There’s nothing complicated about a car phone holder – you just have to decide which one is right for you. Some are mounted to the windscreen, others to the dashboard, some are designed for air vents, while a small number sit in a cupholder. Some folks prefer to opt for the vent-mounted phone holder accessory. In which case there are many options at your disposal. One of the most impressive we’ve tried is the Kenu Airframe Pro, which in the tradition of car phone mounts goes for a ‘less is more’ approach on the design front. This is a positive however as there’s very little effort involved in getting the thing into position. While phone holders might appear to be a little humdrum, some of these accessories are even handier. The iOttie Easy One Touch Wireless 2, for example, not only allows you to keep your smartphone safe and secure, it’ll also recharge it wirelessly. Again, top marks go to iOttie for designing a unit that’s very nicely made and there are variations so you can choose between dashboard or windshield mounting, cup holder and vent editions too. The obvious benefit with taking this route is your phone is nice and stable, situated as it is in one of your cup holder bins. So, for example, it can be placed in your centre console, while the accessory allows you to move your phone into position through 360 degrees in either landscape or portrait orientation. Cleverly, the base has adjustable feet, making it suitable for various sizes of drink cubby holes between 2.5 and 3.5-inches in diameter. Upgraded Clip with Hook] This car phone holder with the latest hook clip design, it can be securely attached to the air vents. And holds your phone steady even on turning, roads with potholes, speed bumps and bumpy roads, ensuring your driving safety.

However, while the Scosche MagicMount can get into areas other phone holders can’t this phone holder is still wonderfully flexible. In fact, it’ll move through a full 90 degrees once you’ve fixed the mount in place, which should mean that you’ll be able to see your smartphone screen from wherever it’s been attached. One slight trade-off with the wide range of positioning options that come with the Exshow Car Mount is that the accessory can tend to throw a little bit of wobble into proceedings. However, if you spend a little time getting the positioning right this doesn't really detract from the overall appeal. Larger handsets up to six inches tend to fare better than slightly lighter models with less overall weight. While phone holders work well when mounted in, on or around the dashboard area, another route you can take is to go for the windshield-friendly accessory instead. In the case of the Exshow Car Mount holder you get a great solution that works with most smartphone models.The other great thing about this model is that it’s able to cope with all manner of larger phones, which is no bad thing given so many models are pretty beefy. It can, for example, handle the largest iPhone model with ease, but the Kenu Airframe Pro is able to hold a raft of other models and seems compatible with pretty much every relevant handset around today. Kenu does have other variations on the theme though, so if you’ve got a smaller phone there are buying options on that front too.

Note the word ‘hold’. It’s actually legal to use a phone or sat nav while driving if it’s placed in a dashboard holder or a windscreen mount. This leaves you free to use a voice control system such as Siri or Google Assistant, along with the phone’s built-in sat nav. How to buy the right car phone holder, and how to use itThey’ve even got one that’ll attach to a CD slot if you’ve still got such a thing in your vehicle. While it’s certainly possible to marry the iOttie Easy One Touch Wireless 2 accessory to old school hardware there’s nothing out of date about the wireless capability of this accessory. On top of that, this is another great little design, with a magnetic cord organizer that helps avoid a tangle of cables in the car. The telescopic arm on the one we tried was fab too, with an additional pivot capability that delivers plenty of scope for viewing your phone screen no matter where you’ve got it mounted. Similarly, the version with a suction cup works particularly well, which is always reassuring if you’re the owner of a highly prized and rather large smartphone. Its arm is reasonably sturdy too while still being easily retracted at the tap of a button, the idea being that all adjustments take mere seconds. The phone holder uses a suction cup which should be fairly reliable but we do worry about any sudden temperature changes slowly having an effect. On the plus side, there's no need to worry about any residue when using it. Also, it works either by attaching it to the air vent, dashboard, or windshield.