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We are all scarily dependent on our smartphones. When my phone gets down to 5% battery life as I leave the office, I get that panicky feeling rise up in my chest. What would I do if it went completely flat? Would I even be able to complete my journey without the tube map and what about level 38 of Candy Crush? What if I've left my keys in the office, how would I phone anyone to let me into my flat? Oh it's ok, I'll just tweet my marooned state. No I won't - my phone has gone dead.

In the business world, where more and more companies are moving to either kitting out their staff with the latest smartphone or allowing BYOD programmes, we are finding ourselves extremely limited by our phone battery lives. Even the BlackBerry Z10 only just stretches into the second day's charge, but really when you're hammering its shiny new OS, you have to charge it every day.

From the moment I leave my flat to travel to work in the morning, I  feel constrained by my battery life, I have a USB lead in my work computer, so I can easily charge my iPhone at my desk, but if I'm out for a full day, I know I have to ration my usage.

At the last big even I went to, I spent a few hours on the train in the morning and by 2pm I had 15% battery left. As a reporter, I needed my phone, not only to keep on top of emails and phone calls, but also to take photographs and record videos from the event. I would need the National Rail app to work out when my return train was going to depart, google maps to get around, not to mention emails to keep me entertained on the train home.

My saviour was the Energenie ChargeSleeve for iPhone 4 and 4S. I was at an event where Energenie were showing off its products, and to be completely honest I had been given a ChargeSleeve to review a few months back, but never got around to doing it. Boy, did I wish I had it in my bag that day as my battery dropped like a stone in water. Instead I wandered up to the stand red faced and sheepish and asked if I could borrow one for a quick fix. Luckily Energenie had one going spare.

Your phone fits within the sleeve and the 1, 8 00mAh battery allows for a full recharge of your device. It does make your phone a little longer and thicker, but I preferred that it still felt like my iPhone after a couple of weeks on the ice cream, rather than messing about with wires, USB ports, and a rectangular box in order to get an emergency charger working. I could even make phone calls without worrying about the wires getting trapped or pulled out of the device. The only issue is that carrying around the ChargeSleeve when you don't need it, is like having another phone in your bag.

The product comes with a USB to MicroUSB cable to recharge your ChargeSleeve. I've most certainly learnt my lesson, and until they start making operating systems that aren't such a drain on your smartphone, portable emergency chargers are certainly the way forward.

Energenie ChargeSleeve for iPhone 4/4S £29.99

Log into the desktop browser for MobileNow to have all the power to manage a fleet of mobile device users.

Currently available for iOS, with Android and other operating systems in the pipeline, MobileNow solves the security questions raised in an age where mobile working is the norm and more and more employees are using their home devices in the workplace (BYOD).

The minds of IT departments around the world are frazzled by the security issues these portable devices cause: data leakage and privacy issues being the main worry.

Appsense has launched a solution to securely manage devices within a company. The SaaS mobile device management (MDM) platform provides an easy to use dashboard for administrators to track who has what device and to go in and alter to a degree, what the devices can do.

Designed for enterprise and mid-market organisations, it bridges application/data access, corporate compliance and strong security to personal devices in work environments.

MobileNow boasts a single interface for IT departments to get a programme up and running, while continually monitoring with no further infrastructure. The product is quick to get started, while offering a number of different profiles with a range of security features which can be applied to different groups within the organisation.

Additionally, MobileNow enables the user to still freely use their device without any fears that their personal data may be remotely wiped if the company feels as though it needs to protect confidential data. Apps and emails which are used for business purposes sit safely within the MobileNow platform, while business email messages and attachments are secure in transit by Encryption AES 256-bit encryption.

"MDM been around for a little time in an early stage which tends to lock down the device," said Ashley Tuberfield, product marketing manager of Appsense. "This is the next generation around mobile information management concerning apps and data rather than the device."

I gave MobileNow a run for its money on an iPad mini this week and firstly, I must note that I was experiencing the solution from the perspective of the IT department (through the administration console in a web browser) and also the as an employee (through using the iPad device). 

Administrator and adding users

My first experience was to set up the administrator page, which was fairly straight forward, once I got past all the passwords I had to note down to remember. I can imagine an IT department finding it very straightforward.

Appsense also told me that IT departments can import all the company's users from an active directory. If a company has already grouped its users, this will be recognised, otherwise it would be beneficial to spend a little time organising users into groups such as 'finance' or 'sales' which then can have different levels of access and restrictions, which you can add later on.

The level of organisation was very formulaic, with a clear dashboard of sections. It just takes a bit of time, like with anything, to get the hang of the different areas. But after setting up your employees and devices the main sections to familiarise yourself with should be 'device policies' and 'app policies' this is the brains of the operation.  

Device policies

This is the main part of the MDM solution. Here you can set policies and apply them to different employees or groups of employees.

