OtterBox has just announced that they are educating their Defender Series Cases for the iPhone 4/4S (What about the 5?) with a new feature called iON Intelligence. The iON Intelligence Defender Series Case features a built in 1450mAh battery that will double your battery life.  It’s not just the extra mAh power that makes this case last longer for the iPhone power user. OtterBox has also built in software that will manage the power consumption as well as charging of the iPhone to maximize the life cycle of your iPhone while on battery power. The iON Intelligence App that comes included will monitor the battery life while predicting the amount of time you have left on battery charge. It knows when to charge your phone.

The iON Intelligence Series Defender Cases are built with the same 3 piece construction that has made the Defender Case so popular, so you can expect outstanding protection for your device as well as longer battery life.

The iON Intelligent Defender Case for the iPhone 4/4S costs $129.95 and is in stock at OtterBox. Currently Graphite (Black) is the only color offered.

I can hear Simmons already hacking on his keyboard sending me another “why did you post a cheesy accessory article” when you should be concentrating on writing articles that are engaging to our readers!” Well that’s because these are some really cool cases that’s why! Most serious geeks have a passion for the Hobbit and LOTR and if you have an iPhone then you can have some serious bling for your device! There are 27 cases for the iPhone 4 and 4S and 13 available for the iPhone 5 which is sort of a bummer because I have an iPhone 5 and they don’t have the Balrog  case that is easily my favorite.

In the iPhone 5 selection I think my favorite is Gandalf image from The Hobbit:

The cases all cost $34.95 plus shipping and are available now at HobbitShop.com

Pssst: if you do some searches I found them on Amazon for $9 bucks.

If you have been looking to extend the battery life of your iPhone 5 or Samsung Galaxy S III then here is a good deal for you heading into your weekend. 1SaleADay.com has a 2200 mAh extended battery case that will help keep you charged up when no power outlet is available. The case has LED lights to let you know how much charge is left in the extended battery and also features a kickstand built in for viewing media or placing next to your bed and using the device as an alarm clock. This is a new condition case and has a one year warranty. As the domain name for the website suggests, you only have one day to take advantage of this savings. They normally are $99.99 full retail, or 50-60 dollars online, but this deal is for $24.95 with free shipping.

iPhone 5 Rechargeable Battery Case Features Include:

iPhone case with a built-in battery
Doubles your battery life
Protects your phone from dents and scratches
Gives you six additional hours of talk-time, 40 hours of music time, and 10 hours of video playback
Features a concealable kick-out stand that allows you to watch movies with ease and convenience
Rechargeable with any micro-USB cable or adapter
Lightweight, easy to use
2200 mAH battery capacity
LED Indicators
Choice of black or white

Samsung Galaxy S III Power Bank Case Features Include:

Samsung Galaxy S III case with a built-in battery
Doubles your battery life
Protects your phone from dents and scratches
Kick stand perfect for watching movies with ease and convenience
Micro USB Charging Cable
Charge/Sync During Battery Charge
Lightweight, easy to use
2200 mAH battery capacity
LED Indicators
Charging time: About 5 Hours
Choice of black or white

The Surface is pretty well protected by the Touch Cover but that’s still not full body protection and if you want to throw your Surface into a bag you’ll want the back and edges to have some coverage. After scouring the net I ended up buying the KaysCase Leather Sleeve from Amazon for $18 shipped. I wanted something that would give me protection but it would still allow the Surface to easily slide out and it would be out of my way. And this one fits the bill. The Surface fits well even with the Touch Cover on and there’s an external pocket that’s nice to drop a hotspot into.   The only con is that it leaves one edge slightly exposed with the edge of the Touch Cover aligned with the edge of the case and the actual Surface edge just covered (I sort of wish it were a top down envelope style like this but this isn’t fitted for the Surface).

Overall I like it. It’s sized for the Surface, is relatively inexpensive and looks nice. And they’ve added colors so it now comes in black, cyan and magenta.

Ah yes, CES is under way so I’ve got a lot of stuff to share with you, we’ll start it off with a few things from M-Edge. They’ve just introduced several new mobile accessories for iPhone 5, Kindle, iPad and more.

