What is the best vehicle mount for the Samsung Galaxy Note 2?
Like most smartphone accessories, it really depends on your requirements and how much you can afford. Initially I just wanted a secure place in the car to put my phone. One that didn't vibrate or drop the phone even on a dirt road with Australian sized potholes. It wasn't until after I bought the Samsung Smartphone Vehicle Dock - ECS-K200BEGSTD ver7.3 that I realised there was a lot more to a good vehicle mount than sturdiness.
After paying $39.95 at a local JB-HiFi, I promptly opened the box in the car park to find a few bits of plastic inside. I remembered thinking, really? 40 bucks for this? I've been rolled by a brand name. Not happy Samsung.
My thinking quickly changed though, right from the moment I started using it. Clamping to the windscreen was easily done with one hand by a simple thumb press on the suction button. Some other mounts have adjustable parts that can make the unit flexible allowing vibrations which makes the screen difficult to see clearly when driving on rough roads. This unit has only one point of adjustment, a ball joint to swivel and turn the screen. This simple design eliminates any form of vibration or shake while still allowing a large range of movement in screen angle. The ball joint is adjustable via it's screw cap fitting from loose to very tight. Tight enough that it won't even move when bumped.
Placing the phone into the mount couldn't be easier. As there's no integrated USB connector so you can basically throw your phone at it and squeeze the clamp as tight as you want it to hold. When clamped tight the phone won't come out even when subjected to the standard sauce bottle flick. You know, when you flick the tomato sauce bottle hard and fast towards the ground to get the last bit of sauce up to the spout. No movement or slippage of the phone in it's clamp at all. Of course it depends entirely on how hard you squeeze the clamp but if you squeeze at the back of the clamps you get a little more pressure.
The USB connection point of the phone is exposed for easy charging while mounted. Though remember, this phone is a powerhouse and with just a few apps running can overwhelm a 1 amp charger, so be sure to get a 2 amp car charger if you plan on any long drives.
Recording video while driving could be better. Depending on the angle of your windscreen, the mount can completely obscure everything while in portrait mode (vertical), however it's almost out of shot if you stick the mount to the windscreen at a slight angle (about 20 to 30 degrees) and use the camera in landscape mode (horizontal). This is something the design team will need to look at as it seems to be an increasingly popular thing to do and is sometimes well worth the effort like for instance the Russian meteor caught on a windscreen mounted camera earlier this year.
While on the negatives, this mount was designed for a broad range of phones and not specifically for the Note 2. I had a look at the Note 1 mount and didn't like the bulkiness and fixed USB connector however unlike this mount it did allow access to the stylus (pen). This is another issue the design team will need to address, however I couldn't wait until then so I've made my own modification which fixes this problem.
After paying $39.95 at a local JB-HiFi, I promptly opened the box in the car park to find a few bits of plastic inside. I remembered thinking, really? 40 bucks for this? I've been rolled by a brand name. Not happy Samsung.
My thinking quickly changed though, right from the moment I started using it. Clamping to the windscreen was easily done with one hand by a simple thumb press on the suction button. Some other mounts have adjustable parts that can make the unit flexible allowing vibrations which makes the screen difficult to see clearly when driving on rough roads. This unit has only one point of adjustment, a ball joint to swivel and turn the screen. This simple design eliminates any form of vibration or shake while still allowing a large range of movement in screen angle. The ball joint is adjustable via it's screw cap fitting from loose to very tight. Tight enough that it won't even move when bumped.
Placing the phone into the mount couldn't be easier. As there's no integrated USB connector so you can basically throw your phone at it and squeeze the clamp as tight as you want it to hold. When clamped tight the phone won't come out even when subjected to the standard sauce bottle flick. You know, when you flick the tomato sauce bottle hard and fast towards the ground to get the last bit of sauce up to the spout. No movement or slippage of the phone in it's clamp at all. Of course it depends entirely on how hard you squeeze the clamp but if you squeeze at the back of the clamps you get a little more pressure.
The USB connection point of the phone is exposed for easy charging while mounted. Though remember, this phone is a powerhouse and with just a few apps running can overwhelm a 1 amp charger, so be sure to get a 2 amp car charger if you plan on any long drives.
