First of all I would like to thank Scott at Breffo for sending me the Spiderpodiums to review.
When I first looked into the products, I thought they looked quite interesting, but somewhat had a doubt that they would really get the job done well and efficiently. I couldn’t have been more wrong with my initial thoughts about the products.
I got sent two Spiderpodiums, one made for tablet (as my mother has the Note2) and one for smartphone (as I have the S3). Before I state anything else, the Note2 does fit in the smartphone fholder with ease, I just thought it would be nice to see two different products and as the Note2 is seen as a Phablet anyway, it was a good opportunity to test out the tablet range too.
Here is my overview and review of the Pro-Tec Leather Case on YouTube:
Written review:
My first impressions of the leather case were positive, and made me try on the case for several days on my S3. Usually I’m not much of a full body case person, as it makes the overall size of the phone, in your pocket, that much bigger. However, with the quality of the finish of the leather case, I had to try it on. I found the case to be well made, of good quality, and more so useful for those that want a full body protection on their S3.
The look of it really gave off a elegant and professional look to it, from the stitching to the magnetic closing mechanism of the case.
The case itself self the S3 well in place, and didn’t feel loose by any means, thus meaning if I held the case on its head and shook it around, the S3 wouldn’t fall out of place. The grooves and cut-outs of the case were perfect, and just right.
However there was one major flaw with this product: It didn’t have a cut-out by the charging port (at the bottom), thus meaning when I had to charge the case, I would have had to leave the case open. I find this a little pointless, as when I want to charge the phone, I would not be present, in front of the phone, in order to protect it – thus if it fell down at night whilst by my bedside, it would lead the case being rendered useless. I don’t know if this is a real design flaw, as my dad has an S2 leather case, and it had the exact same problem. I had to double check if they were from the same company, just in case, but no, they were different. Regardless, my dad, for his S2 case, got some pliers and a Stanley knife and cut open a little hole by the charging port. This now meant he could charge his phone whilst his case was closed.
Apart from that the case was a very nice accessory to have, especially for those that need a full body protection.
Following on from the full body protection provided by the leather case, the Pro-Tec case also came with a screen protector. At first I wasn’t too convinced by the screen protector, as for the first time there was no cut-out for the sensors on the S3’s display. However, after using it for over 2 weeks, I haven’t had a single problem with its sensor and the S3’s capability of picking up when my face is near or away from it.
The screen protector itself was easy to apply, and has a nice quality finish to it. The only thing I felt missing, was some sort of card, that would help you apply the screen protector properly to the phone.
Overall, the Pro-Tec’s overall package was nice, however for the price of £15, I was expecting a little more premium and overall finish to the product – such as having a cut-out by the charging hole, the inclusion of more screen protectors (as I know barely anyone that gets it right on their first attempt), and finally the inclusion of a little card, in order to help with the application of the screen protector on the phone.
Here are some pictures of the case and screen protector:
Hope you enjoyed the review, pictures & overview!
–TotallydubbedHD
Here is my overview and review of the KitSound Dock on YouTube:
Written review:
The package contents of the KitSound Audio Dock are pretty what one would expect from a audio dock.
You get a 3.5mm to RCA connectors, a USB to Micro-USB cable, and of course the audio dock itself.
For me this dock has been absolutely brilliant; I can use it to dock my S3 on my desk extremely securely (see video), and more so charge my S3 too. The S3 charges at the same rate as it would if it was plugged directly into the wall, so there isn’t any delay in charging, or any speed gained.
The dock itself is very well made, and is very stable. Thus a bang on the desk, an accidental knock, or even the wire being yanked from the wall, won’t make your S3 fall down, unlike when you have the S3 “docked” or should I say free-standing on an official Samsung dock.
Thus this is not only charging your phone, but doing it securely. Also another thing to note, is that the phone is fully accessible (home button for example) when being used on the KitSound dock – which makes it great for browsing, and reply to texts; again as it is rock stable, your phone isn’t going to wobble or fall off whilst you are Swyping away on your phone.
Finally, the audio dock feature, which is located at the back of the dock, which allows you to use the dock as a means of playing your music via the Micro-USB connector, rather than the headphone jack. This can be quite useful for some people, although I haven’t really seen the need for it myself. The audio quality hasn’t been really an improvement or a downgrade – I didn’t really hear any noticeable sound quality difference between using the 3.5mm jack and the dock connector.
Finally I should add, that when docked with the audio connector, I got a pop-up with the option of my clock or Tune-in Radio – now this could have been ROM specific – so i cannot comment if this is always the case – just make sure the option of having the dock is enabled in your settings.
Overall, this dock is certainly a great buy, especially at its really low price. This dock has become part of my daily charge of my S3 – and thus I don’t use the Samsung charger any more. I really like it and love using it, and again would recommend this to anyone, especially those that are actually looking for a dock – To me, the audio out is a bonus.
Here are the pictures of the dock:
Hope you enjoyed the review, pictures & overview!
–TotallydubbedHD
First of all, I would like to thank Sunnie at LaptopMate-UK for sending me the Anker 2200mAh battery to review.
The Anker battery can be bought from AmazonUK for only £8 & on AmazonUSA for $12– which makes this battery extremely affordable for anyone that owns the S3.
The battery itself is no bigger than the original S3’s battery and thus fits in the original S3’s back-cover, and isn’t heavier either.
I have to say I have been using this battery for over 2months now, and thus didn’t want to write a review, before I had fully tested it.
I have to say, this Anker battery for the price is astonishingly good. It provides me with that extra 5-10% extra juice (due to having a 100mAh difference from stock), which gives me that little extra juice.
So when I would be at around 15% normally, I would be at around 20-25% – this little extra juice might not seem like much, however if you use your phone daily, like I do, and especially use it heavily, with GPS, browsing, emails, music and so on – you will notice an improvement in the battery life increasing, by your S3 not losing as much charge.
I have tested this battery both on DarkyROM and Jelly Bean leaks, with comparisons to the stock battery. Overall, I can’t suggest it enough to buy this Anker battery – at the price it is being sold at, and additionally to that, the extra longevity you will receive, it is a must buy for people who run out of juice and need a second battery. Put it this way – after buying the official dock + battery that came with it, I regretted it after receiving this Anker battery.
Unfortunately I haven’t taken many screenshots of the battery usage, but it should be noted, that your battery life will depend on your ROM (ie. JB ran shorter battery life than ICS), and overall usage of the phone – thus even with pictures of my phone, it wouldn’t give you a true representation of how long it will run on your phone, but hopefully, for those that know me, I would only use something that’s worth being used, and this Anker, is by far an excellent product, and thus recommend it to anyone looking for an additional battery for their SGS3!
There is only one downside to this battery – and that is the incapability of using NFC. As we don’t really use NFC that much, if at any time in the UK – I could careless about its inability of its NFC capabilities. However, I’m sure this might concern a few buyers, so do bear that in mind when buying this battery.
Hope you enjoyed the overview and review of the Anker Battery!
–TotallydubbedHD
