Cradle review for HTC Sensation

Introduction

I’ve been walking with a smartphone for several years now and am used to its functionality, which is much higher than a regular mobile phone. This is an almost complete computer, but it fits in your hand. But when you are at home or at work, the question arises: how to position the device so that it is always at hand, convenient for use, and it was still possible to charge it. You can put it flat on the table in the old way, but then at least the screen will be already at an angle, which often leads to a deterioration in its readability. To solve such problems, there is an inexpensive but useful thing - a “cradle”, a stand for a smartphone. However, each cradle is developed for a specific model of the device, rarely when it turns out to install a new smartphone in an old stand. First of all, this is due to the location of the pads.
For my current smartphone HTC Sensation, I chose a model from KIDIGI, which I liked in appearance and price. I was surprised to find this product on the website of the company Mugen-Power, which sells extended batteries of its own production for popular models of smartphones. The company is located in Hong Kong, the goods are sent from there. The order is carried out through the site, you can use Russian letters. Sending occurs almost immediately as soon as the desired product appears in the company's warehouses. Usually the most popular items are always in stock. The order is on average 2-3 weeks, depends primarily on the speed of Russian Post.
Store page address:
www.mugen-power-batteries.ru/htc/htc-sensation/htc-sensation-usb-desktop-cradle-with-2nd-battery-slot.html
The main reason to buy a “cradle” over the Internet is the price. In the store, the stand will cost about 660 rubles, including delivery to the nearest post office. In the official HTC store, located in my city (St. Petersburg), the “cradle” will cost 1,590 rubles already (the price at the time of writing this note). The extra two weeks of waiting cost savings of almost a thousand rubles.

Packaging

The Cradle came to me in a small rectangular cardboard box, crisscrossed with a rope. A bit unusual, although I liked it. The cradle itself, a USB cable, is located in a box in separate bags. There are papers describing the device.

Sync cable

The microUSB cable from the device was surprisingly high quality. I am not a specialist in the technologies for their production, but the cord gives the impression of a strong and reliable, the connectors are firmly fixed. After a month of operation, nothing fell off, did not fray. “Stuffing” is decent - when you connect your smartphone to a computer or to a charger through the cable, a current is supplied that is comparable to the current via a branded cable from HTC. The smartphone synchronizes seamlessly with the PC, stably keeps the connection. All this sounds corny, but I met cables with which it was almost impossible to get a stable connection between a smartphone and anything.

Cradle

"Cradle" and my previous "stand"

"Cradle" is entirely made of black plastic. The thickness of the body is large enough to provide the necessary strength of the structure. Build at a high level: nothing creaks, parts of the body are tightly fitted to each other.


Rear view


Bottom surface with four rubber feet

The shape of the device is dictated by the smartphone. Unfortunately, HTC placed the MicroUSB port on the smartphone on the left side of the case, closer to the bottom. Because of this, you can only place the device on a stand horizontally, putting it on your left side. In the “cradle” case, a corresponding “bed” is made, repeating the bends of the smartphone case. The connection connector is highlighted in it. This element is firmly fixed in the stand, even if you specially move it with your finger, you will not feel any play. Given what kind of stress it is exposed to, this is very good.


Synchronization Connector

Note the notch in the "box", designed for the volume keys on the smartphone. This ensures that when you install the smartphone in the "cradle" or remove it from there, you do not press this button.
Four rubber “legs” are placed on the bottom plane of the stand, which hold onto the table surface very tenaciously. Even without a smartphone, the stand does not hang on the table. And even if there is additional weight from the smartphone, it is tightly fixed. Exactly so that when you click on the screen you don’t leave somewhere, but also not “sticking” to the table tightly.
In the back of the stand is a groove for installing a second battery. Thus, at the same time, you can charge both a smartphone and an additional battery. But only a standard 1520 mAh battery breaks into this connector. The 1950 mAh extended battery is already too thick. About the monster at 3600 mAh did not even remember. This is still sad. I think it was possible to develop such a groove design so that batteries with a capacity of up to 2000 mAh were placed with sufficient rigidity, because they fit perfectly in the smartphone case. It should be noted that when charging two batteries at once, it is highly recommended to connect the entire assembly to a full-fledged high-quality charger - USB power may simply not be enough.

The operation of the smartphone in the "cradle"

Smartphone in the “cradle” The

smartphone is placed in a stand at an acute angle to the surface of the table.
Installing the device in a stand is not so simple. It is necessary to strictly observe the angle of inclination and the horizontal bottom edge of the smartphone. Otherwise, the protruding stand connector rests against the smartphone case without falling into the MicroUSB hole. After proper positioning, the smartphone enters the stand. The device is placed very tightly, forming almost a single unit with a stand. This is facilitated by the combination of the gloss of the stand case and the shiny surface of the screen of the device itself. There are practically no gaps between them. It looks beautiful, but I'm not sure that such a beauty will be for the "Sensation" with a white body.


Side view

When you connect the cable to the computer, the influence of the stand is invisible. The smartphone is just as well synchronized with a PC and charging. The charge rate from the PC is the same as directly, within the margin of error.
It should be noted the selected slope of the smartphone placed in the "cradle". This is exactly the value of the angle at which the screen is located almost perpendicular to the view, and the fingers comfortably touch its surface. I appreciated this using my smartphone for application development, when the device should always be turned on next to the PC keyboard and not hang around the table.


Front view

If you lift the entire assembly, holding only the smartphone case, then the stand will remain with the device. Attempts to shake the design behind the smartphone’s case back and forth do not separate it from the “cradle”. As it becomes clear, the "Sensation" is held in the "cradle" is very reliable.
And this becomes a problem when you need to remove a smartphone from it. As was said, the device sits very tightly. To get the device in your hands, you need to hold the stand with one hand (best of all by holding it in the palm of your hand), and grab the smartphone somehow with the other. It’s easier to do this by holding the smartphone by the screen and back, but when the screen is on, you don’t want to. And if the idea arises to take the edges of the case, you have to stretch your palm to the full height of the smartphone. In general, all this causes certain difficulties. But the fault is not the designers of the "cradle", but HTC, who placed the synchronization connector on the side of the device. Not for nothing that in some new devices on the case special contact pads are made, which the docking station just touches without inserting its parts inside the smartphone. As a result, sometimes for me when an incoming call is easier to bring the entire assembly to my ear, than picking a smartphone out of its rack. But there are already problems due to the cable length. He delivered a lot of “fun” minutes to his family when they found me talking on the phone, while putting his right cheek on the table.

Conclusion

“Cradle” in the interior of

“Cradle” is definitely not an essential item for the smartphone owner, but if the device should be on the table for a long time, and in a convenient position for use, such a stand can be very useful. It is even more useful when you need to quickly charge two batteries with only one charger.
And, in my opinion, a smartphone in such a “cradle” just looks beautiful on any table.