Frequency is delighted to again present Case-mate at the 2011 Gadget Show Live exhibition which takes place at the NEC in Birmingham from 12^th to 17^th April.

This exhibition which builds on the success of the Channel 5 TV programme is expected to attract 85,000 visitors and the organisers report that all tickets are now sold out.

This will be the second year running that Frequency presents Case-mate. In 2010, we officially launched the brand to both trade and consumers and enjoyed a tremendous response. Through the show we signed up a number of exciting new trade partners and sold thousands of cases to visitors with arguably the busiest stand at the exhibition.

We will be showcasing all of the latest new products from Case-mate at the exhibition. Case-mate is evolving its range more towards fashion and lifestyle accessories and their latest cases include the playful Stacks, Quartet, Monster and Waddler cases along with the stylish Facets, Pop and Barely There cases that are proving to be so popular.

For 2011, we’re delighted to be partnering with one of the UK’s leading online tech retailers, BMC Digital www.BMCdigital.co.uk . Established in 2005, BMC has become a leading name in the mobile, gaming and PC industry, working with leading brands such as Monster, OtterBox, Nokia, Razer , Logitech and of course Case-mate. BMC aims to be first to market with the latest technology, whilst providing a top service at the best possible price. BMC will be helping us to manage the product sales at the show and building awareness of their business, which is experiencing very positive sales growth.

If you are interested in visiting the Gadget Show Live as a trade customer on the special trade and media day on Tuesday 12^th April, please contact us on sales@frequencytelecom.co.uk and we will be pleased to register you.

This is the brand new ‘POP’ for the iPhone 4 from Case-Mate.

It will actively protect against bumps and scrapes with a unique two piece design of rubber and plastic.

The soft interior has a glove like fitting which will cushion the iPhone 4 against everyday wear and tear.

The raised bezel around the edge protects the screen when accidently dropped face down.

The ‘POP’ comes with a free screen protector, which will prevent scratches and dirt damaging the glass.

The case offers access to all the ports and buttons to maintain usability of the device.

The rubber sides provide a non-slip surface for improved grip.

Apple has for a long time dominated the mobile phone market with their iPhone products and enticing designs. This includes the first original iPhone, the second generation iPhone, the 3G and the 3GS. The recent hyped up release of the much anticipated iPhone 4 ended in a disastrous set of events that left Apple in a desperate situation that called for quick response and expensive reprimands.

However, the mobile phone marketplace changes so quickly and can never really be controlled by one company or device. While everyone had focus on Apple and their iPhone many determined partnerships and pioneering technologies were being forged. Below I have listed just a small selection of iPhone alternatives and competitors throwing everything and every bit of technology available into their devices to show you there is much more to a mobile then what Apple is offering.

Is it possible that Apples monopoly over the market will lead to their demise?

"Whenever an individual or a business decides that success has been attained, progress stops."Thomas J. Watson Jr. --

HTC Desire

BlackBerry Curve 3G

BlackBerry is the brand but Research In Motion is the company behind it and BlackBerry is a strong mobile user favourite. The BlackBerry Curve 3G is based upon the earlier 8900 model and now includes 3G network support meaning faster online video streaming, web surfing and picture uploading. The trackball has been replaced with the now standard optical track pad. The Curve 3G weighs 104 grams and features mobile tethering, GPS and Wi-Fi. Multitask with ease and email with speed on the QWERTY rubberized keypad.

Nokia N8

Nokia have been making phones for a very long time and constantly produce and release new models. They have recently started delving into different aspects of the mobile world like apps, and now even manufacture laptops in the form of the Nokia Booklet. The Nokia N8 weighs a fair 135 grams and incorporates an extremely impressive 12 megapixel camera. HD film recording, editing and playback is featured and includes a HDMI lead to connect to your HD TV at home and watch your Nokia N8 creations on a big screen. Many apps are available on the OVI store to download and utilize for your entertainment. Many are free and provide valuable functions. WebTV is included on the Nokia N8 allowing you to watch National Geographic, CNN or your favourite channel. You can also travel with voice guided navigation in over 70 countries using Nokia Maps and the Nokia N8 GPS system.

