Peripheral and accessories are the most varied and distributed category in itself. They might not be considered as important as a laptop or a smartphone, but it doesn?t imply that peripherals hold no importance at all. A computer may perform various tasks considerably, given its default software configuration. But without a keyboard and a mouse, the computer cannot fully function to its optimum performance.

Mobile accessories can make their presence felt especially in crunch situations. For instance, suppose you went out for an outing and your phone goes out of power. It will leave you in a very helpless situation because you will not be able to make or receive any important calls. Now imagine, if you would have carried a travel charger along with you. The point is, peripherals and accessories are very important to computing products in many ways. A look at some of the interesting ones.

SONY CP-F1L (R3,000)

This is an emergency charger to power up your dying mobile phone with 5-6 hours of additional backup. It is a USB-based power charger (with 3500 mAh battery) for charging a USB-based smartphone, tablet, iPod, and other portable devices. There is a USB port and a 50 cm micro USB cable to power up the devices. One can easily carry it in a pocket, since it is very compact yet robust. The product has an aluminum finish and weighs just 125g.

ANTEC NOTEBOOK COOLER (R1,235)

It is very uncomfortable to use an over-heated laptop. This cooler designer is built to be used on a table or lap. The product sucks hot air from the base of the laptop and blows it out from the side vents. This product is built for cooling laptops with 15-inch screen size, and is very effective in dissipating the heat. It has an 800 rpm fan that runs silently and gets its power from the USB port on your laptop (no separate power source required).

NOKIA DT900 (R3,900)

Nokia has added a rare smartphone accessory called Nokia DT900, a wireless charging pad to its portfolio. It can charge the smartphone wirelessly and is different from a docking table. You can just put your phone on the charging table, in any direction, and the phone will charge in just about the same time as a wired charger. It has a 2.5 mm charging connector and the charging pad?s output voltage is 12.0 volt. It fully charged a Lumia 920 in less than three hours, which is what its wired charger also took.

RAPOO E9080 (R4,600)

Rapoo E9080 is a smart innovation, combining a wireless touchpad and keyboard. It is a plug-and-play keyboard having a scissor-like key structure and stainless steel plate at the back. E9080 works seamlessly within the range of 10 metres. The QWERTY part includes all 82 physical keys and a multi-touch surface for 19-button numeric keypad (with no physical buttons). With a finger-swipe along the bottom edge, the pad turns into a massive 72 x 106 mm touchpad, with two-finger scrolling and a three-finger tap gesture that functions as a right-click. Overall touch experience was very nice, and you will find it very helpful when using with bigger and high resolution screens.

DIGISOL WIRELESS ROUTER (R2,599)

Here is an innovative wall-pluggable wireless broadband and multifunction router from Digisol for homes and small offices. The BR1016NC is very different from the traditional Wi-Fi routers that are big, bulky, have external power adapters and stick out like a sore thumb on walls or on a table. This one looks like a power adapter itself, but with all the circuitry built-in. Simply plug it directly into any power outlet and start using it. There are no separate cables jutting out to spoil the look and feel of your home or office.

PORTRONICS GREENLOCK 2 (R2,999)

Greenlock 2 is a device that protects the privacy of your computer monitor by automatically switching it off and locking your screen. Wear the ?Smart ID card case?, and each time you walk away from your computer, your screen is locked automatically. The screen unlocks and opens immediately when you return in front of your computer screen. It is composed of a remote and USB dongle and functions on a 2.4 GHz ISM band. It is a lightweight device with the remote weighing just 30 grams, and the USB dongle stands at 17 grams. It is a very easy device to use as it doesn?t require any passwords to lock or unlock.