Tuesday, March 23, 2010

The levitating cell phone

I remember when I was racing at Cherokee Trails, my co driver Josh had clipped his cell phone to the tray under the glove box in the Jeep. It seemed pretty secure there and had stayed most of the day. However on our second pass on the Oswald Dome stage, there is a series of yumps that I was getting more confident on the second pass through.

As we accelerated down the hill, I hit one of the yumps with a bit more vigor than before. Josh paused in his reading of the notes and I was distracted from the road as he pointed out that his cell phone was hovering in mid air. The impact of the jump had popped the clip loose and sent it up just as the Jeep started to fall down the far side of the jump. The phone seemed to just hang there for what seemed like a very long time before the Jeep landed and his phone crashed to the floor board. We were both laughing so hard that I had trouble making the next turn.

Unfortunately the battery came loose from the camera so we did not record it on the in car video.

To prevent such occurrence in the future, Natalie from MobileFun.co.uk Iphone Acccessories sent me a StayStuck phone pad. This silicone pad is made of an amazing friction material that sticks to just about anything. I have been driving around with it in my street Jeep this week and my cell phone has stayed put just like the product name suggests. I have stuck it on the dash and on the center console and it stays either place just fine.

I have not hit any bumps as hard as those on the rally special stage but I do think it would hold up to those conditions as well.

The sample she sent me also has a really cool feature in that it has a place to mount a suction cup device like a phone holder or a GPS navigation device. I plan to test it further in my off road Jeep to see how it holds up to bumps and dust.

However, right now my mom has it. When she saw it and I told her what it is for, she snatched it up to "test" it herself as she hates having to stick her GPS to the windshield. She plans to use the pad to mount her GPS in a more easily accessible position.

So, it you have trouble with levitating cell phones or just want to mount your GPS or other suction cup mount device somewhere besides the windshield, this is the phone accessory for you. Check them out at IPhone Accessories or go direct to the StayPut Pad link.

This might even come in handy for mounting a camera on the Tail of The Dragon where the law enforcement folks have gotten picky about things mounted to the windshield. If they ever get the rock slide cleared anyway.

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