The IT Nerd

One of the things that every owner of a new smartphone goes through is to buy a pile of accessories to go with the phone. Most of the time there’s a lot of trial and error to find the accessories that you’re looking for and you end up spending a lot of time, effort and money to get what you want. If you have an iPhone 5, you have another option. Online reseller MobileFun has something called The Ultimate iPhone 5 Accessory Pack which has the “must have accessories designed specifically for the iPhone 5.” The question is this, does it deliver? To answer that, let me list what it comes with and my thoughts on each item.

Apple iPhone 5 Desktop Holder: This is a metal and plastic holder that has a special adhesive on it that holds your iPhone 5 in place I found that it worked well whether your iPhone is in a case or not. My only complaint was that it came in two pieces without instructions to put it together. It’s not hard and it took less than two minutes to figure it out, but it would be nice to have some sort of directions as a form of reassurance that you’ve done it correctly. Other than that, the stand qualifies as a must have.

FlexiShield Skin: This is a low bulk skin that protects the sides and the back of your iPhone 5 from scratches and damage. The good thing about this skin is that it allows you access to all the connectors, the camera, and allows you to press all the buttons without removing it from the case. My wife found that the buttons become harder to press with the case on. But that was not a deal breaker for her. What was a deal breaker was the fact that she felt that compared to her case from Tech21 (which MobileFun sells by the way) the iPhone in this case wouldn’t survive a drop. For my standpoint I’ll be honest and state that I am not a fan of this style of case because it doesn’t protect the screen, and I too wonder how much this case will protect your iPhone in the event of a drop. But I will say that any case is better than no case. Thus it’s good that it’s part of the accessory pack. Having said that, I would say that this is a case that one should use until you get something better.

MFX Screen Protector: Five screen protectors are included with the accessory pack. Now these screen protectors do not appear to interfere with the quality of the screen as images remain just a vivid as they were without it. Also, they don’t interfere to how the screen responds to gestures. My only complaint is that newbies might have issues getting the screen protector on without bubbles if they’ve never done it before. So some directions would be handy. Here’s a hint: Take out a credit card and use the card like a squeegee to slowly apply the screen protector. This qualifies as a must have. Just make sure you apply it correctly.

Mini Portable Desk Stand: Here’s a hand item that makes you say “why didn’t they think of this earlier?” The mini portable desk stand is a suction cup which attaches itself to the back of your phone so that you can prop it up wherever you are.  It appears to work with the FlexiShield skin which is handy and it’s easy to carry. However it did not work with the Tech21 case that my wife has. So if you have a case other than the FlexiShield skin, you mileage may vary. Is it a must have? No, but it’s really nice to have and I’m glad it’s included.

1 Amp USB Car Charger Adapter: If you use the iPhone 5 as a navigation tool, you’re going to notice one thing. Navigation over an extended period of time consumes power. Thus you’re going to need a way to keep the battery charged. That’s why you need a car charger. The beauty of this one is that once your iPhone is charged, the power is cut off. Nice! It is also small and easy to stow and it has a fuse to protect your smart phone. The only catch is that you need to bring your own lightning cable to the party. But that’s not a deal breaker. In fact it’s an advantage as it will use any USB cable so you can charge any device that charges over USB. So it makes it useful for more than just your iPhone. This qualifies as a must have.

Apple iPhone 5 Car Holder: If you want to use your phone in the car for navigation purposes, you need someplace to put it so that you can see it. This iPhone car holder allows you to place your iPhone in either portrait or landscape mode by mounting to either the windshield or the dash. There’s a suction cup option, or you can use the supplied adhesive to affix it. In my case I put it on the windshield because I didn’t want to use the adhesive on the dash. It’s easy to use and holds your phone securely thanks to the fact that it’s spring loaded at a tension that holds the phone securely, but makes it easy to pop in and out. Test driving on Toronto’s rather craptastic roads couldn’t shake it loose at all. I should note that it holds the phone inside the FlexiShield Skin and it is likely to work with other cases as well. As a result, this is a must have.

So what’s the bottom line? If you’re someone who recently got an iPhone 5 and you need accessories, you should consider getting The Ultimate iPhone 5 Accessory Pack. It needs some documentation for newbies, and you’ll likely be upgrading the case that comes with it to something else. But this is a well thought out group of accessories that will have all of the things that you need to fully take advantage of your shiny new iPhone, and the combination is a good value.