M-Edge, a leading tech accessories company, is showcasing their line of stylish cases for tablets, e-readers, smartphones and laptops at this week’s 2013 Consumer Electronics Show and Pepcom’s Digital Experience.

M-Edge’s new products and category expansions include:

• A collaboration with fashion designer Trina Turk
• An expanded line of cases for iPhone 5
• The kid-friendly, shock-absorbent SuperShell for iPad Mini
• Custom cases for iPad Mini, Kindle Fire HD, and iPhone 5

M-Edge will also be exhibiting their industry bestsellers which include the Incline 360, Hampton 360, Trip 360, and Latitude 360, as well as the brand-new Universal 360 Case and super-thin Profile Case.

CES attendees are invited to enjoy margaritas at M-Edge’s booth on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons, as well as see product demonstrations, participate in booth games and contests, and walk away with freebies and giveaways.  M-Edge’s booth is located in the upper level of South Hall 3 in booth #30247.

If you have a new Apple device then you have probably liked the small design but cussed them out because of having to buy new accessories. Griffin has announced a new car charging accessory that has the Apple Lightning Connector to power all your new devices. It has a 10-watt charger but it’s the coiled cable that is irritating to me, I personally prefer straight cords that you don’t have to stretch to your device and can be easily routed out of the way. Griffin makes pretty good stuff so expect this to be good quality if you can stand the cord. It sells for $24.99 and is available on the Griffin Website here

Features

Fast 10-watt car charger safely powers iOS devices with Lightning connector
Coiled cable stretches from 23.5″ (60 cm) to 48″ (121.9 cm) in total length
Charge iPhone 5, iPad mini, iPad (4th gen.), iPod touch (5th gen.) or iPod nano (7th gen.)
SmartFuse protects with a built-in circuit breaker; no fuses to replace
Certified Made for iPhone
Technical Specifications

Input: 12 to 16 volts DC @ 2 amps
Output: 10 watts (5 volts @ 2.1 amps)

You could spend a lot of time trying to weed through all of the cases that are available for the iPhone 5 but if you are like me, you tend to stick towards brands that have  great reputation and have been in business for a long time. Such is the case (no pun intended) with todays review on a case for the iPhone 5 from Case-Mate. Case-Mate has been a round a long time and since 2006 have been bringing us all sorts of cases to personalize and protect our device investment. What you might not know about Case-Mate is that they do offer a high end quality case that is not only great looking, but offers a Military Grade protection for your iPhone 5. So sit back and relax, and check out this Mobility Digest Review: Case-Mate TOUGH XTREME iPhone 5 case.

Inside the package that you see to the right you will find just two components. That’s all! No extra packages of screen protectors and instructions, just the two part case that is incredibly easy to put together and at first impression feels great and is incredibly thin. In fact, I always dread having to put a new device that is as thin as the iPhone 5 in a maximum protection case because it completely robs the experience of having a device that thin. This isn’t the (cough) case with the Case-Mate TOUGH XTREME. The Tough XTREME measures:

• Length: 13.24
• Width: 6.72
• Height: 1.3

As you can see with those specs, the TOUGH XTREME is very thin and easily slides in and out of the tightest pant and does not bind like other case manufacturers that use a lessor grade of silicone. The TOUGH XTREME is also US Mil-Spec Approved: meets or exceeds US military testing. So you can expect a tough case to handle most any rough treatment to your iPhone 5. The inner case component also comes fitted with a screen protector that I thought did a very good job. I never ran into problems navigating or swiping on the screen and did not detect any bubbles or irregularities in the screen protector.

As I mentioned above there is only two parts to the Case-Mate TOUGH XTREME Case for the iPhone 5. The first part is a Shock-absorbing DuoFlex interior liner that goes on the front of your iPhone 5. Even though it is plastic type material, it is very bendable and not brittle like other lessor quality cases. It felt as though it would give some under impact and help move the shock of an impact away from the side of the iPhone 5. The Impact-resistant PolyCore hard outer shell has a stiff back plate that is covered with a rubberized coating that is also used on the sides. There is not skeletal plates in the sides, instead it is very conforming to your device.

