Product Review: the miCRADLE custom iPhone holder
December 6th, 2007
One of the kewl things about writing a blog is it gives you a great excuse to test out stuff. Today I received the miCRADLE custom iPhone holder, and am now going to tell you all about it.
When I am using or thinking about using any kind of accessory there are a few things I look at.
1st - How easy is it to use? If it’s not easy to use I tend to not want to use it.
2nd - Does it make my life easier or more complicated? If it makes life harder I am not interested, but if it saves me time or simplifies my life in some way I tend to like it.
3rd - Does it look cool? It could be the coolest thing in the universe but if it looks stupid it tends to not be that interesting.
Finally - Can I break it? If I can break it easy I know its not for me as my children are natural forces of chaos and destruction, so anything I use needs to be pretty resistant to damage.
Now that I have given what I look for, its time to see if the miCRADLE passes any or all of these questions.
Ease of Use
This one is actually kind of tricky to answer, while after it is installed into my car its super simple to use, getting it installed into my car was actually a bit more work than I would of liked. To begin with the miCradle comes unassembled and the hardware they give you to assemble it with are tiny easy to drop screws. Yet I persevered and managed to assemble the thing and then moved onto actually putting it in my car.
This turned out to also be more difficult than I had anticipated, while the folks over at Pro Fit were kind enough to give me instructions taking off your cars dashboard is actually a tough thing to do unless you have some practice at it. Yet I managed to get the face plate of the dash off, place the cradles arm in position, replace the plate and bang it was installed in my car.
So really the question is was it worth all this when I was done. Well I can now get into my car, place my iPhone in its nice cradle and I am ready to go. I actually have to say that one the instilation part is done, using the product is incredibly easy. So on a scale of one to ten I give the miCradle a 7 and would rank it higher if the instillation hadn’t been as tough as it was.
Next up does it make my life easier?
Well put aside the instillation problems I had and after driving around a bit with it mounted in my car I have to say yes it does. Now my iPhone has a nice place to sit that is easy to reach and use even while I am driving. Now I can listen to tunes, answer phone calls, check my map and all the other goodies without having to stop my phone from sliding around my dash board! On a scale of one to ten I give its making my life easier a 9.
Does it look kewl?
I think it does, plus you get a nifty little logo sticker to put on it so that there is still some effect even when the iPhone isn’t docked. so on a a scale of one to ten I have to give it an 8
How tough is it? Well most of it is made of steel and the actual cradle itself is a pretty hard plastic, I did chuck it on the ground a couple of times and it didn’t break. then I gave it to my four year old who promptly set to using it as a drum stick and it is still in one piece so yeah it’s pretty tough so on the ole scale I will give it an 8.
So the final verdict is that the miCRADLE custom iPhone holder is actually a pretty nice piece of hardware, other than instillation being a bit of a pain it is easy to use, makes life easier, looks snazzy and is pretty damn tough. So if you are looking for a good iPhone car dock check out Pro.Fit and see what they have to offer.
Post filed under:
iPhone Accessories
Related Headlines:
Custom ringtones are back!Wow, Apple is really becoming a kinder company. There were very many compla...
Simple custom ringtones
I recently brought up the fact you can make custom ringtones again. Back wh...
Contact Us
If you have any news tips, questions, comments, or are interested in advert...
Looking for a new skin for iPhone? try Iskins
Chuck Ryan left a comment on my review of the Ped 3 rotating stand pointing...
I have the miCRADLE and I really like it. I didn’t have many problems getting mine mounted. I really like how this can mount the iPhone horizontally or vertically, depending on how you want to use it. I would highly recommend it to everyone who is using an iPhone.