Steelie Desk And Dash System Review: This Magnet Is Your Phone's New Friend
If you've got a phone (and who doesn't, these days?) then you've got access to thousands of different accessories for it. Regardless of the manufacturer, you'll find things to help you do just about anything you want with it. I'm pretty simple, and don't have too many extra gadgets for mine, besides a case. However, I recently had the chance to test out the Nite Ize Steelie Desk and Dash System for mine, and it's been interesting.
If you've never heard of Nite Ize (pronounced "Night Eyes"), they're a company that makes various mobile accessories. Their Steelie line has a few different items in it. They all revolve around holding your phone or tablet in some fashion. As you'd guess, the Desk and Dash kit is all about holding your phone in your car, or at your desk.
The kit comes with three pieces. You've got the adapter that goes on your phone, a stand that sits on your desk, and another that clips onto the vent in your car. It's pretty simple, really.
I'll admit that when I first saw this demoed at CES, I didn't think I would have much of a use for it. After all, it's some strange pedestal with a silver ball on top, that's supposed to help hold your phone, using a magnet that's stuck to your phone. When you've seen as many accessories as I have, you can get a bit cynical about strange-looking ones that you see at a booth, or online.
So to start off with, I put the Magnetic Socket on my phone. Since I don't like going without a case, I went ahead and stuck it on the olloclip case that I've been using. I wasn't too sure about how well it would stay attached to the case, considering the fact that I'd have to pull the phone away from each of the stands pretty regularly. I'm happy to say that after a month or so, the Magnetic Socket hasn't budged one bit.
That brings us to the two stands. The tabletop pedestal stand is pretty straightforward. You set it on your desk, and you set the phone on it. It's not hard to get it to find its home on the stand, thanks to the curved shape of the ball, and the powerful rare earth magnet.
The magnet is strong enough to hold the phone in whatever position that you leave it in. You can easily rotate it to landscape or portrait mode, without any fear that it will fall off. You can almost press the home button without having it come off. I say almost, because sometimes if I'm really careful, I can make it happen. But most of the time I'll need to put my hand around the back, in order to prevent it from coming off. I wish that it was just a tad more powerful, so that I didn't have to do this. But the fact that I can't doesn't turn me off to the stand at all.
Moving on to the vent mount, it's super easy to use. There's a small latch that you pull out, that opens the grips. Slide the grips over one of the fins in your car vent, and then snap the latch back in place. It holds onto the vent pretty well. I've only had to re-adjust the grip once in the last month or so. And that involved little more than pushing it back further into the vent.
The ball on the vent mount is a little more exposed, which gives you some new angles to work with on your phone. It's not much, but depending on the way you have your vent sitting, it's a nice little touch.
The vent mount is by far my favorite part of the Steelie. When I get into my car, I just quickly tap my phone against it, and let go. It's just another part of my routine, as I get into the car. I'll usually leave it in portrait mode, but if I'm turning on the GPS, I can quickly turn it to landscape with just the push of a finger. It's definitely the easiest car mount that I've found for my phone.
If a phone accessory is more hassle than it is useful, I'll usually stop using it within a couple of weeks. Once the novelty wears off, I'm less inclined to keep messing with it. I'm happy to say that I still use both the desk and the car vent parts of the system after a little over a month. I rightly guessed that I'd enjoy using it in my car more than I do at my desk. However, I do enjoy leaving my phone on the stand while I'm working, as I always know where I set my phone (I have a bad habit of setting it down in random places, otherwise), and I can easily read text messages and notifications with just a glance.
Something else that I found interesting about the Steelie system is that I use it in my kitchen now. I don't have a stand in there, but if I'm using my phone to watch a video or listen to music, I'll just slap it up against my fridge, and leave it there. The magnet is plenty strong enough to hold it in place, and it's really handy when I don't want to take up precious counter space with my phone.
The Steelie Desk and Dash System retails for $69.99, and I'd say that it's worth every penny. If you really don't think that you'll use it in one place or the other, you can also buy either of them in a kit, or as individual components (if you lose one, or just want a spare). Kudos to Nite Ize for making it possible to just buy a stand, or a replacement socket, without having to jump through any hoops.