Once assembled which is very easy to do, you’ll notice that there are several small flaps protecting the mute switch, 3.5mm audio jack, and lightning port. On the bottom side that see below, it takes some work to dig your nails into the two flaps and expose the audio jack and sync port. However, I like that they are small and sleek, and stay closed and flush to the case at all times.

The left side of the Case-Mate TOUGH XTREME Case has the third and last flap covering the mute switch. Just like the flaps on the bottom, they do in fact seal very well and stay sealed flush to the case itself. however, the same applies that it is hard to dig your nail under the flap to open it up. Also, and I think this is more of an iPhone issue, but the mute button is incredibly difficult to get your finger down in to the case to switch. The volume buttons are also slightly difficult to deal with in that they are very small and the button rubber tab was hard to depress.

The top of the case has only the off/on button which remained closed off and not behind a flap. It was easy to depress and very complimentary to the other parts of the case and did not stick up out of the ordinary.

The back side of the case is very smooth and slides in and out of your pocket easily without grabbing on and not wanting to come out. The camera cutout worked great and did not shroud the lens at all, and same goes for the front facing camera.

The Case-Mate TOUGH XTREME Case for the iPhone 5 was a very pleasant surprise indeed. I really liked how the case was very thin and complimented the iPhone 5 very well. It was also very easy to install and use. As I mentioned, the flaps are a pain to open, but once closed, they stay closed. It was also difficult to reach in and mute the phone with the switch. My fingers would not fit into the space provided. My only other complaint is the price. At $50.00, it is at the high end of the premium cases available for the iPhone 5. I thought $39.95 would have been right on target for a case like this and would have sold a lot of volumes to people wanting OtterBox Defender Quality at a better price.

If you are in the market for an iPhone 5 case then head on over to Case-Mate and check out the TOUGH XTREME. It runs $50.00 and is available in:

• Lipstick Pink/Flame Red
• Marine Blue/Winter Aqua
• Black/Charcoal Grey (tested)
• Emerald Green/Chartreuse Green
• Military Green/Orange
• Aqua/White
• Cool Grey/Turquoise

This showed up in my email yesterday.  If you’re reading Mobility Digest and you don’t get emails from ThinkGeek, you need your head examined.

Serious mobile gaming

While we love the myriad apps and games in the App Store, there’s one thing we definitely don’t like about mobile gaming: our fingers going oddly numb or worse, cramping up. We’d love to play as long as our batteries will allow, but the form factor of the iPhone clashes with the limits our fragile human bodies. If we are going to get serious about claiming some worldwide high scores on our favorite games, we need a solution.

And behold, the gods provided us with the iCade Mobile, the ultimate handheld game controller for iPhone and iPod Touch. With a classic controller configuration, iCade Mobile makes it easy to play modern and retro games the way they were meant to be played. iCade Mobile features a four-way directional pad, four front-facing action buttons, and four shoulder buttons. All will withstand your most furious button mashing. Your iPhone nestles in the cradle, which can be positioned in landscape or portrait mode. You’ll get a full view of all the action on screen because your hands and gripping the ergonomic controller pad. No more cramps! No more numb fingers! Game until the cows come home… or you run out of battery life.

Product Features

• Fun and fast mobile gaming for your iPhone or iPod Touch
• Adds physical buttons and d-pad to make your gaming experience better
• Rotating cradle allows for landscape and portrait viewing
• Connects using wireless Bluetooth technology (set up once and you’re good to go!)
• Works with over 100 games and apps (search "iCade" in the app store)
• Ergonomic design lets you play for hours in comfort
• True control with eight action buttons and two-axis directional pad
• Compatibility: iPod Touch (3rd & 4th Gen), iPhone 3/3G/3GS/4/4S
• Safety & Warranty Manual and Quickstart Guide included
• iPod Touch Insert included
• Batteries: 2 x AA (included)

Games!

