UK iPhone

I’m off to Sydney, Australia soon, and to keep me entertained on the 20-hour flight I’m looking for something to boost my iPhone’s battery life. Using your iPhone in Airplane mode, which switches off the cellular and wifi radios, means you can listen to music, play games, and even watch video; but all of that takes its toll on the battery, especially gaming and videos- the display backlight is a big power hog.

There seem to be a few options here.

Portable iPhone Charger

• The first is the £19.99 Portable iPhone Charger, which you charge before you go, then plug into your iPhone when its battery level drops; the Charger then tops up the battery from its own one.
• You can charge it using the iPhone’s own charger; this means you can plug the USB lead into your PC or Mac to charge (note no mains adapter or charger is included)
• Offers up to five hours of extra call time, or 20 hours of music playback
• Check remaining charge using front indicator lights

You can find out more or buy it here: Portable iPhone Charger

i-Sound Smart Battery Rechargeable Backup

• Apple-licensed – increases video playback by 6 hours
• Music playback boosted an incredible 30 hours
• Includes mains adapter charger and travel pouch
• Fantastic price discount at Play.com

Get it here: i-Sound Smart Battery Rechargeable Backup Pack For iPod / iPhone

Griffin PowerBlock Reserve

• From the well-respected name Griffin, comes the PowerBlock Reserve, at £29.99, certainly worth a look.

• It handily combines a mains charger with a snap-out battery backup that simply plugs into your iPhone for extra talk time when you need it.
• You can charge your iPhone at the same time as you charge the backup battery when you get back to HQ

Buy it here: Griffin PowerBlock Reserve Mains Charger For iPhone 3G / 3GS / iPod

Mili Power Pack

• And finally, the ultimate in battery boosters!
• For those who don’t want batteries hanging off the bottom of their phone, the Mili Power Pack fits your iPhone like a slightly oversized case
• Protects the back and sides of your phone
• Massive 31 hours of audio playback
• 9 hours of video playback
• Charges with included USB cable from your Mac or PC
• A bit pricey at £49.99, but then it does look as if it belongs with your iPhone!
• Buy it here: Mili Power Pack

And finally, remember that you can’t buy one of these at the airport duty-free! Well actually you could, but there wouldn’t be much point, as you need to charge it before you get on the plane!

Things have certainly changed from the days of O2 being your only choice for the iPhone. With iPhones available from Orange, Vodafone and even Tesco Mobile, the only network currently not offering the iPhone is T-Mobile. Now Tesco Mobile is effectively O2 for the purposes of network quality, although they offer different prices and shorter contracts (with a higher price for the handset).

In fact there are so many different contracts and options available that it looks as if it’s become quite difficult to know what the best choice is. But in truth the best option is the one that is right for you. If excellent coverage is important then Vodafone might be the best choice, although be aware that their monthly data limit of 1Gb/month is strictly enforced, with a charge of 50p per day if you exceed it. Still, it’s bigger than Orange’s 750Mb limit. O2 and Tesco have only a “fair use” limit, but then O2’s network is so bad you probably won’t get much chance to use it!

The cheapest overall cost is Tesco’s 12-month contract: the steep upfront cost is mitigated by being able to switch to a cheaper or even PAYG package after 12 months. But of course you will be on O2’s network for that time. If you’ve decided against O2 and Tesco, the other network’s contract price differences are marginal, and it really comes down to network preference and performance where you are.

I just love this super-cool Hello Kitty iPhone case. This would be an amazing gift for someone who loves Hello Kitty (and their iPhone!) Imagine pulling this out on the tube or bus; you’d get envious glances, that’s for sure! Also available in black:

Black Vinyl Case for iPhone 3G, iPhone 3G S

The Palm Pre has just been launched in the UK. From US reports it’s a lovely phone (with admittedly poor battery life) and I would certainly consider trying it for awhile, to replace my ageing iPhone 1st gen, except for one thing:

It’s only available on O2.

The sheer hell of being an iPhone owner, tied to the crippling O2 network, has completely put me off O2. Even if the Pre is better than the iPhone, you will still be saddled with a network which actively works agains the phone experience. Dropped calls, poor reception, glacial data speeds… all this will be yours.

No thanks.

I’m waiting for Orange to tell me I can get an iPhone 3G through them.