How To Mount Your Phone In Your Car
Author: Grae Olsen Date Posted: 18 December 2013
Phones are great tools, and with useful apps like maps and traffic conditions, more and more people want to use them in their car. But it's gotta be hands free!
We recommend a mounting system called RAM Mounts because it's highly adaptable to any situation. Once you get started with RAM Mounts you can use any of their thousands of products to adjust your mounts as required.
There are three separate components to mounting your smartphone in your car:
1. The cradle/holder for your Phone
2. The connecting component
3. The mounting part
1. Phone Cradle
The easiest and most useful option for the cradle/holder is an X-Grip cradle that will suit all phones that fit the following dimensions:
Minimum Width = 0.875" (Devices at 0.875" must be a minimum of 4" in height to fit into holder)
Maximum Width = 3.25"
The reason why we recommend the X-Grip (as opposed to a model specific cradle) is because the X-Grip will easily adjust in size depending on whether your smartphone is in a case or not. Whether you have your phone case on or not, the X-Grip will easily adjust to hold your phone.
The X-Grip can be purchased here, or here if you have a larger phone.
Note: If you do prefer to have a model specific cradle, you first of all need to get the model number from RAM Mounts. You can do this at this page - use the left hand side menu to find the product you need for your phone. Note down the RAM Mount model number, and check with us that we stock that particular product. Note however, that when using a model specific cradle, you will usually also need the RAM-B-238U adaptor to connect it to the socket components listed below.
2. The Connecting Component
Assuming you are using the X-Grip as your cradle, then the connecting part is pretty easy. It's the component that fits between the cradle and the mounting part, and it lets you position your phone at the right angle and distance.
Basically all you have to decide on here is whether you want a short, medium, or long connector:
Short socket (2.38 inches long)
Medium socket (3.6 inches long)
3. The Mounting Part
The final part of the mounting system is to decide how and where you actually want to mount it in your car. There are suction mounts to mount it to your windscreen (as shown on the right), sticky mounts to mount it to your dashboard, and so on. The most popular items are:
Suction Cup Mount (eg. windscreen)
Adhesive Mount (eg. dashboard)
Screw-in Mount (eg. dashboard)
And that's it! Whichever option you choose, the RAM Mounts will all connect together, and allow you to easily upgrade in the future with more or different parts if you ever need to.
Have you got RAM Mounts in your car? Do you have questions about how to do it? Let us know in the comments section below.