PODSTA Softgrip Smartphone Holder Review

“The PODSTA is a nicely designed and unique light weight product with a wealth of redeeming and qwerky features”

Smartphone holders have always been one of those accessories which have been deemed non essential. This may be down to consumer trends, bad designs or even high prices – however, one thing that does stand out from other stands is the PODSTA which has been specifically designed for the iPhone 4 and is compatible with the 3Gs and iPod touch.

Below is a snippet of text taken from the official PODSTA website explaining the concept behind this product:

PODSTA™ is a completely new, patented approach to holding your iPhone or iPod Touch devices. We all love using our Apple devices and wouldn’t it be great if we didn’t have to hold them when sat at our desk, at home on the sofa, in bed, or on a train or a plane. Watching movies, YouTube, or just surfing the net PODSTA™ removes the need to physically hold your device simply.

If you just read the snippet above the impression you get is that this product is innovative, brand new to market and exceeds the functionality other smartphone stands have to offer. And so does it? Well, hit up the review below to find out!

Review, first impressions

The PODSTA smartphone holder retails at a very attractive figure of £9.95 and comes in a whole array of colours including pink (our review model), silver, blue and black. Other colours are coming soon, hit up the official website to check these out.

The packaging on the product is minimalistic and highly eco friendly. The box itself is a cylinder of thin plastic held stern by two plastic discs a little bit like a Pringles box. It has to be said that the packaging does feel a little bit cheap, however at the price the holder is retailing for you do have to say that the packaging of a product like this doesn;t matter too much.

When you pop open the lid to the PODSTA and take it out for the first time the texture of the product will remind you of a smooth stress ball made of dense foam. Quality wise the product feels as though it would survive a chewing from a mild mannered pooch, however I wouldn’t be throwing it to the guard dogs due to what the PODSTA is made out of.

The product also feel quite grippy despite being dry and the texture and whole feel of the PODSTA is certainly different to any other material I have ever come across.

How it performs

I personally found the PODSTA to be highly useful in bed; having a desk at the side of my slumber zone the PODSTA came in handy when watching a TV series episode of Alan Partridge. The stand itself makes full use of both the iPhone’s landscape and portrait viewing angles, allowing you to use your phone without actually holding it.

Inserting the iPhone 4 into the PODSTA is not a problem – in fact, it is a breeze too easy; the PODSTA doesn’t completely grip the iPhone 4 tightly and it feels a tad loose and can be prone to sliding if you man handle it a little too much. The PODSTA Itself has four different angles in which you can stand your iPhone in once it has been insterted, allowing you to view your phone in landscape or portrait mode.

Because the holder relies on pressure from both you and its dense foam sides to keep hold of your smartphone, your device doesn’t feel particularly safe unless you grip the PODSTA quite tightly; because of this, we wouldn’t recommend the PODSTA as an accessory for carrying your iPhone around the house differently than normal – but who would dream of such a thing?

Wrap Up

The PODSTA is a brand new product which has been brought in to an old market; bright colours and thrills packaging help it stand out from the crowd, and the price tag will also appeal to many, however the product itself has a few flaws including a limited grip of the iPhone 4.

The PODSTA however is a great choice if you are looking for a colourful smartphone holder, and as mentioned above, it grips other smartphones such as the Omnia 7 and Milestone better than the product it was designed for; therefore we can highly recommend the PODSTA for almost any smartphone apart from the iPhone 4.

Official TB verdict: 7/10

[UPDATE: the official PODSTA website now states that the product is compatible with other models of smartphone. We knew this all along though ]