I told myself I wouldn’t buy an OhSnap accessory for my phone. All the ones I tried were good, but I found them overpriced and slightly flawed. After reviewing the $40 Snap Grip 5 last year, I ended up sticking with my $25 Syncwire. But OhSnap’s $50 Snap Grip mount finally caught my eye. Have a really useful vertical stand and grip always attached to my phone, ready at a moment’s notice? Hell yes. I started testing the Snap Grip mount months ago and quickly discovered that I never took it off. So I bought mine. It’s slim – 3.7mm – so it slides effortlessly into my pocket without making an extra mark on my pants. It has a double-sided magnetic ring, like the previous generation, so not only does it stick to your phone with magnetic ring, but it can also stick flat against a refrigerator, gym equipment, or the cabinets in my garage. It even allows for some wireless charging. Like the previous generation, the magnets hold my phone firmly and the grip portion is one of the most versatile I’ve tested. The clever interlocking joints can fit between two fingers loosely like a PopSocket, or you can run a finger through the joints for a super secure grip. The entire disc spins freely (although still with a bit of scraping noise) to rotate at any angle you want. But unlike the previous generation, the holder has a kickstand unlike most other magnetic grips on the market. The entire magnetic ring is now surrounded by a thinner deployant ring on an articulated arm. Pull it down and it effortlessly holds my phone in its normal portrait orientation. Most rival stands barely hold a phone, and even then they don’t deploy as quickly. Here, there’s no need to remove the stand, or twist it and lock a tab in place like previous OhSnap grips: take it off, drop the phone on the surface, and you’re done. It is not the only support with this design. The $17 Gornergrat Grat 5 has a similar stand and costs much less. But I tried one and found that I don’t like its elastic strap, which feels loose and therefore less secure around my fingers. OhSnap uses the extra vertical space of the arm to prevent the stand from rotating when you don’t want it to: it has an extra vertical magnet to match Apple’s MagSafe pattern, as well as a grippy clear plastic material to provide friction. And I’m happy to say that the aluminum device doesn’t appear to have any other unwanted coatings – I wasn’t a fan of the adhesive on the Snap Grip 4, or the soft-touch coating that started peeling off when I tested the Snap Grip 5. Here, it appears to be bare anodized metal that looks and feels great. Right now, I can only think of three things that would make it better: a lower price, magnets on the ring of the stand (instead of the main ring) so you can use the magnets and the stand at the same time, and maybe a better way to open the grip with one hand. I like how Tango The spring-loaded grip can open when you press it. But I also tried a Tango and I don’t like the way the spring feels between my fingers when I spread them too far apart.
