Success for the iPhone has spawned a mammoth industry catering for iPhone owners. You can buy all sorts of iPhone accessories with designs ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous. Let’s take a look at some of the strangest iPhone accessories around.
TV Hat for iPhone ($30)
Is this genius or completely insane? The TV Hat allows you to don a baseball cap or a visor with an unusually long bill and a hood that will black out everything except your iPhone screen. The iPhone is slotted into the end of the face-covering corridor and you can enjoy movies or TV shows without glare or distraction. Who cares if everyone is staring? You won’t be able to see them anyway. There’s even a magnifying glass inside to boost that cinema effect. Okay it’s definitely insane.
iVictrola for iPhone ($650-$1000)
There are quite a few low tech iPhone speaker accessories that work like old gramophone horns but the iVictrola range actually use old gramophone horns combined with beautiful pieces of wood. The iPhone’s speaker is amplified without any need for cords or power. These are custom made pieces and so they’re expensive, but as strange iPhone accessories go, they really look good. The sound amplification is impressive but it’s definitely retro as you can hear in this video.
iBreath Breathalyzer ($40)
A portable breathalyzer that attaches to your iPhone or iPod might not be the first thing that springs to mind when you think about iPhone accessories. You can blow into the flip out wand and the device will tell you if you are over the limit. At least that’s what it’s supposed to do, this review isn’t exactly glowing. As a weird bonus, it also works as a wireless FM transmitter and comes with a car plug. If you’re too drunk to drive you can sit back and listen to some tunes until you sober up. If they added a coffee making function, it would be perfect.
Romo the iPhone Robot ($150)
Many of us feel like we were stiffed on the promise of household robots but at least we got awesome smartphones. Romo combines the two by giving your iPhone a body of its own and transforming it into a kind of robot. The hardware body is combined with an app which allows you to remote control it. You can even see from its perspective, which makes it the ideal spybot. It also has some basic animated faces and the ability to dance (badly) to music.
RDTX – Portable Radiation Detector ($250)
If there’s one feature that’s glaringly missing from the iPhone it has to be the ability to detect gamma radiation. This device from Scosche has an accompanying app for your iPhone. Not only does it accurately detect radiation in your environment, it also allows you to share your findings directly on Twitter or Facebook. It attaches via the dock connection and the app provides an easy-to-read meter with a color coded scale. Dangerous radiation levels are no laughing matter so if you want peace of mind maybe this isn’t so crazy.