Review: Nokia CR-99 Universal Phone Holder

Today we’ve got the Nokia CR-99 Universal Phone Holder up for review. In a nutshell, it’s a small plastic device with two rubber “claws” that keep your phone locked down while in a car or other moving vehicle. Handy, yes.

First, I want to give a great big thank you to Matt over at WirelessGround.com for being cool enough to send me the Nokia CR-99 for review. Visit them now!

The CR-99 is made up of three parts: a plastic body, two rubber claws, and a charger jack mount. Using it is a fairly simple process – drop your phone into the cradle, and close/lock the claws into place to secure it. To release the phone, press either of the two side buttons and the claws will spring back to their original positions. You can also optionally thread your charger plug (for example, your Nokia car charger) through the attached mount on the bottom of the device, so that when you place your cell phone in the holder, it also plugs into the charger as well. Neat.

It’s well thought out, and Nokia’s made a smart decision by including several different rubber pieces for the charger plug mount (one that mounts Nokia’s standard power plugs, and another larger one that can hold bigger plugs – it’s called a “universal” phone holder for a reason). But the real question is: does it grip?

The answer is a pretty resounding yes. But first, let’s talk about compatibility. The CR-99 is compatible with any phone that can fit into the following dimensions:

Width: 45 to 55 mm
Thickness: 8 to 26 mm
Length: 70 to 135 mm
Weight: up to 200g

My E66 fits the bill, and while I consider it to be a fairly weighty phone (it clocks in at 121 grams), the CR-99 had no problem holding it securely in place despite my best efforts to dislodge it (which included some dangerous throwing motions). The rubber grips do make a big difference.

A lighter phone like the 5800 XpressMusic fits in beautifully, with one slight flaw: it has to be inserted upside-down, because its charging port is on the top of the phone unlike almost every other Nokia phone. (of course, you could always flip the CR-99 too).

There’s a bigger problem though. By itself, the CR-99 can only be mounted with the included screws. If you’re like me, you probably don’t want to put screws into your lovely car’s dashboard. That means you need the HH-12 easy mount windshield attachment, at a cost of another $30+ bucks. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get an HH-12 in my hands by testing time, so I couldn’t test out the combo.

Worth the money? Tough call. The CR-99 is a quality product, but it’s not cheap. Factoring in the extra costs for the HH-12, you’ll probably end up paying somewhere in the $60-70 range for the combo. That’s no chump change, and it’s hard to justify paying that much for something that isn’t necessarily “better” than the competition – after all, if the rest of the phone holders out there can keep your phone secured, why not just get the cheapest option?

Thanks again to WirelessGround.com for providing the CR-99.

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