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It’s clear that the non-Apple phone makers don’t get that it takes more than a big touch screen for a good experience. Even in the short video demos you can see things like finger swipes not always registering, screen rotation taking 3 seconds to take effect, and apps launching very, very slowly. But boy, those touch screens sure *look* nice…

Even more disgusting is the pandering anti-Apple CNET does. All the phones look great while the iPhone is “long in the tooth”. Molly Wood, the host, is particularly biased against Apple products. She once claimed that a Mac she had was so unstable she couldn’t use it — but Vista was fabulous! Yeah, okay…. But it’s automatically downloaded on the TiVo, so I keep subjecting myself to it.

Download now or watch on posterous

IMG_0008.mov (2584 KB)

This gives an idea of the view we had.

Click here for all the pictures.

Imagination Movers at the Midland.  I'm actually excited about it and will hopefully be posting a few pictures during the event.

Yes, he’s asleep.

Since Christmas I’ve had a very nice Bluetooth speakerphone on my visor. It works really well, but I still needed to have my phone easily reachable so I could dial out, plus I have to actually push a number when a call comes in due to a phone service I use. I’ve been using a cheap holder that mounted to the window with a suction cup and it worked okay for what it was, although it seemed to fall down with some regularity.

Now I’ve entered the world of the iPhone. This means a few things:

• I want to plug the iPhone in to my stereo while driving so I can listen to podcasts and keep the iPhone charged up.
• The iPhone has GPS built in, so it’s inevitable that I’ll eventually buy turn-based GPS software and will want to have the iPhone where I can see it.
• The iPhone has voice dialing, but you still need to push and hold a button to initiate voice recognition.

For those reasons I really wanted a better mount that was more centrally located in my car and to my radio. After a lot of searching around, I determined that the king of such systems is ProClip. All the reviews I read had nothing but praise about the functionality and build quality. Naturally there’s a downside with such stuff, and it’s the price. The mount I wanted would have cost about $120 after shipping. Ouch. But then again, I’m tired of buying cheap crap that doesn’t really do the job and breaks after not too long. I started rationalizing my purchase.

In the meantime I kept looking around. Eventually I discovered that ProClip was running a contest through Twitter. That’s right up my alley! I entered (as @drthunder, the Twitter account I use to follow businesses) and I won. Very nice.

The ProClip system consists of two pieces: a car mount and a device holder. That way you can get a car mount made specifically for your vehicle and installation is solid but not permanent. Then the device holder attaches to that car mount. Buy a new car and you just need to get a new car mount. Buy a new device and you just need a new device holder. Here are the two unopened pieces:

(All but the last two pictures on this page were taken with my iPhone. It’s what I had on me and I didn’t have time to set up a fancy photoshoot with lights.)

ProClip has several different options for iPhone device holders ranging in price between $25 and $80, and the one I wanted is the most expensive choice. The reason it’s so expensive is because it’s adjustable so it can be used if the iPhone is in a case, it rotates, and it has a dock with the iPod connecter built in. I don’t use a case but I wasn’t sure at the time if I would stick to that, rotation is useful with a GPS system, and I wanted a dock so I could drop it in and take it out quickly.

Here’s a shot of all the parts. On the left is the iPhone device holder and on the right is the vehicle mount made specifically for my 2002 Toyota Corolla:

The first step is installing the metal car mount. In my case it clipped in just above my radio and at the top of the center console. First I inserted the little wedge they provided to make the gap in the console a little bigger, then I simply slipped the bottom part of the mount in and then the top. It was quite simple and maybe only slightly more difficult for me than normal because I have an aftermarket radio that fits kind of oddly in the radio slot. But it worked fine.

Clearly I could take this mount right back off and no one would ever know it was there. However, it’s also very solidly mounted. Nothing’s going to bump or jolt this thing off the dash.

The next step was to install the metal base of the device holder. It attached to the car mount with four small screws for a nice, solid connection.

After that the device holder itself was attached using one screw through the center. This is the rotation point where the whole thing can be rotated 90º and can also be slightly tilted and swiveled for a better view. The tighter you attach this screw, the more firmly the holder is held while turning and adjusting. Here is a shot of the completely installed mounting system:

I mentioned that this mount will hold an iPhone whether it’s in a case or not. The solution to that is that the sides of the mount are adjustable in and out. The mount is made specifically for an iPhone, so pushing the sides completely in results in a snug fit for a naked iPhone. Loosen a few screws and the sides will slide out a good distance. You insert your encased iPhone, squeeze the sides back in, and tighten the screws, resulting in a snug fit.

Here’s a shot of the mounting system with my iPhone mounted up:

I’ve used this system for a few days now and it’s everything I hoped it would be. Very solid and very easy to slip my iPhone in and out. Yes, it blocks a good bit of one of the vents, but that’s not a big concern for me. I can still read the dash clock and use my radio with no problem.

I highly recommend a ProClip system if you have a device you want to mount in your car. They have a huge variety of automobile mounts and a huge variety of device holders. It’s quite likely that they’ll have a system that’s made specifically for whatever you’ve got, and it really is worth the price.

It made me laugh, but reading the subject was enough. Keep trying, Mr. Spammer!