OSO Push Mount Review, a car cradle with NFC support

While many will simply keep their Windows Phone in their pocket or case while in the car, a good many will opt to secure their Windows Phone in a car cradle. These cradles come in a wide range of styles and allows your phone to be easily accessible while driving whether you use the phone as a GPS navigational tool or just to see who is calling before you trigger your hands-free device.
OSO is offering a NFC enabled car cradle the company hopes will catch your eye. The OSO Push Mount is offered in three different mount options and with the NFC support, you can have your NFC enabled Windows Phone launch your favorite traveling app when mounted in the cradle.
In using the OSO dash mounted cradle for the past few days, it comes across as a solidly built option worth considering. However, there is one feature that seems to hold this cradle back.
Design
The OSO Push Mount is your typical pinch-styled cradle that has to side clamps that pinch your Windows Phone into place. A large center button triggers a spring when your phone is pressed into the cradle that collapses the clamps.
A push down lever sits at the top of the backside of the cradle that, when pushed down, will extend the side clamps and release the Windows Phone. The cradle connects to one of three mounting options by a ball joint that has a tension screw that allows you to adjust the angle of the cradle.
The three mounting options include a suction cup for dash or windscreen mounting, an air-vent mount that hooks into the blades of your car's air vent and a CD mount that slides into the CD player of your car.
NFC Support
The OSO Push Mount stands out with its built in NFC support. You program the cradle as you would any other NFC tag. Pick your favorite NFC Tag app with write capability (such as the Nokia NFC Writer), choose your poison, hold your Windows Phone up to the cradle, and program the Push Mount to launch and app, change a setting or any of the other NFC supported commands.
It's a nice feature that can come in handy. You can program the OSA Push Mount to launch your favorite navigation app, launch Nokia's Car App or tweak a setting like turning on Bluetooth.
Performance
While we used the dash/windscreen model for testing, the air-vent and CD mount shared the same quality construction.
The suction cup on the dash/windscreen mount is the tacky-styled rubber that seems to want to stick to everything. This tackiness creates a better seal with the suction cup, which in turn gives the mount a more secure hold. As you would guess, the mount performs best on smooth surfaces but it held rather nicely on surfaces with a slight texture as well.
While the cradle lacks any bottom support for the Windows Phone, the side clamps do a good job of holding things in place. I did not experience any shifting or sliding of the phone while traveling down the road.
The only issue I have with the OSO mounts is when I go to remove the phone. Personally, I look for four things in a car cradle; secure mount, easy placement of the phone, secure hold of the phone and easy removal of the phone. Ideally, the last three should be accomplished with one hand.
The OSO cradles securely mounts in place, placement into the cradle is easy and the phone rides securely. The problem is that the release button is stiff and you need both hands to safely remove the phone. One hand presses the button and the other holds the phone and cradle steady. Just pressing the button alone will push the entire cradle down and should you be able to extend the clamps, without bottom support your phone will freely fall.
I'm not sure what could be done but the release of the Windows Phone needs to be smoother.
Overall Impression
There is a lot to like about the OSO car cradles. You have a nice range of mounting options to choose from, the cradle holds your Windows Phone in place nicely and the NFC support helps automatically launch key apps or features you depend on while driving.
The downside to the mounts rests with the difficulty in removing your Windows Phone. Everything up until this point seems effortless and it would be nice if removing the phone followed suit. It's not impossible to remove your Windows Phone from the cradle but it takes a lot more effort than you may like.
I feel the need to throw out a caveat here. I don't like to dilly-dally when getting out of the car. I want to grab my phone from the cradle and get going without delay. While I liked the OSO Push Mount, the amount of effort needed to remove the phone tarnished its appeal. If the company could find a way to make the release as fluid as every other aspect of the Push Mount, it would shine a lot brighter.
The OSO Push Mount series is an attractive collection of car cradles for your Windows Phone. The NFC tag can come in handy and the mount offers a stable, secure way to tote your Windows Phone while traveling. It's not a bad option to consider, it just requires a little patience when removing the phone.
The windshield/dash mount version of the Push Mount is currently running in the neighborhood of $29.99 is available through OSO directly. The push mounts are also available through OSO's European and Great Britain websites (just click on the appropriate flag at the top of the store's website).
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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.
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Always wanted to be the first to comment :)
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Aami tomakay dhoray padaabo...kintu oso push mount khoob hi shundor hochay
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I have the Nokia one, because it includes qi charging and NFC ( i haven't really used the NFC feature yet)
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Me to! The Qi Charger is WAYYY more important than the NFC tag! Tried the NFC tag once and have never used it since. But the Qi charger refreshes my phone very day!
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Very nice
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What about Lumia 1520. Does it fit in?
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And will the cup hold the weight? Last one mounted to windshield couldn't hold the weight of the 1520. IPhone and Galaxy4 where fine.
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Will it hold a Lumia 1520?
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Boring.. when's cyan coming
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No one asked u to read it
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This seems like a better option..
Will try it once.. -
Would it charge your phone too?
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I like the cradle, but I'd like it better with wireless charging.
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I was thinking the same thing or if they had a clip-on accessory for the mount that could do this.
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I'm using a Capdase one, which is almost similar, and had better release option. It has a push button on the back. So i can easily remove the handset by one hand. I think it's the easiest method. Posted via the WPC App for Android!
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It would be nice if this activated Driving Mode for those who don't have Bluetooth. Those with Bluetooth id assume use the Bluetooth for handsfree interaction with their phones so don't really need driving mode really.
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NFC.....Why not just communicate with Cortana instead
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We need a 1520 specific car mount review.
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This + 1520
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Nice, but mine fits perfectly in my cup holder.
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Would love to see the cd mount in action. I just wonder how it can insert into your cd player without activating the motors inside the deck. As soon as you insert something into the cd slot, the motors grab the disc to pull it into playing position.
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Good review, I'm not sure if I would go for this mount. I tried the nokia mount with nfc. It will probably be okay for some phones, but it's plainly awful for phablets and the lumia 1520. The side mounts overlap the buttons on the side. accidently pressing of the camera button and/or camera button does happen when on a shaky road. The phone also wobbles too much and the swiveling was too limited. I think the OSO looks like a similar experience to the nokia one. In my experience a good carmount experience is indeed one where you can easily click the phone in and out of the mount. This OSO clamp model is not the right one. Beter is a mount where the phone is locked/snapped in on 4 grippoints on the phone, bearing in mind that the windows phone mostly have their buttons on the right side. The ideally car mount for me would be the addition of a micro usb port and audio line out as added features, as well as built in wirless charging with a 3000 mAH battery built into the mount. NFC would be nice as well as to activate gps software or another relevant app.
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I don't want to fry "the boys" so I welcome the cradles in my car
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A car mount that does not charge your phone is useless.
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That's where a car charger comes in useful. 2A charger and my car mount make it almost unstoppable. Now all I need are some NFC stickers to make it launch HERE maps...
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The problem with car mounts is that most of new cars do not have place to attach them. What car manufacturers are thinking about?
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Vents.. Dashboard...windshield...
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Looks cool - you can program the NFC chip using the Windows Phone app NFC Tag Writer. http://bit.ly/nfctagwriter Thanks, Mike
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Does anyone know of any good car mounts with wireless charging?