Your policies affect the functions of your device, from whether you can screen capture , to allowing the camera to work on the device.

This feature was very useful, imagine IT departments want to stop you using the device's camera, gamecentre, allowing Safari to collect cookies or to use iCloud backup - then a change to the policy could be pushed to the device in an instant. However, when I tried this out first hand, it did work the quickest over WiFi, I tried it on a medium strength 3G connection and it took about 30-60 mins to push through from the desktop browser where I changed the settings to the iPad mini in my hands.

App policies

MobileNow claims to securely isolate business applications - both in-house and 3rd party apps - from personal applications. Again, it ensures business data is always encrypted, compliant and protected by the policies you have set. Here you can set policies such as whether you can print from the app, geolocation restrictions (in the US only), timeouts, or password lengths.

You can also upload internal apps and the solution wraps it securely in real time. Additionally, you can add an app link to the iTunes Store to use the Apple Volume Purchase programme. Rather than everyone buying an app individually, you buy licenses beforehand and make them available. For instance you can buy 100 licenses, which gives you 100 redemption codes. You can then upload them to mobile now, and when a user goes to download the app, Apple takes one of the redemption codes seamlessly in the background.

Finally you can push company apps onto employee devices.

Final thoughts

This piece of software is very intelligent and for enterprises thinking of moving into the tablet space, but worried about security, this solution can solve most worries. However, the system is very "Big Brother" and the power is in the hands of the administrator. While the administrator can't see your screen or know your whereabouts, it is slightly creepy how functions can just disappear or reappear from your device without you doing anything.

That said, if it is a company device, the administrator is completely in their rights to do so, but from a BYOD perspective, you might start to get annoyed if your camera disappears on the day you want to take a picture of your kid doing something cute in the park. However, at least with MobileNow you will know that any existing photos will not be remotely wiped off by an over-eager administrator.

As with most security, it's a balancing act. IT departments should have good communication with employees so they know what is going on with the hardware that they use on a day-to-day basis.

MobileNow is a very strong solution and will take a lot of pain out of deploying a mobile workforce. 

Click here for pricing.

The last day of the mobile-fest that is Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, and Samsung have announced a mobile wallet app for users to keep all their coupons, vouchers, tickets and membership cards in one place.

When Apple launched Passbook there was excitement in the air (for all of 24 hours), at the thought that this was the mobile manufacturer's first tentative steps into the domain of NFC and mobile payments.

A safe option is to start with mobile couponing wallet, similar to Passbook, which is what Samsung has launched today at MWC. However, these schemes are only as good as the volume of partners and brands involved.

What is the point in having my Starbucks points in my mobile wallet, if my Costa card isn't? (Although, in regards to Starbucks, what's the point in having a mobile strategy with a postal service for your coupons?) But I digress...

The same goes for flights, it's great to have my Lufthansa boarding card on my mobile ready to scan at the gate, but what if the following week I travel with a budget airline which doesn't? The CO2 I huff and puff while riffling through my draws for my travel wallet would probably equate to the CO2 I'm plunging into the atmosphere. But I digress again...

Samsung partners so far include: Belly, Booking.com, Expedia, Hotels.com, Lufthansa and Major League Baseball Advanced Media - that's not going to get you far in day-to-day life without your wallet? However, the company did say that they were still in development, so we can keep our eyes peeled for more announcements which will later go unnoticed as they won't make enough noise in the industry on their own. 

I understand that the concept of the "mobile wallet" doesn't necessarily mean leaving your traditional wallet at home (yet!), but surely we should be aiming high for that type of lifestyle, knowing that we will fall short, to what will hopefully be a happy medium with plenty of brands to choose from.

I know these things take time, but in the UK we're already so far behind in the realms of NFC, it actually seems like science fiction rather than possibility. 

Early this week at MWC, Visa announced a partnership with Samsung to accelerate mobile NFC payments. 

Visa will include its payWave NFC applet on the next generation of Samsung NFC-enabled handsets. As part of the alliance, Visa will also partner with financial institutions to push forward global mobile payment solutions.

Maybe we're starting to get somewhere after this week, but until then, pass me my Radley purse.

While I was at CES in Las Vegas a few of weeks ago, it was not surprising that a fair few gadgets caught my eye. While at Eureka Park where the technology start-ups were all stashed away, I came across Nio, "the unforgettable accessory".

Essentially, Nio is a very small key ring which uses Bluetooth technology to pair with your Apple device (but they have to be either a iPhone 4S, iPad 3 or later!). Clip the Nio to your bag and when the Nio wanders too far away from your phone, it will sound an alarm.

You can set the alarm between two and 20 feet, as well as being able to adjust the sound, volume and vibrate settings. You could also attach the Nio to other precious things like your wallet, keys, laptop, luggage or even pets, and as long as you stay with your Apple device, it will alert you if these things move out of your designated area.