Dell Streak

Dell is a long standing PC manufacturing company who have now dipped their proverbial toe into the water that is the mobile phone market although their Dell streak is far from just a mobile phone. They call it a feature rich go-anywhere device capable of handling many entertainment and communication needs.   Do you have trouble viewing small mobile phone screens? Don’t worry, the Dell Streak has an extraordinary 5 inch screen with scratch-resistant gorilla glass. The Streak comes installed with Android OS so a large app marketplace is yours for the taking. Proximity and light sensors automatically adjust screen brightness to optimize battery life. The Dell streak is a heavyweight (220 grams) device with a 5 Megapixel auto-focus camera and has 16GB of on-board memory installed. GPS and WLAN systems make an appearance. A noteworthy addition is HSDPA / HSUPA:HSDPA 7.2 Mbps / HSUPA 5.76 Mbps support.

The newly released iPhone 4 from Apple is a very complicated device and can be used for many hundreds of functions throughout the day. Naturally, as we have come to rely on the device more and more throughout our day to day lives we require it to be ready whenever we need it to be. Luckily there are many things you can do to improve the length of the batteries life so it is always ready for you to use.

Depending on how you choose to configure your device, you will be able to make considerable savings to your batteries life. For example if your device is constantly checking your email from multiple accounts you can run the battery down quickly. If you are using the iPhone 3 software or later you can use some of the tips below to extend and improve your devices battery life.

Adjust brightness: The first thing everyone should do is turn down the brightness of the screen on their iPhone to save valuable energy. The screen takes up a large amount of battery power when on full but is not really necessary. Most of us will be able to see the screen just fine on a lower setting, and if it is during the day you may be able to turn it down even further.

Lock your iPhone: By locking the device you will still be able to receive calls and text messages but you will not be able to turn on the screen so can save energy by making sure it does not accidently turn on in your bag or pocket.

Use the phone regularly: Lithium-ion batteries need to be regularly charged and de-charged fully to preserve the integrity of the electrons within. Make sure you go through the charging cycle at least once a month by fully charging the battery to 100% and then completely running it flat to 0%.

Turn off Wi-Fi, Bluetooth & 3G: If any of these are enabled then the iPhone will be constantly searching to connect and re-connect all day even when they are not in use. You can easily change the settings of these to turn them off so you save energy in this area.

Turn off EQ: If you have turned on the equalizer in the sound settings it could be using more battery life than you realize, so make sure that is turned off to save that little bit extra. If you have imported songs from iTunes you may prefer to have the EQ settings turned to flat any way because it will preserve the original iTunes sound settings.

Minimise internet use: Applications such as maps, GPS, email, and data feeds will need to connect to the internet so minimising the use of them can help your battery life significantly.

Minimise the use of third party applications: Many apps such as games can stop your screen from dimming or shutting down so using these as infrequently as possible will stop your battery from wearing down as quickly.

Use airplane mode in low or no coverage areas: The iPhone will always try to maintain a connection with the network so if you are in an area of low signal you may be burning a lot of energy unnecessarily. By turning on your airplane mode you can still the device for things other than making and receiving calls.

Other alternatives include the use of battery extenders such as the Fuel Lite, and Fuel Max from Case-Mate. They are as easy to use as a simple case but act as an extra fuel cell to keep you talking for up to 2 hours longer.

The Desire is a powerful and popular device from the evergrowing HTC company and looks really good, but to keep it that way you are going to need HTC Desire cases to help fight off scratches, absorb bumps and generally avoid everyday harms. Mobile phone accessories are really improving and the industry itself is changing to better suit the needs of new phones. This list may help people find the right HTC Desire case.

Two of the most popular phones available on the market today are the newly released iPhone 4 from Apple and the ever popular HTC Desire. We are often asked here at Cleverkit.com which we prefer or which we would recommend. Below I have collated some information that may help you decide for yourselves which is best for you.

