Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Our favorite phone accessories from CES 2017

best phone accessories ces 2017 olloclip pivot 08
Andy Boxall/Digital Trends
The annual CES technology event may be best known for important product announcements and the excitement surrounding the latest big-name gadgets, but there are lots of other things to discover out on the show floor, too. We always enjoy looking around the phone accessory halls, and picked out five of our favorite new products launched in Las Vegas.

Evutec Aer

These cool cases come from a materials specialist, and we liked the mature styling and versatility. The Aer has a soft polyurethane shell edge to it, but the back is covered in Kevlar or real wood, giving a unique look to each case. The cases are super-thin, avoiding bulk and weight, but the cases provide just as much protection as other, less finely tuned ones. Hidden inside the case is a metal plate for attaching the case to a magnetic dashboard mount in your car.

The Evutec Aer costs $35 for the iPhone 7 version, or $40 with the car mount. If you have an iPhone 7 Plus, it’s $40 for the case and $45 with the mount.

Amazon

Catalyst Case for the Apple Watch Series 2

Apple made the right decision to add water resistance to the Apple Watch Series 2, but while you’re OK to go swimming, getting it wet in salt water or exposing it to sand, dust, or anything else that may ruin the beautiful finish is a definite no-no. That’s where the Catalyst case comes in. It adds an IP68 rated case to the Watch, so it’s suitable for depths up to 100 meters, including in sea water. It also covers the body in a housing that provides military-grade protection.

The Watch retains all its functions, such as heart rate sensor and charging, so you can leave the Catalyst case on all the time or only when the need arises. It comes in two colors, but it only fits the 42mm version for now. A 38mm version will be out before the end of March.

Catalyst

Olloclip Pivot

Live streaming video is only getting more popular, but it requires expert control and a good grip to keep your phone in exactly the right angle and position while shooting. Get it wrong, and you may miss a unique moment. The Olloclip Pivot is an articulated, universal grip for your phone, providing plenty more control over your video, photography, or selfies.

It comes with a grip, a mount for phones up to 5.5-inches in size, a GoPro camera mount, and a cold shoe to add a light or microphone to the set up. Use it with Olloclip’s new lens kits for the iPhone 7 Plus, with lenses that are compatible with the phone’s dual-lens camera and can be swapped around for use on the selfie cam, for the best results.

The Pivot costs $50, while the Core Lens kit with a macro, fish-eye, and super-wide lens is $100.

Amazon

iFace First Class

Best known in Japan, iFace is a case brand to look out for in the U.S. and elsewhere, due to its classy, well thought-out design, and ability to quickly attach to an in-car mount. Made from polycarbonate and polyurethane, the First Class case feels great in the hand, thanks to subtle curves down the sides, so it fits better in your palm. The body meets military-grade protection standards, and has a cutout for a lanyard. A metal plate is hidden inside the body, ready to fix your phone and case to a magnetic in-car mount.

iFace’s cases come in many colors, and are produced for the iPhone, plus various Samsung Galaxy and LG phones. We liked the finish of these cases because each color is seemingly polished to a subtle, cool shine.

Amazon

Whoosh

Give your phone the love it deserves with Whoosh, a spray screen cleaner and anti-microbial  microfiber cloth combination that made our smartphones look like new. The cleaner is completely odorless and non-toxic, so you can use it on any screen. Polish your phone off with the special cloth, and it looks like new, while the towel is proven to remove dirt and germs.

Whoosh introduced a cute new series of high quality microfiber cloths, each with clever little phrases or a poop emoji, because our phones aren’t always the cleanest things around. A regular pack of cleaner and a standard cloth is just $13, and it’s worth every cent.

Amazon

Editors' Recommendations

Andy Boxall
Andy is a Senior Writer at Digital Trends, where he concentrates on mobile technology, a subject he has written about for…
AT&T just made it a lot easier to upgrade your phone
AT&T Storefront with logo.

Do you want to upgrade your phone more than once a year? What about three times a year? Are you on AT&T? If you answered yes to those questions, then AT&T’s new “Next Up Anytime” early upgrade program is made for you. With this add-on, you’ll be able to upgrade your phone three times a year for just $10 extra every month. It will be available starting July 16.

Currently, AT&T has its “Next Up” add-on, which has been available for the past several years. This program costs $6 extra per month and lets you upgrade by trading in your existing phone after at least half of it is paid off. But the new Next Up Anytime option gives you some more flexibility.

Read more
Motorola is selling unlocked smartphones for just $150 today
Someone holding the Moto G Stylus 5G (2024).

Have you been looking for phone deals but don’t want to spend a ton of money on flagship devices from Apple and Samsung? Have you ever considered investing in an unlocked Motorola? For a limited time, the company is offering a $100 markdown on the Motorola Moto G 5G. It can be yours for just $150, and your days and nights of phone-shopping will finally be over!

Why you should buy the Motorola Moto G 5G
Powered by the Snapdragon 480+ 5G CPU and 4GB of RAM, the Moto G delivers exceptional performance across the board. From UI navigation to apps, games, and camera functions, you can expect fast load times, next to no buffering, and smooth animations. You’ll also get up to 128GB of internal storage that you’ll be able to use for photos, videos, music, and any other mobile content you can store locally. 

Read more
The Nokia 3210 is the worst phone I’ve used in 2024
A person holding the Nokia 3210, showing the screen.

Where do I even start with the Nokia 3210? Not the original, which was one of the coolest phones to own back in a time when Star Wars: Episode 1 -- The Phantom Menace wasn’t even a thing, but the latest 2024 reissue that has come along to save us all from digital overload, the horror of social media, and the endless distraction that is the modern smartphone.

Except behind this facade of marketing-friendly do-goodery hides a weapon of torture, a device so foul that I’d rather sit through multiple showings of Jar Jar Binks and the gang hopelessly trying to bring back the magic of A New Hope than use it.
The Nokia 3210 really is that bad

Read more