Accessories...

[Little Darwin]

Now that I have my Replenish, I find myself in need of a couple of accessories, so I decided to start a thread about accessories.

What I am looking for first is a case... On my Hero I used an Otterbox Commuter, and loved it. I don't know if Otterbox will create a case for the Replenish, but if they do, that will be my choice. Has anyone else found a good case?

The second thing I would like is a mount for the car for navigation. I have one (bought for my hero) that is generic and holds the phone like a clamp with foam... It mounts to my vent. However, I don't know that it would work with the Replenish due to the placement of the buttons on the side of the phone. I wouldn't want to have the phone volume switched or the camera started because buttons were accidentally pressed.

Any thoughts on these (or other) accessories?

 

[Little Darwin]

I'll start out. I bought the snap on case at the local Sprint (contractor) store. It is labeled specifically for the Replenish, and I am disappointed.

The case seems to hold well, and seems like it would protect the phone pretty well in case it is dropped. The feel is pretty nice, but there is a little loose feeling to get used to while you are typing (I feel a tiny bit of give in the back as I depress the keys).

As I expected, it fits only with the standard back, and not the solar cell back (it would have covered the back anyway). I have decided that I will only use the solar cell in the winter due to some reviews I have read about overheating, so this wasn't a big deal for me.

The negative:

The big deal was that I could not fully insert either of the micro-usb chargers I have available, including the one that came with the Replenish. The hole in the case over the charging port is simply too small. This in effect makes the case pretty useless to me. I am going to try an iTip to see if it works... if not, I may have to try and return this item.

 

[ky7]

Now that I have my Replenish, I find myself in need of a couple of accessories, so I decided to start a thread about accessories.

What I am looking for first is a case... On my Hero I used an Otterbox Commuter, and loved it. I don't know if Otterbox will create a case for the Replenish, but if they do, that will be my choice. Has anyone else found a good case?

The second thing I would like is a mount for the car for navigation. I have one (bought for my hero) that is generic and holds the phone like a clamp with foam... It mounts to my vent. However, I don't know that it would work with the Replenish due to the placement of the buttons on the side of the phone. I wouldn't want to have the phone volume switched or the camera started because buttons were accidentally pressed.

Any thoughts on these (or other) accessories?

I got the CaseMate case from the Sprint store -- the one that's basically a frame that goes around the outside, allowing you still to use the solar charger, which I also have. The case looks nice and keeps the phone from sliding around as much if you have it sitting somewhere in the car, but it's annoying to use because it doesn't fit tightly enough and it slips around some as you use the keypad. As a result, I often take the case off and "go bare" (sorry).

Another accessory I have, the $30 solar charger that fits on the back of the phone (replacing the stock battery cover) is fun as a conversation starter (dang, your phone charges off of the sun -- sweet!), and it does work to a degree. A little sun icon comes up on the screen when sufficient light is received to initiate charging. Basically what the solar charger does, if it's in good sunlight, is allow the phone to operate in standby mode with little or no reduction in battery charge percentage. I think the solar charger is worth having if only because, in a pinch, you could use it to give the phone enough charge to make a call or write an email even if the battery was pretty much dead.

One thing that's great about this phone is it's not fussy at all about chargers. Just about anything that's got a micro USB on the end of it will charge it. So, I've bought a couple of different accessory USB cables, car USB adapters, and other similar paraphernalia, and all of it works fine with this phone. But something to consider is that the USB output of the 120-volt USB adapter plug they send with the phone will not keep pace with the phone's power consumption if you're charging while talking (especially in a weak cell signal area), and neither will any of the car USB adapters I've tried. However, what will work is an external battery pack, such as the one I have that uses 4 AA batteries to create a USB charger/charging station. Four 2650 mAh AA batteries will take the phone from almost completely run down to full charge (with power left over for a later top-up) and they will deliver enough amperage to allow the phone to charge (albeit slowly) while talking. So, I'd recommend a battery pack as an accessory.