Apple iPhone 4	HTC Desire
Size: 58.6 x 9.3 x 115.2mm	Size: 60 x 11.9 x 119mm
Weight: 137g	Weight: 135g
Capacity: 16Gb or 32Gb	Capacity: up to 32Gb via Micro SD
Camera: 5 Megapixel Colour HD (720p) 30 Frames per second LED flash Geotagging Front & rear camera	Camera: 5 Megapixel Colour LED flash Geotagging
Platform: iOS 4.0.1	Platform: Android 2.1 (Éclair) with HTC Sense™
Display: 3.5 inch screen Touch screen Pinch to zoom 960 x 640 pixel resolution	Display: 3.7 inch screen Touch screen Pinch to zoom 460 x 800 pixel resolution
Internet: UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz) GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz) Wi-Fi - IEEE 802.11 b/g	Internet: GPRS - Up to 2 Mbsp upload speed EDGE - Up to 560 Kbsp downloading Pinch to zoom 460 x 800 pixel resolution
Sensors: Three-axis gyro Accellerometer Proximity sensor Ambient light sensor	Sensors: G-Sensor Digital compass Proximity sensor Ambient light sensor
Location: Assisted GPS Digital compass Wi-fi Cellular	Location: Internal GPS antenna Google Maps HTC Footprints
Multimedia: View photos Video playback (.m4v, .mp4, .mov, MPEG-4, and M-JPEG) Video recording Music recording	Multimedia: View photos Video playback (.3gp, .3g2, .mp4, .wmv) Video recording (.3gp) Music playback (.aac, .amr, .ogg, .m4a, .mid, mp3, .wav, .wma) Music recording (.amr) FM radio
Battery: Lithium-ion battery USB charging via computer Talk time: Up to 7 hours on 3G Up to 14 hours on 2G Standby: Up to 300 hours Internet use: Up to 6 hours on 3G Up to 10 hours on Wi-Fi Playback: Up to 10 hours (video) Up to 40 hours (music)	Battery: Lithium-ion battery Talk time: Up to 6.5 hours on 3G Up to 7 hours on 2G Standby: Up to 360 hours
Cost: £599 (sim free - 32Gb)	Cost: £399 (sim free)

In summary, it is fairly obvious that the Apple iPhone is the higher specification device, but also the more expensive of the two. You will have to decide for yourself whether the extra £200 for the iPhone is good value for money. It is vastly more popular which may or may not be a deciding factor for you (maybe you don’t want to follow the crowd). The apps for the iPhone are as many and varied as the HTC Desire, and both can be extended with various accessories such as cases etc.

It is a close race and not for us to say which is best.

Which do you think??

The mighty behemoth that is Apple Corp. has released earnings results for the third quarter of this year which are ahead of analysts’ expectations. The company which make all of the latest must-have gadgets such as iPhone, Mac, and iPad have seen net profit rise from $1.83bn in Q3 2009 to $3.25bn in the three months to June26th 2010. This translates to £3.51 earnings per share which has beaten analysts’ expectations of $3.11.

The company was expected to have a more successful year than the previous due to the popularity of the new iPhone which was released 24^th June 2010, but the recent PR disaster that has occurred through errors in the products antenna have raised concerns over Apples ability to retain its brand appeal and unrivalled hype in the consumer market place.

With all of this taken in to account the company have steamed ahead with a huge increase in earnings, and attacked the products flaws by offering free iPhone 4 cases to all customers to fix the problem. This has not hindered sales as they continue to grow and consumers queue around the block for the latest Apple products.

Well, as ever there is lot’s to talk about regarding the new iPhone 4 and it’s ever interesting antenna problems. Recently we have seen a number of new solutions including the ‘Antenn-aid’ from 2 New York designers who have released some plasters for the iPhone 4 to stop your skin touching the metal plate and cutting out the signal.

Now there is another designer who has come up with a prank to fix the problem. A simple and stylish solution to the issue is to have this ‘end call’ sticker on the phones antenna. Of course we here a cleverkit.com don’t really advocate these solutions over the real iPhone 4 cases available on the market but this is worth a laugh.