It is tiny and weighs a mere 10 grams so you would hardly notice it and it also holds a three month charge. It is intended to retail at $59.99 which is rather a hefty on-off price to pay, but I only think that because I'm not a forgetful  person (touch wood!), however some people I will not name in the Computer Weekly office, I would recommend buying three!

While in Las Vegas, Nio was looking to speak with retailers and more interestingly, with telecoms companies for accessories for corporations. Everyone has a colleague who has left their work laptop in the back of a taxi at least once, this would go towards protecting company hardware as well as data protection issues by preventing the device from getting into the wrong hands. 

Pop the piece of plastic on the end of your finger tip and make sure you practise for a little while. It's a bit tricky to get the angle right in order to make a connection with the screen, but these Tech Tips from a US start-up company try to compensate for sloppy handwriting and difficulties when clicking on tiny webpage links while using your smart device.

This fairly good idea, if not quite implemented as well as I would have liked, trying the tips out on my iPhone with a screen protector, proved a little sluggish (see video). My colleague tried them on a Samsung Galaxy S3, which worked considerably better, however the hard keys at the bottom of the device - which still require sensitivity to work - didn't work as well as your actual finger when being used with the Tech Tips.

The tip of your finger gets a bit sweaty from the plastic and it is not that precise when writing - so my handwriting wasn't great, but it was better than when using your finger tip.

However, it is great when you're on a website which has not been optimised for mobile use and the hyperlinks are really tricky to select with the pad of your finger.

Another problem is, how do you measure your finger tips to know what size to ask for, small, medium or large?

Capacitive touchscreens do not actually detect touch, but instead detect the presence of an electrically conductive object. Tech Tips have included this technology into small pieces of plastic to produce an electrical conductor that smart devices will recognise.

The company is looking to have discussions with UK distributors in the coming weeks, and Tech Tips will also be available on Amazon within the months.

At this point the individual retail cost for a single Tech Tip stylus is $3.49n (£2.17) and $9.99 (£6.21) for a multi-pack of four.

The company has also demonstrated Nano Nails - fake nails which include this technology. I don't wear fake nails myself, but I can see these as a really great idea that could take off as my friends tell me how difficult it is to use their phones when wearing ludicrously long pieces of plastic.

Image: Tech Tips Nano Nails

Still in beta mode, the Nano Nail doesn't have official pricing as yet, however, they are expected to be around $10-12 (around £7) for 4-5 pack of nails. The company is currently still in the process of testing out the technology, for instance a set of nails which were worn for a week needed touching up with the nail polish, and Tech Tips is currently looking to see how the technology withstands to nail polish remover.

What other objects conduct the electrical impulses needed to work a touchscreen device? 

Sony has unveiled its new flagship smartphone handset at CES in Las Vegas, the Xperia Z. The smartphone comes with a full HD screen, Snapdragon S4 Pro quad-core processor and it comes ready for 4G use.

It is also waterproof, so no need to worry about sending text messages from the confines of the tub. Sony claims the device will survive in up to one metre of water for 30 minutes, which would come in handy when you want to clean your phone - just rinse it in the sink.

The device screen is 5-inches, which borders on the phablet territory of the Samsung Galaxy Note, which stands at 5.5-inches. This is a screen increase of 0.4-inches from its predecessor, again being another screen in CES to be increasing in size rather than shrinking.

Despite its larger size, the device is nice and slim and feels great held in the hand. Its predecessor, the James Bond 007 device, aka the Xperia T, had a scalloped back panel and a matte finish. The scalloped back is now gone and the Z also goes back to preferring shine and fingerprints - I think this makes it classier and more modern looking.

This picture shows the Xperia T on the left and the Xperia Z on the right 

The device also features NFC, opening up possibilities of the mobile wallet (once banks get their acts together to enable a service). While you wait for that to happen, you can use the device to eliminate wires while enjoying music, one tap and you can connect to headphones or your home entertainment system.

Sony has included a few overlays to the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system that it runs on, such as hold the homescreen button to skip straight to Google, and quick start buttons for apps of your choice, such as notes. 

Additionally, Sony has included a nice feature for quickly browsing images from your gallery while still on the homescreen - Timescape allows you to flick through images to easily access the one you need quickly.

This version of Android's operating system comes with Office Suite and I found the keyboard of the Z comfortable to type with.

Sony is hoping to regain some traction in the market, but will this device take attention away from Samsung and Apple? From my short-lived hands on experience, it's nice enough, but I don't think it has as many selling points as the flagship devices of its competitors to make a noise in the market.

The device is also available in as the Xperia ZL with a lower screen resolution and a matte finish on the backing. This is also not water resistant.