iPhone Toys - Ten One Sound Clip and Pogo Stylus

  • By SarjuS, GameSpot
  • Posted May 12, 2009 4:48 pm PT

Even if it is awesome, the iPhone is far from perfect - especially when it comes to gaming. Quite a few games make use of the wide screen and make you flip the phone sideways in order to play. If you've ever held an iPhone sideways you've probably noticed that the sound becomes muffled from time to...

Even if it is awesome, the iPhone is far from perfect - especially when it comes to gaming. Quite a few games make use of the wide screen and make you flip the phone sideways in order to play. If you've ever held an iPhone sideways you've probably noticed that the sound becomes muffled from time to time. TheiPhone's lone speaker sits on the bottom left-hand side, where your finger tends to rest if you're holding it sideways. More than a few games also require precise touch screen interaction in real time. Try doing that with a pudgy finger and your hand covering up half the screen. Ten One Design popped out the Soundclip and the Pogo stylus to address these shortcomings.

The Sound Clip attaches to the sync port and redirects sound from the speaker upward. Your fingers can sit flush with the iPhone and you'll still hear the sound coming from the speaker. Theclip's easy to remove and stays firmly attached to the phone. It's also small enough that it's not a bother to keep on when you pocket the phone. It's simple, small, and works as advertised. Whether a small piece of molded plastic is worth $8 is entirely up to you.

Ten One's Pogo stylus works quite well. Best of all, you can actually see the screen while poking around. The soft tip of the stylus won't scratch the screen, and it actually makes games like Geo Defense much easier. Being able to quickly and accurately place a turret without guess work goes a long way towards winning. An included clip snaps around the phone to hold the stylus when not in use. We'd rather pocket the stylus and ditch the clip, as it makes the phone feel unwieldy. At $15, the Pogo seems seems steeply priced even if it is effective. Poke around on Amazon and you can find it for under $10, which is considerably more palatable.

22 Comments

  • Excedra

    Posted Jun 23, 2009 2:44 am PT

    serioulsy? a stylus?

  • Mozza215

    Posted May 26, 2009 2:38 pm PT

    I agree too with Pitaboy. Apple didn't make the Ipod/Iphone for games, they made it for music/calling/texting. Anything else, like the Web brower and App store + games, is a bonus and just can't be complained about because Apple made this to be a handy gadget, not a contender for the DS and PSP.

  • jjwalker9600

    Posted May 25, 2009 3:09 pm PT

    I need to find a pogo stylus and try it out. I do have to agree with pitaboy about everything. I primary play it when I am travel and even then not a whole lot because it drains the battery so fast.

  • Pitaboy293

    Posted May 19, 2009 1:15 pm PT

    The iPhone is not designed for gaming. It's an iPod with a phone slapped on it. That's what I use it for, aside from some web browsing. The games are only a cool feature designed to kill time, and isn't good for a serous portable gamer. I have a GBA emulator on my jailbroken iPhone, but still... if you want games over phone/iPod then go for a PSP.

  • gatsbythepig

    Posted May 13, 2009 5:10 pm PT

    Great thanks.

  • lozvil

    Posted May 13, 2009 12:11 pm PT

    In the first place, I don't think that the iPhone or iTouch is realy designed for gaming. If you're realy a gamer, just stick to a real gaming system, ie, DS or PSP(if you want portable). But the good thing about the iPhone / iTouch games are a lot cheaper than of the DS and/or PSP, and to think, they have a very good graphics, and they're a lot and lots of iPhone games now.... weeeeeee

  • ZenTigerpaw

    Posted May 13, 2009 11:46 am PT

    Please, have we forgotten about the iPod Touch? The only reason everyone refers to the iPhone is cause the firmware is the same on both systems.

  • payne6705

    Posted May 13, 2009 11:18 am PT

    having both a DS and a i touch with millions of gaming Apps I have to say the DS wins hands down because 2 main reasons

    1.) battery life

    2.) the itouch/iphone games are fun but thats it they are repetative, gimmicky and most of all time killers the only reason I find myself playing games like itoast,team runners (or whatever), lemonade tycoon, pocket god, awesome ball, doodler jump, tap tap and many many more is because of boredom other than that all games are just the same levels over and over again just harder difficulty unlike games like GTA chinatown wars or lock's quest for the DS which have good gameplay and a story and last longer than 10 minutes and save points

  • jubeajubea

    Posted May 13, 2009 11:11 am PT

    Where are the iphone game reviews gamespot?

  • TripSe7en

    Posted May 13, 2009 10:58 am PT

    @ Blinker
    Sounds like someone is jealous of the iPhone... I love my iPhone for casual gaming and at the age of 29 I would rather pull out my iPhone than a psp or DS and look like a child...

  • iRevive

    Posted May 13, 2009 10:35 am PT

    Blinker, who the hell cares about that? Dont play off your batery and you are all set. Just dont be an idiot to play it away. (Proud owned of iPhone, I USE IT for games and never had any trouble, because I use brain)

  • Blink3r

    Posted May 13, 2009 10:16 am PT

    NONONO... just NO... leave gaming for the PsP and DS... what's the point in playing with your phone if when you need to make a phonecall you're outta battery cuz you've been playing?

  • ea_goodandy

    Posted May 13, 2009 9:31 am PT

    I love my iPhone, and I really love the games on it. Lot better than I expected. I may buy these products since they are pretty cheap. I really can't wait for the iPhone OS 3.0. Finally getting MMS and Cut, Copy, Paste!

  • borncold1989

    Posted May 13, 2009 8:29 am PT

    Dareitus, you must not have an Iphone. They work great for gaming and it is nice to not have to lug around all of that hardware.

  • skwrlX

    Posted May 13, 2009 7:16 am PT

    if the ipod touch had a better battery, it would be the ultimate in portable gaming

  • Dareitus

    Posted May 13, 2009 7:07 am PT

    If I want to talk to people I use a phone. If I want to play games I use a DS/PSP. Phones are not good at games, and DS/PSP are not good at talking to people. Let's just do what we do best.

  • Scooter_6_7

    Posted May 13, 2009 5:27 am PT

    I think the stylus would help a little but I'm even more accurate with my iTouch than I am when on my DS so I don't know what some of you are talking about but it would be good for games where you need any + accuracy you can get!-)

  • im_back

    Posted May 13, 2009 1:07 am PT

    I for one never play with my iphone without using head phones. The sounds the game make are a bother to the people around you and the quality is always going to be lacking compared to the headphones, so I doubt that it would ever be worth paying $8 for that.

    As for the stylus, if its small and light weight, it might be worth a buy, even if you don't game on your iphone. just being able to see the whole screen as you use the phone is well worth it i believe

  • xXl_IMoRTaL_lXx

    Posted May 12, 2009 9:10 pm PT

    seem like nice upgrades, but i dont care enough about gaming on my iphone.

  • armor_king_2

    Posted May 12, 2009 8:36 pm PT

    i have iphone .
    its all right what all of you saying it could help me but if they find also about the battery of it
    because if you start to play it would take all the energy in the battery so fast.

  • rift33

    Posted May 12, 2009 8:11 pm PT

    Sounds cool. I sure hope that they will be able to make the control's as accurate as the DS. I would buy alot more games for my iphone if they were able to do this,or atleast even come close to the control's that my ds has. But as of now only some of the games 4 the iphone use the touch screen in a manner that seems to work well (at least in my opinion)

  • Decko5

    Posted May 12, 2009 8:02 pm PT

    i guess this could be useful. i dont care what anyone says, the iphone's battery is the main reason it fails at portable gaming.

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