One of the challenges Windows Phone owners may face is finding a quality, practical, car mount for their phone. If you're still in search for a solution, take a gander at the Aduro U-Grip Universal Car Mount.
The U-Grip is a clamp styled mount that pivots 360 degrees to accommodate portrait and landscape viewing, which is ideal for your navigational apps. Construction is solid, it affixes to your car dash or windshield firmly and holds your Windows Phone in place with very little wiggle room. The U-Grip comes across as very appealing option and may be the best car mount out there.
The Aduro U-Grip's design is fairly elementary. The U-Grip is mounted on the base with a ball/socket connection that locks into position with a single tension screw. The grip is spring compressed and expands to handle Windows Phones with 3.5 to 5.5 screens. Which is nice if a 5.5" Windows Phone comes to market.
The U-Grip can rotate 360 degrees and with the tension screw, locks into place nicely with very little bounce. Sure, if you're running off road you may see more bounce but on paved roads, the U-Grip was very stable. The rotation allows you to pivot your Windows Phone into landscape mode which gives your navigation apps a little more real estate to display maps and directions.
While the grip's springs are solid enough to hold your Windows Phone in place, the grip is lined with a rubbery material that prevents the phone from sliding. The material also provides a little bit of cushion and protection from scratching your Windows Phone on mounts harder plastic parts.
The base of the U-Grip is a suction cup design but the rubber suction cup is made of a tacky rubbery material that forms a better seal on your window or car dash. There is a lever to compress the suction cup, locking the U-Grip in place. After a few days of use, the tackiness hasn't faded and holds solid in 95+ degree weather. The U-Grip has one of the more solid mounts I've seen both in suction and stability.
With solid construction, how does the U-Grip translate to practical use? The ball/socket joint can be locked into place and is strong enough to support the weight of the Nokia Lumia 920 with very little bounce. Also, where other clamp styled mounts cover the side buttons on our Windows Phones, the U-Grips clamp is narrow enough to keep your side buttons exposed and accessible. The U-Grip clamp fits comfortably between the camera and power button on the Lumia Windows Phones.
The grip also has a substantial depth to it that allows it to accommodate Windows Phones that have a little girth due to cases, charging covers and the what nots. The U-Grip handled a wide range of Windows Phones from the HTC 8X to the Lumia 1020 to the Samsung Focus 2 rather nicely.
All totaled, the Aduro U-Grip is a very impressive universal car mount. The only downside may be that it may require some to use two hands to place and remove the Windows Phone from the mount. I've been able to place it in the mount one handed but removing it, I typically use two hands.
The Aduro U-Grip is running $19.95 and you can find it here in the Windows Phone Central Store.
George is the Reviews Editor at Windows Central, concentrating on Windows 10 PC and Mobile apps. He's been a supporter of the platform since the days of Windows CE and uses his current Windows 10 Mobile phone daily to keep up with life and enjoy a game during down time.
