I’m happy. Occasionally, we get through innovative takes on mobile gadgetry, and this I think of one of them. OK, it does addresses the business user market segment more squarely, but who would have thought combining a passcard holder and Bluetooth holder could be such a good idea?!

Well that’s exactly what IQUA have done, and what MobileFun are retailing – even better, they’ve given us a review unit, plus THREE (yes, THREE!) units to give away!

Here’s a little info on the units:

Key Features:

• Bluetooth handsfree and corporate ID badge holder combined
• Accepts an ID card that measures up to 85mm by 55mm
• Easy to carry and use
• Stylish design to complement your professional look
• Talktime up to 40h!
• Standby time up to 600h
• Vibration to alert incoming calls silently during meetings
• 3-way conference call
• Support for VOIP calls
• Switch between phone and handsfree modes
• Bluetooth connection active, call status and low battery indicated by multi-colored LEDs

The competition should be going live alongside one of ‘The Signal’ Podcasts, in the next month or so! In the meanwhile you can buy them here.

[Via: MobileFun]

eXpansys have been in contact again, to let us know about their ‘most wanted gadgets 2009′ – a very decent selection, with some good deals to be had:

DroboPro 8-BAY Storage Solution Now £949.99

Apple iPhone 3G S 32GB In Black and Unlocked Now £899.99

Sony P19WN/Q VAIO Netbook Plus £150 Cash Back Now £849.99

Nokia N900 Media Tablet Plus £30 eXpansys Vouchers Now £499.99

HTC Hero Smartphone Plus £30 eXpansys Vouchers Now £369.99

Parrot RKi8400 Bluetooth Car Stereo and Hands-free Kit Now £284.99

Personally I like the look of the HTC Hero at that price, but then the Parrot Car Stereo is oh so very tempting…!

Crumbs. And I thought the last piece I wrote on O2 being the home of smartphones was going to be the last I would write this year regarding launches of big-hitter devices – wrong!

There have been rumours circulating that O2 have also got the HTC HD2 (Leo), a not inconsequential device that packs a massive screen, and some seriously credible styling. On top of that, I reported just the other day on Motorola’s direct marketing of their Dext device (they are leaving nothing to chance with this one).

So that adds another two fairly hot smartphones to the pile, in what is becoming a somewhat crowded showdown already – just to recap then, you’ve got a choice of:

• Apple iPhone 3G
• Palm Pre
• Samsung Galaxy
• HTC HD2
• HTC Hero
• Motorola Dext
• + (I expect) the BlackBerry Storm 2, or another BB device

Jeepers! This means you are now pretty much spoilt for choice when out shopping for your next device. Of course, each of them have their own strengths and weaknesses. For example, I’d argue the iPhone is the best media-centric device, on account of it’s tight integration with iTunes, and ability to handle images and video with ease. However, the Pre is carrying what is supposed to be an superb new O/S (and obviously that QWERTY form factor), and the Galaxy/Hero are packing Android!

Could we soon be reaching the point where we find a device that does most things, really really well? Maybe – that device might even be in the list above…

Now we all know how important is to have good quality headphones to pump choons in to your brain – and amongst headphone manufacturers, Shure are well-renowned as purveyors of great headphones – so it made me very happy to find out that AMP3 are selling the SE110 headphones with 50% off for a short while! Oh yes, normally you pay £56.99, but for the moment (until 1st October) £28.49!

Product Overview:

• Sound Isolating Design
• Speaker Type: Balanced MicroSpeaker
• 2-Year Limited Warranty
• Included Fit Kit, Available in black and white

If you want ‘em, then hit up this link, and you can follow the process to get the discount! Happy listening!

Check out Advanced MP3 Players (AMP3) other products here.

Nice and quick this one: voucher code to get some money off if you want to buy some stuff at eXpansys. It might be a device, an accessory, or something else – but at any rate, you can spend less and get whatcha want:

We are giving you £5* to put towards an order of £20 or more between now and the 21st of October 2009 at www.expansys.com!

Your voucher code is NAQ2205252, to use it you can:

- Enter it in the “Voucher Code” field at checkout, or;

- Call 0161 868 0868 and quote it to your sales advisor, or;

- Email sales@expansys.com with your voucher code after placing your order

Use the voucher code yourself or pass it onto a friend!

Another one from the MobileFun camp  - in case you didn’t know, MobileFun are on of the top UK suppliers for Mobile devices and accessories, and they have had a really rich streak of great mobile accessories of late. Take this example:

The MFX Universal 12-in-1 Screen Protector Pack is the ideal way to protect your screens from scratches and other surface damage. The 3 layer films give you fantastic protection from any damage that can occur through everyday use. The Universal Screen Protector Pack is the only pack on the market to offer 3 different types of screen protection in one product - Clear, Mirrored and Privacy, plus an extra large protector for Sat Navs, Games Consoles, Digital Cameras etc. All screen protectors use the latest anti-glare and anti-static technology for maximum protection without compromising on screen visibility.

