Re: N900: Car Kit & Mounts
 

well, that seller is the one who does not reply me :)

Re: N900: Car Kit & Mounts
 

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA300_.jpg

I bought the above mount and cant say it is perfect. The mount has a solid built and can rotate as well. However, the camera and power key are inaccessible. I have setup shortcutd with proximity sensor to access the home screen.

I had no intentions of using the supplied car charger since i have the fantastic Nokia DC-10 charger. However, dont even try using that charger because the edges of the usb end are not rounded. Infact the usb male end seems a little bit bigger that the DC-10 charger. So in all possibility it might break the usb port of N900.

Btw, the car mount wouldnt hold the device with the otterbox on it.

Re: N900: Car Kit & Mounts
 

I had bought the Nokia CR-114 recently, but was disappointed by the fact that the holder presses the on/off button, which is not quite handy at all.

But with a little knife you can just cut out a little bit of the rubber on one side of the grip, making it an ideal and strong holder, even allowing the N900 to slide open.

Another advantage is that there are a lot of cheap look-a-likes which are even more value for money.

Re: N900: Car Kit & Mounts
 

Just to say that this arrived a couple of weeks ago, and I have been using it daily since, and it has proven to be great so far. A nice little touch is that the ribbing on the backplate is rubberised and soft to reduce vibration etc.

It holds the N900 quickly and securely without fuss, and it's easy to remove the N900. Although when fully clicked in, the keyboard cannot be opened, it is possible to "half" insert the N900 so the top clip clips behind the screen and allows the screen to slide up. I tend not to type when driving so it's not a big deal for me.

Only concern is that the power switch is inaccessible, and there is not a lot of room for a audio plug into the headphone jack. Not an issue for me as I has a Bluetooth A2DP Car Stereo, but it would be easy to trim the plastic a little to make room.

Re: N900: Car Kit & Mounts
 

Bought one of these 'cause it looked great, and got about a weeks worth of use out of it. The problem is the suction cup.

When at rest the center of the cup is naturally curved up, so when locked the shape doesn't change, causing no actual suction. It's also hard to press it flat to get some suction because of how the housing is assembled.

I'm wondering if the ball size is the same as some of the other mounts, like the Garmin Ball mount. Would be great with a functioning cup... and maybe a hole for the camera.

Re: N900: Car Kit & Mounts
 

This minimalistic 5$ DIY-holder is still working like a charm after a year of hard use. Great patent it is, you can even shoot video while driving:D

Re: N900: Car Kit & Mounts
 

Some updates because my wife just broke my mount (the same one that is in post #254) by forcing her iPhone into it. Aargh!

The link in post 254 still exists but the product doesn't seem available. I've contacted the eBay seller to ask whether I can still get it. If that doesn't work, I'm going to buy a SlipGrip instead. The SlipGrip is a lot more expensive, and the owners are truly clueless about marketing (not a single photo of the phone in the cradle! But it looks solid.

The other important point: if you visit their store, you'll find that they also offer bicycle/motorcycle handlebar moutns. There are three sizes: 1 inch, 1.25 inch, and 1.5 inch. (Although the 1.25 version is as cheesy-looking as you could imagine.)

Re: N900: Car Kit & Mounts
 

I ordered a Slipgrip for $29.95 plus shipping. It just arrived; I haven't put it on the car yet but I thought I'd post a quick review anyway.

First impressions: This thing is built like a rock. There are two mounting arms available, a flexible gooseneck and a solid arm with adjusting knobs. I went for the solid arm. It sticks out a long way from the windshield (the screen will be about 18cm/7in from the glass), but I like that because it'll put the phone a bit closer to me. Everything ratchets: the up/down arm, the suction-cup lock (!), and even the ball for adjusting the phone position. (It took me a minute to discover that there's a separate rotation for choosing between portrait and landscape mode.)

The clip itself is custom-designed for the N900; the top arm avoids all buttons, the sides are cut out for the charger and headphone connectors, and there's even a cutout for the camera if you're eager to shoot video on the road. (However, you would have to adjust the position a bit to keep the mount out of your shot.) You can't remove the stylus while the phone is in the mount.

Since there's a bicycle option, I did a bit of bounce testing by putting my phone in the holder and banging the mount arm against my leg. With a fairly hard whack, I was able to get the phone to bounce out and land on my carpet. So I think the bike version would be OK for road biking (though I wouldn't risk jumping railroad tracks) but probably not OK for off-road unless you wrapped something extra around it to help keep things secure.

I'm also a bit concerned about build quality. The N900-specific mount appears to be epoxied onto a standard piece, and it's kind of badly done, with the epoxy thicker on one side than the other. Only time will tell whether it'll hold up in the summer heat.

Bottom line: A bit pricey at $30, but I think it'll work out nicely.

Re: N900: Car Kit & Mounts
 

Thanks for posting, I have been looking at the same mount.
Does it hold the phone so the keyboard can be used?

Re: N900: Car Kit & Mounts
 

No. I don't know of a mount that allows keyboard use. You'd have to provide all the support from the sides, and I don't think you could grip the phone tightly enough.

As a practical matter, it would be pretty hard even for a passenger to use the keyboard when the phone was mounted in a car. The touch keyboard offers bigger keys, requires less pressure, and is much easier to see.