Believe it or not, Black Friday has already come and gone. Pretty soon the Christmas season will begin, and we’ll mark this midwinter festival by getting together with friends and family and continuing to drink and eat far too much.
Meanwhile, we also buy gifts for those same friends and family members, whether they want them or not. Luckily, we’re here to help, and if you follow our festive advice, your gifts just might make it into the “wanted” category.
From now until Christmas, Cult of Mac will be putting together holiday gift guys full of ideas for the special ones in your life, no matter what their interests or your budget. Today, we’re looking at gifts for people who have an unnatural love for their iPhones. Freaks.
Ballistic iPhone 5 Rugged Case — $50
Rugged: that’s what this case is. Buy it for a person who loves their iPhone so much that that have to take it with them into even the most hazardous places they visit. It has bouncy, reinforced corners, plus an all-over air-gap
to protect against impact.
And the folks at Ballistic even thought of theft-prevention: Buy the color scheme pictured above and not even a desperate thief will touch it.
iPhone SLR Mount — $250
Want to put your Canon or Nikon lenses onto your iPhone and use them to shoot? This adapter is the answer. The crazy-priced $250 answer. Available for the iPhones 4, 4S and 5, it’s actually a cheap gift if you borrowed your friend’s DSLR camera body and lost/destroyed it.
Jabra Solemate — $200
The Solemate is a speaker for the careless, the clumsy and the forgetful. It has a 3.5mm jack cable hidden in the base, it’ll stand up to dust, water and bumps, and can even connect via USB (although Bluetooth is the intended hookup). It even has a base that looks like a shoe.
All for a mere $200
TurtleJacket PentaEye iPhone Lens Case — $270
A TurtleJacket might sound like some kind of rubber stain-protector for your underwear, but it is in fact an iPhone case with a “PentaEye” turret on the back. This turret lets you rotate any of four lenses over the iPhone’s camera, variously changing the view from extreme closeup to really, really far away.
And the fifth “eye” alluded to in the name? A see-through hole to let the naked camera peep out.
Eton Rukus Solar Speaker — $150.
Unless you live in Australia, this gift won’t be very useful for another six months. If you do, you can use it to provide a soundtrack for your Christmas barbie — the Eton Rukus is a solar powered Bluetooth speaker that you may never need to charge.
It’ll work with any iPhone, has 14-watts worth of speaker, a 1500mAh battery and an AC charger for rainy days. And the readout uses e-ink to further save juice.
AirClip iPhone — $15.
The AirClip is designed for the iPhone 4/S, but the 5 will squeeze in just fine. The plastic finger-grip lets you securely hold the phone for photos and video without worrying about dropping it (easy to do with these slippery iPhones). Bonus: push it to the very bottom of the iPhone and it works as a great stand.
Braeburn Acoustic Lightning Dock — $25.
Lightning Docks are still few and far between. The aluminum Braeburn dock uses your giftee’s own cable and threads it up through a dock-hole, all while channeling the speaker through an acoustic chamber to amplify it. The dock also comes with a sticky pad to secure it to the desktop for one-handed removal.
Elecom Folding Keyboard — $180.
Elecom excels in expensive folding keyboards, and this one for the iPhone might be way overpriced, but it could save the day for the journalist on the go. Or the inveterate texter. It also works with a Mac or a PC, and can switch its command/ctrl keys to suit the target device. So you see it might not be quite so expensive after all.
iPhone Scuba Suit — $60.
Waterproof, yet slim and with a soft screen cover for even less bulk. The two-piece case snaps closed over the iPhone 4/S and various switches allow you to use all of its functions while inside. Yes, that includes the camera.
Cabrio Leather Case — $90.
Nothing says “I couldn’t be bothered” like a purpose-designed “luxury” case, and the Calypso cases are no exception. In this case, though, they are at least handsomely designed. Only one model nears bling territory, and Cabrio pictured above isn’t it. You can get this rear shell (only $80 more than a polycarbonate one!) or a slip-in hard sleeve, in a range of colors and with varying degrees of ostentation.
Macro Lens Band — $15.
Minimal and macro. This band is nothing but a closeup lens mounted in a rubber strip, and as such it’ll work with pretty much any phone you like. Hell, it might even stretch to fit the iPad mini, but I wouldn’t want to be the one to try it.
SA950i Headphones — $60.
In our test I called these the best headphones you can get for $60. Their coated titanium drivers and lightweight design give the perfect balance of great sound and comfort, and they even have a full-featured in-line remote for the iPhone.
I also though they were way more expensive than they really are, which is clearly a great feature in a gift.
Olloclip — $70.
Probably the best iPhone accessory lens. It’s pocket-sized, and just clips on when you need it, no magnets, sticky donuts or other crap required. You get a fisheye (also great for shooting video to reverse the iPhone’s software zoom), a wideangle and (when you unscrew it) a macro lens.
It’s built to fit the iPhone 4/S, and the iPhone 5 model isn’t available yet, so be careful you’re buying the right thing.
