Gadget

Growth in features and improved design make the smartphone market very active. People carry smartphones with them and use them every day, albeit according to the scenario of a regular mobile phone. At the same time, despite the proliferation of Chinese brands, “smart phones” remain an expensive device that is used constantly, including on the go. Therefore, it is important to ensure the convenience and safety of this process.

For this, there are additional accessories, which will be discussed in our article. They have very heterogeneous properties, so we will talk about each type separately.

Headphones

We think it is clear that the built-in speakers of a smartphone, no matter how manufacturers advertise their quality, cannot provide the same sound quality as full-fledged speakers or headphones.

Therefore, when watching movies and listening to music, headphones will be a great help.

At the same time, professional studio headphones may not be suitable for this purpose, as they have too high impedance.

In general, compact models that are easy to carry around are best suited.

Headphones Xiaomi Quantie (HYBRID) Steel

Our article, specifically dedicated to this issue, will tell you about the choice of headphones. It can be found at the link.

External battery

An external battery, or power bank, has a built-in USB connector, and, when charged, can charge other devices through it.

External battery Xiaomi Mi Power Bank 2 10000 mAh

Power button, indicator LEDs and external battery connectors

The first thing you should pay attention to when choosing an external battery is its capacity. It is specified in milliamp-hours and tells you how many times, or to what extent, you can charge another device. In general, for convenience, it makes sense to take power banks with a capacity twice as high as the capacity of the phone’s battery, and preferably more.

In addition, it is worth considering that the lithium-ion batteries themselves in these devices have a voltage of 3.7 volts, and 5 volts are required at the output. Therefore, they use a circuit that increases the voltage. The efficiency of this scheme may differ from manufacturer to manufacturer, so you should not choose a power bank only by capacity, you must also pay attention to the reputation of the company.

The next most important parameters are the dimensions and weight of the device. Of course, it is convenient to have a large reserve of battery capacity, but if its mass turns out to be huge, it will simply be inconvenient to carry it around.

When choosing, you should pay attention to how many outputs the power bank has, and how much current they give out. So, 0.5 ampere is enough to charge a smartphone, but this will not be enough for a tablet — it needs 1 ampere and no less.

If the external battery has a large capacity, it is better that it can be charged from AC power through an adapter. This method of charging is simply faster, as more power is supplied to the battery.

Charging device

Modern smartphones are charged via a USB connector and, accordingly, chargers for them are universal, that is, they are suitable for most models.

Samsung smartphone charger

However, you should not buy the first charger that comes across.

First, as mentioned, for the fastest charging of various devices, different current strengths are required. If the current (measured in amps) of the charger is less than required, charging will be slower or not at all.

In addition, many smartphones use Quick Charge technology, which increases the voltage at the output of the charger to speed up the process. For the normal operation of this function, we can recommend buying the original charger released by the smartphone manufacturer.

So, although chargers are universal, inexpensive third-party chargers do not always work optimally.

In addition to wired chargers, there are docking stations that can charge your smartphone using magnetic induction, such as the Samsung Wireless Charger EP-NG930BBRGRU Black.

Cases

Cases are used to protect the smartphone, but can be used to decorate it, giving it an extra personality.

Phone cases can have a very different configuration, but there are several types of them:

• Case book. As the name implies, it has a front cover that opens from right to left when you hold your smartphone vertically. The level of smartphone protection is maximum, especially if the smartphone is protected from the sides and the case closes with a separate strip of material with a magnet.
• Flip case. This is also a cover with a lid, but in this case it opens down, like a notepad. In terms of protective properties, it is similar to a cover-book. Both the flip case and the flip case have the disadvantage that they require a special movement to open, often requiring a second hand.
• Bumper. Under the bumper, as a rule, means a case made of silicone or other rubber-like material that “puts on” the smartphone and covers it from all sides except the front surface. Such a cover is inexpensive, and not only protects, but also increases the convenience of using a smartphone, since it does not require additional opening and closing actions.
• Clip case. Similar to a bumper, but with a plastic body. At the same time, the worst protection pays off with the smaller size of the device in the case.
• Metal frames and cases. Provides shock protection but increases the weight of the smartphone.

Protective films and glasses

The hardness of the front glass on smartphones is one of the important characteristics. So, on the Internet you can find various tests in this regard. However, it does not provide 100% protection against scratches: they still appear during operation.

First, protective films appeared to solve this problem; this was back in the era of handheld computers. At that time, the screens were resistive, that is, they responded to the deflection of the front surface. Therefore, only a film that is also flexible could help here.

Now protective glasses have become widespread, which provide better protection and work perfectly with modern touch displays that respond to normal touch.

We have tried to reflect the difference between protective film and glass in this table:

As we can see, the protective glass wins in all respects. The only benefit of a screen protector is that it is thinner and less visible when applied.

It should be noted that both films and glasses are not “glued” to the screen in the usual sense of the word. In fact, they are simply held together by the force of attraction that occurs between two smooth surfaces.

Selfie monopods

A selfie, as you know, is a photograph of yourself. And in order to cover a more or less wide area with such shooting, selfie monopods have been invented that allow you to hold the camera at a distance greater than the length of your arm.

Naturally, with this use, you need to somehow control the shooting. There are two solutions for this:

1. Wired monopods. In such monopods, next to the smartphone mount, there is a wire that connects to the headphone jack. On the handle, in turn, you can see the shutter button. The advantage of such monopods is that they do not require any power.
2. Monopods that connect via Bluetooth. In this case, the monopod connects to a smartphone wirelessly, which is more convenient, but at the same time, a battery is required to power the transmitter itself.

conclusions

So, choosing accessories for a smartphone is much easier than, say, for a camera. However, if you buy them right away, it is very easy to get confused in the available information.

Therefore, we hope that our article will be useful for those who have recently purchased a smartphone or, suddenly, are buying it for the first time.