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Andreas Brohme / DER SPIEGEL
I am always amazed when I ride my bike in Hamburg and can look into the cockpits of the cars from my elevated point of view: Many drivers hold their mobile phones in their hands, have them on their ears, on their knees or somewhere in them Shelves placed while they are on the phone or use the navigation function.
Apart from the fact that the road traffic regulations did not take a clear position on this just yesterday, this handling is impractical, distracts from traffic and is simply dangerous in city traffic.
Nobody can talk their way out of the fact that the mounts available in stores are too expensive, don't fit or don't look good: the choice is huge.
We looked at the market for the cheapest models and ordered five of them for testing.
The products at a glance:
AmazonBasics - universal mobile phone holder for ventilation slot in the car
- the simplest and cheapest model in the test at six euros
Lamicall car holder magnet
-
Magnetic
holder for the ventilation grille with ball joint
steanum Wireless Charger Car
-
Bracket
for the ventilation grille with wireless charging function
Hinyx wireless car charger
- ventilation bracket in metal look with good operation
Yarber Wireless Charger Auto
- simply designed, but sturdy bracket for mounting on panes or grids
This is how we tested:
Installation
- it has been determined how difficult it is to put the brackets in the car.
Hold the smartphone
- it was rated how securely smartphones of different sizes (from iPhone 4 to Samsung Galaxy Note 9) sat in the holders.
Charging behavior
- the devices that enable wireless charging of the battery have been determined whether this works without any problems.
Stability while driving -
all mobile phone holders were moved through the traffic in the car with smartphones of various sizes and weights (between 144 and 201 grams) used.
Tight curves and cobblestones have also been taken into account.
AmazonBasics - Universal mobile phone holder for ventilation slot in the car (6.11 euros)
The cheapest holder at just six euros was suitable for all cell phones and was also the easiest to attach: The slotted rubber nose on the back of the small magnetic plate is simply inserted into a ventilation grille of the vehicle.
In order for the smartphone to adhere to it, it must be provided with one of the two enclosed thin magnetic plates - either by sticking it on the back or by placing the plate in a mobile phone case.
The bracket itself was bomb-proof in my car and didn't move a bit, even on a bumpy road.
Heavier cell phones caused the ventilation grille to fold down, which is likely to be different for each vehicle.
Lamicall car holder magnet (10 euros)
The Lamicall bracket worked on the same principle as the one from Amazon.
It looked a bit more stable, and the rubber nose was a bit tighter on the grille - but that made it a little harder to attach.
Since this bracket also had a ball joint, the position of the smartphone could be set more precisely and a downward inclination of the ventilation lamellae could be better compensated for.
Nice extra: the provider includes two cleaning cloths with which you can pretreat the back of the cell phone before one of the two magnets is affixed.
steanum Wireless Charger Auto (30 euros)
The ball-and-socket joint of the simply designed steanum holder could be installed in a somewhat clunky manner, but it sat bomb-proof on the grille and did not rattle even when driving over rough terrain.
The holder fit well with phones that were wider than 3.5 inches and held them securely in place.
The retaining clips opened automatically by a light sensor as soon as the phone was brought close, and then closed again.
To remove it, you had to press a small button at the bottom of the back - that seemed to take a bit of getting used to.
The whole thing only works if the USB-C cable (included) is supplied with power.
The inductive charging of the smartphone battery according to the QI standard worked straight away with the suitable test cell phones from LG and Samsung.
Hinyx Wireless Car Charger (28 euros)
A matter of taste: If you like to have a little more "bling" in your car, you can opt for this model.
It came with silver gripper arms that opened like wings when the smartphone approached - provided that the power supply was connected via the supplied USB-C cable and the ignition was switched on.
Detaching the cell phone seemed to me to be better implemented than with the steanum: the holder opened by gently tapping a sensor on the top of the back.
The Hynix R2 for the ventilation grille was, however, quite difficult to assemble and didn't look quite as robust.
It was also suitable for smaller cell phones from 5.9 cm in width.
The wireless charging function worked fine.
Yarber Wireless Charger Auto (30 euros)
The Yarber bracket made the most stable impression. And the most flexible: it could be attached to the windscreen with a suction cup, but it also had an adapter for attachment to the ventilation grille. Both options were easy to install. The placement on the dashboard, which is also possible according to the provider, did not hold up particularly well in my vehicle (Toyota) and came off while driving. The "gallows", which can be finely adjusted like a microphone stand, should be suitable for many cars.
The holder accommodated smartphones 6.5 to 9 centimeters wide and opened automatically when the mobile phone approached.
A light tip on one of the two side sensors was enough to remove it.
For this, too, the USB cable had to be connected and the ignition switched on.
The holder was very stable when driving.
The wireless charging function worked without any problems.
Conclusion
A few euros are enough to have your hands free for the steering wheel while driving and to be able to make calls or navigate in accordance with the law.
Your own taste and usage behavior decide whether you opt for a simple magnetic holder or a more comfortable model.
The most convincing device in the test was the Yarber holder, stable, flexible and, at 30 euros, definitely much cheaper than a fine (100 euros) if you get caught on the ear while calling with your mobile phone.