Recording video while driving could be better. Depending on the angle of your windscreen, the mount can completely obscure everything while in portrait mode (vertical), however it's almost out of shot if you stick the mount to the windscreen at a slight angle (about 20 to 30 degrees) and use the camera in landscape mode (horizontal). This is something the design team will need to look at as it seems to be an increasingly popular thing to do and is sometimes well worth the effort like for instance the Russian meteor caught on a windscreen mounted camera earlier this year.
While on the negatives, this mount was designed for a broad range of phones and not specifically for the Note 2. I had a look at the Note 1 mount and didn't like the bulkiness and fixed USB connector however unlike this mount it did allow access to the stylus (pen). This is another issue the design team will need to address, however I couldn't wait until then so I've made my own modification which fixes this problem.
If you want to know how it's done check out my vehicle mount mod post. (Coming soon).
So why, with these two pretty serious flaws, would I still claim it to be the best mount? Well it's because of something I would have never discovered had I not read and followed the instructions included with the mount. In there it strangely states not to leave the mount installed in the vehicle for extended periods to reduce heat & sun damage to the suction cap. Don't worry though, it's a replaceable item so you'll get years out of the mount. But seriously, don't leave the car mount in the car? What sort of weirdness is this. It's a car mount, where else should it be?
That's when I realised that it would also work brilliantly on my desk. Unfortunately my desk surface isn't perfectly smooth and after about a minute or two it lost it's suction and fell over. All I needed was something smooth and wide enough to support the off centre weight of the phone, luckily my untidy office provided an old empty CD case (hard clear plastic) within arms reach and now my phone is almost never out of the mount.
The plastic CD case isn't perfect though as it flexes a bit creating a slight screen wobble when touching the screen, therefore it's best to mount it on the back towards the spine of the case.
While not perfect, it is lightweight and easy to move around, sturdy and very inexpensive. Although I have noticed that the suction cap will eventually create cracks in the plastic of cd cases so it's really only a temporary solution.
Whether on a CD case, some other form of base, or stuck directly to the table or desk, using the mount this way is fantastic for watching videos, surfing the web, reading and combined with a small bluetooth keyboard is my new main "everyday use" computer.
You could do this with any mount I guess but I doubt many would look as good on your desk or feel as comfortable in your hand when you picked it up. Try it for a few days and you'll see what I mean. You'll be surprised at just how convenient it is.
The CD case isn't very attractive though so I'm thinking of some other base ideas like a nice polished piece of timber or metal to match the mount's stylish design. Perhaps Samsung might even supply a base with their next (issues fixed) version.
If you can think of any other great base ideas please let me know because I'm in the market for a good one.
So why, with these two pretty serious flaws, would I still claim it to be the best mount? Well it's because of something I would have never discovered had I not read and followed the instructions included with the mount. In there it strangely states not to leave the mount installed in the vehicle for extended periods to reduce heat & sun damage to the suction cap. Don't worry though, it's a replaceable item so you'll get years out of the mount. But seriously, don't leave the car mount in the car? What sort of weirdness is this. It's a car mount, where else should it be?
That's when I realised that it would also work brilliantly on my desk. Unfortunately my desk surface isn't perfectly smooth and after about a minute or two it lost it's suction and fell over. All I needed was something smooth and wide enough to support the off centre weight of the phone, luckily my untidy office provided an old empty CD case (hard clear plastic) within arms reach and now my phone is almost never out of the mount.
The plastic CD case isn't perfect though as it flexes a bit creating a slight screen wobble when touching the screen, therefore it's best to mount it on the back towards the spine of the case.
While not perfect, it is lightweight and easy to move around, sturdy and very inexpensive. Although I have noticed that the suction cap will eventually create cracks in the plastic of cd cases so it's really only a temporary solution.
Whether on a CD case, some other form of base, or stuck directly to the table or desk, using the mount this way is fantastic for watching videos, surfing the web, reading and combined with a small bluetooth keyboard is my new main "everyday use" computer.
You could do this with any mount I guess but I doubt many would look as good on your desk or feel as comfortable in your hand when you picked it up. Try it for a few days and you'll see what I mean. You'll be surprised at just how convenient it is.
The CD case isn't very attractive though so I'm thinking of some other base ideas like a nice polished piece of timber or metal to match the mount's stylish design. Perhaps Samsung might even supply a base with their next (issues fixed) version.
If you can think of any other great base ideas please let me know because I'm in the market for a good one.
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