That’s pretty comprehensive I think – and coming in at £9.99, that’s bargain value. In the pack you’ll get:

• Contains 9 MFX Clear Screen Protectors to keep all your screens in pristine condition (110mm x 56mm)
  
• Contains 1 Mirrored Screen Protector to let your device act as a mirror when not in use (110mm x 56mm)
  
• Contains Privacy Screen Protector so only you can see your screen (110mm x 56mm)
  
• Contains Sat Nav Screen Protector to fit even the largest screens (140mm x 90mm)
  
• Free Mobile Fun cleaning cloth

Bear in mind the following too:

• Anti-scratch technology
  
• Anti-glare technology
  
• 99% transparency
  
• 30 day money back guarantee
  
• 1 year warranty

So all in all, a good package – nice price, and a good amount of kit for the cost – I’m ordering one (pack) tomorrow! You can get one too, here.

[Via: MobileFun]

What, more devices that are racking up multiple Mobile phone functions? Bring it on please….!

The Mintpad is one of those crossover devices that aims to do a lot of things – it’s been in the market a little while, but I’m never one to discount a device out of hand for that reason – we all miss gems now and again. The device is running Win CE 5 Pro, which again might not seem like a great reason to check it out, but let’s persist…

First of all, it does look very cool – certainly there’s no hint of Win CE poking through, as has been the case with less successful UI overlays delivered by other device manufacturers. Secondly, it’s quite diminutive, packing a lot in to a very small frame – and third, it claims to have very good audio indeed!

Here’s the specs:

I guess what  a lot of you might be thinking is yeah, but I can get most of this in an iPod Touch – yes, that’s probably true, and the Touch is smaller too – but not everyone wants one of those, so it’s nice to be able to see the alternatives from time to time – of which this is one.

If you want one, hope on over to Advanced MP3 Players, who are selling both 4GB and 20GB variants of the device.

[Via: Advanced MP3 Players]

Check it out! We love all portable (mobile) devices at IntoMobile, and some are very like mobile phones, replicating one or more of their functions. Which is why I was pleased to hear the PSP™go is coming to UK shores soon!

This device could be bad-boy, it’ll just depend on whether you can really enjoy those games without two analogue controllers – something that I think the PSPs have always struggled with…

Well if Sony’s UK PR wants to send one of these devices to IntoMobile Towers, you know how to contact us

Yep, it’s that time of the week – for our UK readers consideration, eXpansys have rolled a series of new deals for Friday 4th September. Here are the links:

Nokia 5800

Asus P320

Intel X18

trueCall Call Blocker

Garmin Mobile GPS Software

GlobalSat Waterproof USB GPS Receive

Personally this week I am liking the Garmin Mobile GPS software – recently I’ve gone a bundle on Mobile GPS/Sat Nav Apps, so it’s good to see there are a variety of solutions in the market – and this case, at very keen prices!

These deals are available on Friday the 4th of September 2009 between 11am and 5pm by following the links above only. Normal pricing will apply outside of these hours. Voucher codes do not apply with these deals. Limited to 2 units per customer, available while stocks last.

[Via: eXpansys]

OK so we all like mobile devices, and part of that is being interested in new accessories that come to market. Sometimes they create their own genres, and sometimes they don’t. Let’s take the good old Bluetooth headset – very poor in it’s original incarnations, but these days they are pretty good.

Well Jawbone has come to market with the Jawbone Prime (being e-tailed by MobileFun), and it’s supposedly got some pretty darn good tech on-board – which does carry a bit of a premium!

By my reckoning it could be twice as expensive as a standard headset, but read below and see what you think:

Noise Assasin 2.0.

Jawbone has been able to eliminate real world noise better than any other headset because it is the only headset that can accurately separate speech from ambient noise.

Jawbone PRIME has even better background noise elimination than the previous generations. NoiseAssasin™ 2.0 delivers an order of magnitude improvement in the noisiest environments (6 to 9dB) extracting even more noise while keeping the user’s voice natural.

AVAD.

Acoustic Voice Activity Detector (AVAD) provides a fail-safe mechanism when the Voice Activity Sensor (VAS) doesn’t touch your face. When the VAS is not touching the face, Jawbone PRIME performs as good as or better than any other noise cancelling headset. When the VAS touches the face, you get the turbo-boost to the NoiseAssassin performance.

Works in the wind.

After solving NoiseAssassination in the most severe noise environments, Aliph focused its engineers on the task of eliminating the impact wind has on speech. With their strong background in Digital Signal Processing (DSP) techniques, the Aliph team developed a unique all digital Sensor Signal Fusion system to reduce wind noise.`

For me though, the killer feature of the headset is the fact that it’s multipoint, which means that if you have 2 phones then you can connect it up to the headset and whichever phone rings it will answer. This is a brilliant feature if you have a personal phone and business phone.

So what do we think? Is £89.95 reasonable?

If you want to check out the Jawbone Prime in more detail, you can go to the MobileFun site here.

[Via: MobileFun]