We use our smartphones for pretty much everything these days. Smartphones are often our go-to GPS devices when we need driving directions, as many of us don’t have built-in navigation in our vehicles. The catch is that it’s very dangerous and even illegal in many places to have your phone in your hand while you’re driving.
If you need to see your phone’s screen while you’re driving, you want to make sure it’s in a position that is easily glanced-at while you’re still paying attention to what is happening on the road around you. Having your phone in your lap, showing you directions while you drive around heavily-trafficked highways and city blocks is a really easy way to have an accident, especially if someone in front of you brakes hard and you’re too busy looking at where your next turn is to see the impending collision.
Smartphone mounts were designed to perfectly satisfy this conundrum, and there are now many great styles and options for mounting your phone in front of you in the safest way possible. Your car’s dashboard is different from others, and your windshield is sloped differently, too. Variables like these made it challenging for companies to find the right blend of engineering and versatility to make the perfect smartphone mount. But there are now a variety of products so it actually can be a bit difficult to even know which one is best for you.
Cup-holder smartphone mounts are one creative way to get the job done when you want to mount your phone in your car, but you’ll want to consider when and where these are actually going to be good products. If your cup holders are set very low and nowhere near your windshield, you might still be looking down at your screen, which is quite a good distance from your field of view.
Even with extending arms, these cup holder models are best used in vehicles with cup holders set in places that are near the front of your view, up high and centrally located in your vehicle. Cup-holder mounts are handy because they don’t require any permanent mounting in your vehicle with an adhesive, which can leave a residue if you ever take it off.
For another style of phone mount that doesn’t require adhering anything to your dash or using a suction cup to your windshield, there are many types of smartphone holders that clip right into your existing air-vents. A pair of pinchers on the backside of the mount will simply squeeze around the slats on your vent, allowing you to then place your phone in the mechanism that holds it steady. These are great for times when you simply need to mount your phone for one trip here and there, not wanting a permanent set up in your car.
For something that’s really upfront and center, there are mounts that adhere directly to your dashboard and can pretty much be placed exactly where they will best suit you. Often times, there is a small piece that attaches to the dashboard and then another piece that attaches to that anchored point. This means you can remove the phone mount and leave only a small part stuck to your dash in the times when you don’t want your phone mount sitting up there.
Magnets are awesome and they have found a firm footing in smartphone mounts. Regardless of how your mount attaches to your vehicle, there are options that include magnets rather than a physical clamp. The magnet needs to have metal to work and that usually happens by placing a special phone case on your smartphone or simply inserting a metal plate behind your phone, sandwiched in place by your phone case of choice.
If you are leary of magnets or don’t want the hassle of having a phone case at all, there are really solid clamps that are attached to many of these mounts. The clamping mechanisms are designed to fit pretty much every smartphone in existence and sometimes they can even hold tablets.
Some cellphone mounts are not meant for vehicles at all and are meant to sit on your desk. These would be used to prop your smartphone or tablet up at a good angle where you can see it without moving your head too far from your primary working area. This saves your neck from unnecessary strain and also makes referencing your phone or tablet a much more natural motion.
