much better than what you’re getting with the stock headphones.

Conclusion

There’s not much more to say. The Smartphone Experts Headphone Adapter allows you to use your favorite pair of headphones with the iPhone and doesn’t stick out as far as the competition. I’ll ding it a point for not working with microphone-enabled headphones, but I do so half-heartedly. It sells for $9.95 at the Phone Different Store. As of this writing, the powers-that-be in the store tell us they’re arriving now in relatively large batches, so the wait time on the current backorder shouldn’t be too long.

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