In addition to the 100 classic Atari favorites, numerous iOS developers have built in iCADE support. In all, over 150 apps have announced support for the iCADE standard. It’s hard to keep up with all the games being released, but we’ve compiled a list of some of the best right here – iCADE Games List

Check out of the supported app list, of course, before you think about purchasing it. It normally runs $69.99, but it’s currently on sale for $16.99.  So if you have a supported iPhone or iPod Touch, or if your little geekling does, this could be a good snag.  The product page is here. They monitor comments on the page if you have questions, but you can also call their Customer Service line at 1-888-GEEKSTUFF.

At 42 years old I have decided to start trying to get in better shape. The problem is that my body no longer responds the way I remember it when I was 24. Shin splints, knee swelling, fatigue, and general misery have made wonder why I am putting myself through this. There is hope. Technology and gadgets! With my iPhone I have been using Nike+ for running and MapMyRide GPS for Cycling. Another huge improvement in cycling for me is when I started using a CatEye Strada Double Wireless cyclocomputer with cadence. Keeping my pedal speed between 80-90 made a huge difference in my performance. So I am always on the lookout for gadgets to help get in better shape and the one thing I have been looking for is a heart monitor. Usually pretty expensive, there was an option with my CatEye that would allow for for a heart rate monitor. But it was priced over $150 bucks. But thanks to David K and a heads up email, there is a Bowflex iConnect Fit Wireless Heart Rate Monitor Kit for the iPhone (4, 4S & 5), iPad (1, 2 & 3) & Androids for just $29.99 on 1saleaday.com.

The Bowflex iConnect normally sells for $150.00 and is now $29.99 for the next 12 hours. Monitoring your heart rate will just like watching your cadence cycling, maximize your cardio workout and allow you to keep an eye on your heart rate displayed continuously on your iPhone or Android device.

Condition: New
Packaging: Retail
Warranty: 1 Year
Manufacturer: Bowflex
Model: iConnect Fit

Features Include:

• Continuously displays heart rate on your smartphone while allowing you to connect to other applications
• Includes comfortable chest belt compatible with most treadmills and other exercise equipment
• Listen to music by plugging your headphones into the Bowflex FitPack Connect
• Replaceable battery
• Fits any 3.5mm headphone jack Compatible with iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPad 1, 2 & 3 and Android Tablets & Smartphones.
• Designed to pick up heart rate signal up to 0.8 meters away

Head on over to 1saleaday.com while they last to get yours.

There are some really cool new accessories hitting the market in the wake of the iPhone 5 release. And even though there has been a lot of bad press about various issues revolving around the iPhone 5, you can count on a lot of these devices being sold. The first and most popular accessory of course is a case. You got to protect your investment right? Well, there are a lot of options but there are also some cases that include some pretty cool features. One of course being a battery extender. Now however, there is a new concept from Kickstarter called iExpander. The iExpander by Corr-Tech “has selected the CAP-XX supercapacitor-enabled BriteFlash architecture to power the high-performance LED flash in its new iExpander accessories for the iPhone 4/4S and iPhone 5.”

At the heart of the iExpander is an ultra-thin CAP-XX HS206 supercapacitor and a powerful LED flash module. The supercapacitor overcomes the limitations of the battery to deliver more power to the LEDs, extend the length of the flash pulse, and increase the total light energy emitted by the flash. The result is crisp photographs and clear videos, even in low light.

The iExpander also includes a microSD card slot and a second battery, increasing the memory capacity and battery life of the iPhone, and is packaged in a sleek, graphite-reinforced nylon case which adds just 6.3mm to the thickness of the phone. The iPhone 5 version of the iExpander also includes the original 30-pin connector in addition to a Lightning port, so users can charge from and dock to previous-generation iPhone/iPod accessories.

Corr-Tech is raising capital at Kickstarter.com (http://kck.st/QbDnEF) to help bring the iExpander to fruition. Production is to start in November 2012, with the first units shipping to customers before year-end.

Check out CAP-XX BriteFlash for more on the iExpander: http://www.cap-xx.com/news/photogallery.php#iExpander

The KickStarter page is located here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/108290897/iexpander-an-expansion-device-for-your-iphone-4-an