After a two-year break, festivals are back. Don’t set off for a weekend of music, food and mud without these
Nokia 6310 4G
Replacing your £1,000+ smartphone for a £50 dumbphone for the weekend may not be a bad idea, especially if you’re worried about pickpockets or have concerns about your own festival escapades.
The Nokia 6310 4G takes us way back with its classic design, complete with a physical keypad and 2.8-inch display (no touchscreens here). Although it’s made almost entirely from plastic, it feels like it’d withstand your standard festival knocks and drops without issue – just be sure to keep it away from water, as there’s no IP rating. You’ll also want to take a better camera with you, as the 0.3MP snapper isn’t up to much.
But it’s the outstanding battery life that makes the phone a festival must-have. With almost 20 hours of talk time and over 20 days on standby, it’ll keep you in contact with friends and family for the whole weekend, and probably without needing a charger.
£49.99, nokia.com
Loop earplugs
No festival is worth risking your hearing for, and Loop’s earplugs have to be some of the prettiest we’ve ever seen – and the cleverest.
We tried out the Experience plugs, which reduce noise by 18-20 decibels while keeping sounds and voices clear. They do this by mimicking how your ears function, in order to deliver a natural sound at a reduced volume while avoiding the muffled noise you can often get with earplugs.
In use, the earbud sits snugly in the ear canal, with the loop part (available in silver, gold, black or rose gold) resting gently in the outer ear. They’re lightweight and comfortable enough that you can easily forget you’re wearing them, and they come with a pocket-friendly carry case to keep them safe when you’re not.
From £12.95, loopearplugs.com
APP: WHAT3WORDS
Finding your friends is one of the great challenges of a festival, but the free app what3words solves this problem. It splits the world into three-metre squares, assigning each one a combination of three random words.
These codes can be given to your friends so they can find the exact spot you’ve sent them, right down to a three-metre area. This is perfect for tracking your mates down in a small area packed with thousands of people. You can even save locations so you can get back to your tent with ease.
Available on iOS and Android, what3words.com
GoTenna Mesh
So you’ve got your phone, and a powerbank to keep it charged, but the problem is trying to get the signal to stay in touch with your friends. At a festival, the huge amount of people in one area can mean networks get congested and your texts take longer to send… or don’t send at all.
There are a few ways to get around this, but our preferred option is the GoTenna Mesh. It consists of a pair of light signal devices that look a lot like USB sticks. When you connect your phone to them, you are able to send texts and GPS locations without needing any internet or signal.
They are small enough to fit in your pocket and have enough battery life to keep you going for the whole weekend. The range is quite limited, though, so if you and your friends are partying at opposite ends of a big festival, then you may struggle to reach each other.
£166, gotennamesh.com
Anker 313 Powerbank
If you can’t bear to be parted from your smartphone over a weekend, you are going to need a portable battery to keep your devices charged.
The Anker 313 Powerbank is a great option. It’s one of the slimmest 10,000mAh batteries you can buy, so it’s easy to slip into your pocket or bumbag. It promises more than two full charges of an iPhone 12 and just over 1.5 charges of a Galaxy S20.
You can charge anything from it, of course, just add a USB-A or USB-C compatible cable of your choice (you only get a micro-USB in the box).
Featuring Anker’s PowerIQ and VoltageBoost technology, the 313 promises faster charging of power-hungry devices, but we liked having the option for trickle charging, which provides safe, optimised charging for low-powered devices, like wireless headphones and Bluetooth speakers.
£22.99, uk.anker.com
Soundcore Motion Boom
When the music on stage has stopped and you want to be able to carry on the party back at your tent, you need a portable speaker that’s up to the job. Enter the Motion Boom, a powerful, waterproof speaker. On face value, we love its retro ‘boombox’ styling, complete with handy carry handle. But the real beauty is the performance of which this relatively compact speaker is capable. Vocals are crisp and clear; even with the bass boost on, the sound is confident and authoritative. With a 24-hour battery life, this should easily give you a weekend’s worth of tent parties, plus it doubles up as a charging point if your powerbank is out of juice.
£94.99, uk.soundcore.com