Decent Car phone holder

Soldato
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Yes. I was sure there were gonna be a few things we could agree on, lol. I just don't get why anyone would want to see their phones sitting on display in their cars. It's not for me at all. I only used to put it in the centre console on the 5 series when I was using that eco pro analyser.

Having looked at all the suggestions so far though, I would probably go for that Spigen Stealth if I ever did want something. It looks like the least permanent, best secured solution.

I usually leave it in my pocket, but I sometimes find that although the head-unit Bluetooth connects okay, the music won't always start playing until I command it to do so with the phone.
So I sometimes stick it in the holder for better access. But I don't need or want the phone on constant display even when using it for navigation, which is why I like an air vent mount. It's down out of my eyeline, but easy to refer to at a quick glance.
 
Soldato
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Fair enough I guess then. That's what I get for having integrated nav in one car, and standalone nav in another I guess.
The problem is, even with an integrated nav I'd personally probably still end up using a phone just due to the nature of what I use it for and the fact most places I go don't have postcodes. TomTom handles this ok via POIs and Waze kind of manages but not quite as well.
 
Man of Honour
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I send destinations to my integrated nav using Google Maps on my phone and it provides me with realtime traffic flow information on all A roads and Motorways.

Having a phone stuck on the dash is annoying.
 
Soldato
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I usually leave it in my pocket, but I sometimes find that although the head-unit Bluetooth connects okay, the music won't always start playing until I command it to do so with the phone.
So I sometimes stick it in the holder for better access. But I don't need or want the phone on constant display even when using it for navigation, which is why I like an air vent mount. It's down out of my eyeline, but easy to refer to at a quick glance.

it is one thing i do wonder is why automotive manufacturers haven't cottoned on to the whole phone mounting malarkey and built in somewhere to set the phone, especially nowadays when pretty much all phones conform to the same basic rectangular formula.

a simple shelf with a narrow notch to catch the bottom will take 90% of the phones people would want to use when driving, as i mentioned earlier for example a 3 series ash tray is the perfect shape/place to set a modern smartphone where it can be seen but not in the way.

or even just have a standardised mounting point, that the phone holder manufacturers can use to clip on to rather than having to mess around with vents etc.
 
Soldato
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If you use your phone as a sat nav it's quite useful to be able to see the screen.

exactly, this is the main thing I want my phone in a holder for ??
I pretty much use it every single day on teh way home, as google map/sat nav navigates me the quickest way through Crewe.

Its also nice to see who is calling before I answer the phone.
 
Soldato
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I send destinations to my integrated nav using Google Maps on my phone and it provides me with realtime traffic flow information on all A roads and Motorways.

Having a phone stuck on the dash is annoying.
sorry I'm not doing as well as you in life Fox, so I drive a 53 plate Mondeo ;)
 
Man of Honour
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sorry I'm not doing as well as you in life Fox, so I drive a 53 plate Mondeo ;)

Units that do this are available for your Mondeo though and would look good when fitted. They are pretty inexpensive too! I did it in my 51 plate 5 Series! Many of them run Android can run things like Waze etc etc all integrated with your car. You don't need a brand new car to get this.

That said the reply you quoted was to Kenai anyway, who was saying he'd use a phone over integrated nav.
 
Soldato
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I send destinations to my integrated nav using Google Maps on my phone and it provides me with realtime traffic flow information on all A roads and Motorways.

Having a phone stuck on the dash is annoying.
Assuming it copes well enough navigating to what are just 'dropped pins' in Google maps, I'd probably use that but I've not used an integrated nav yet that coped with that. I've not tried a newish 5 series so maybe by the time I justify tens of thousands on a car I'll get an integrated nav worth using :p
 
Man of Honour
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Assuming it copes well enough navigating to what are just 'dropped pins' in Google maps, I'd probably use that but I've not used an integrated nav yet that coped with that. I've not tried a newish 5 series so maybe by the time I justify tens of thousands on a car I'll get an integrated nav worth using :p

It'll send any point you can select on Google maps. It's not new functionality either, it's been available since circa 2008 :)
 
Soldato
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Units that do this are available for your Mondeo though and would look good when fitted. They are pretty inexpensive too! I did it in my 51 plate 5 Series! Many of them run Android can run things like Waze etc etc all integrated with your car. You don't need a brand new car to get this.

That said the reply you quoted was to Kenai anyway, who was saying he'd use a phone over integrated nav.

the reply is displaying correctly at this end ?? weird.

as for replacing headunit, you are of course correct, however I am using a Pioneer HU with an active X-Over (Single DIN) I am not at this point in time wanting to reconvert my dash to double DIN, and then try and find a SAT-Nav / active X-over capable HU when all I needed was a £9 phone holder ;)
 
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