The first thing most of us do after buying a cell phone is shop for accessories to keep our prized gadget safe. And without even realizing it, we tend to spend huge amounts of money on these so called accessories when we can actually opt for cheaper and equally sturdy alternatives. Here are five cell phone accessories deemed necessary for your phone, which can be made at home itself, thereby saving you big bucks in the process.
Car Docks
If you own a cell phone and a car, then one of the first accessories you would opt for would be a car dock where you can safely place your phone in while driving. Most phones also come with navigation options that would need you to keep them in these docks while driving in order to look for directions. However, most car docks are quite expensive. As an alternative, you can make your own car dock with just some binder clips or rubber bands. Beats paying loads of money to buy a new car dock or keeping your phone in a cup holder as you drive around.
Screen Protectors
Most smartphones come with touch screens that can easily develop scratches and smudges with constant use. And opting for a screen protector every once in a while can become an expensive option. Alternatively, you can make your own screen protector at home. Just buy a piece of cheap vinyl, measure the dimensions of your smartphone screen, and cut them out on the vinyl using a knife. Carefully position the piece over the screen to get your very own homemade screen protector.
Rubber Cases
Cellphones usually have glossy finishes which would make them a bit slippery to handle. Which is why many individuals opt for rubber cases. Rubber cases can be expensive though. And as an effective substitute, you can use a product that can actually give a rubbery texture to your cell phone (the back). Called Plasti Dip, the product can be applied to the back of your cellphone to give it a rubbery feel. This way, you can have a better grip on the cell phone and eliminate the need of a rubber case or cover for the same.
Portable Speakers
If you want high quality sound, you would probably have to opt for expensive iPod docks (the cheaper ones are not worth it). As an alternative, you can choose to boost the volume without hampering the sound quality, by simply choosing to place your cell phone in a cereal bowl or a paper cup. You can also use paper cups or wooden blocks to make your very own portable speaker which would offer amazing sound quality when compared to cheap iPod docks.
Headphones with Remote Controls
It is very rare (and expensive) to find a headphone that combines high quality sound with a fully functional in built microphone remote control. Added to this is the phone compatibility wherein one set of headphones would not work with any other device. So the best way to get what you want and not spend too much money on it is to splice an existing headphone and remote control, hack the headphones to work for other cell phones (in case of Android phones) or just convert the existing remote control headphone to an adapter. Either way, you would get superb sound quality along with awesome microphone and remote control functionality.
