My iPhone 4S accessories so far

I’ve had the iPhone 4S for a little over two weeks and have written about it a few times already. If you are interested, you can find all the previous posts in the iPhone 4S category. Until this past weekend, I had only purchased a case for the iPhone, but I have been thinking about a few other accessories I wanted to pick up. Following are the details of a few accessories I bought this past weekend and why I chose each one.

My new iPhone 4S accessories

Earbuds – I’ve never been a huge fan of the earbuds Apple provides with iPods and those that came with the iPhone are no exception. I’m sure for some folks they are plenty comfortable but they don’t do the trick for me. Also, I find that earbuds like the Sony DREX12iP/BLK Phone Headset (Amazon affiliate link) are more comfortable and do a better job blocking out background noise at coffee shops and on airplanes.

After two weeks with the Apple earbuds however, I did want a set that had both music controls and a microphone. The microphone is more so that I can issue voice commands to Siri than make phone calls. A final consideration for me was that the ear buds be relatively inexpensive. I’m really hard on earbuds and, regardless of cost, they seldom last more than 6 months. I’ve only had the Sony DREX12iP earbuds for a day but they seem to be filling all my requirements quite nicely.

Portable Mini Speaker – I travel a great deal and as good as the built-in speakers are in the new iPhone 4S are, they leave a bit to be desired. I was looking for a small speaker that was easy to pack still had decent sound. I found the iHome iHM60LT Rechargeable Mini Speaker (Amazon affiliate link). I like that the iH60TL compresses to about half its operating size for transportation. I am also impressed with how much quality sound a small speaker can produce. My teenage son even commented by saying, “That’s not too bad, Dad. Speaker technology really has come a long way.” An added bonus is I don’t need to buy any batteries as this speaker has a built-in rechargeable one. Also it comes with all the cables you’ll need.

2.1 amp Car Charger – Since the iPhone 4S has pretty good battery life, I have not worried too much about not having a car charger. However, I do spend enough time on the road that at some point it will be an issue. I settled on the Belkin MicroCharger 2.1 + ChargeSync (Amazon affiliate link). I like a couple things about the MicroCharge 2.1. First, it delivers a full 2.1 amps to the iPhone; thus charging it much faster than less expensive charges. I also like that it’s a complete kit so I can leave it in the car when I’m at home and don’t need to move my charging/sync cable back and forth. If fast charging and a quality product are what you are looking for, I’d suggest giving this Belkin charger a try.

When selecting the above accessories for the iPhone 4S I balanced cost and quality in all cases. Both the earbuds and portable speaker I find to be a great balance of those qualities. The Belkin charger is a bit expensive, but it’s a quality product and the iPhone does charge quickly when connected to it. If you have experience with these or other iPhone accessories, please share you thoughts in the comments below.