PRODUCT REVIEW: Popsockets

(Mars - Hans Zimmer)

Most of you probably know what Popsockets are.

For the ones that don't, they're little circles of plastic that sit on the back of your phone or tablet and they can be accordian'd out from the back of the device to create a little cone that you can grip your device better with.  Can't see it in your head?  Maybe I can help:

The idea here, as I'm trying to demonstrate, is that you can slip your fingers between the top of the Popsocket and the phone, and it makes a more stable platform with which to hold your device.

Popsockets were one of those darling inventions that got their start on Kickstarter several years ago and were immediately taken up by people who were already prone to putting gaudy, glitzy stuff on their phones.  Soon, the world was awash with hump-backed cellphones. 

For a time, I wrote them off as a novelty item that created as many problems as they solved.  Then, one day not so long ago, a friend of mine had lunch with me, and I noticed that his phone had grown a protrusion as well, so I opted to give one a shot.

I'm currently carrying an iPhone XS Max inside of a Spigen Ultra Hybrid case, and because I'm not enamored with the thought of having something flash on the back of my phone, I opted to buy the cheapest, flat black Popsocket I could find.

Applying the Popsocket to your phone isn't difficult, but it -is- semi-permanent, so I would suggest getting a very thin case to put around your phone before you try one.  Remove the Popsocket from its packaging, peel off the adhesive backing on the rear side of the socket, and stick it wherever you want on your phone.  The instructions suggest letting the phone rest on top of the socket for around eight hours to let the adhesive fully attach to the phone, and that cleaning the attachment side with some alcohol beforehand is probably a good idea to ensure best results.  This is Attachment 101 for anyone who has ever done something like this.

I slapped my socket onto the back of my phone, went up to bed for the evening, and...ran into the first major problem with a Popsocket on your phone.

Popsockets...do not play well with wireless charging.  At all.  And that's when I sort of pumped the brakes on things a little and put some deeper thought into what I'd just done:

PROBLEMS CREATED:

- I cannot use my QI charger anymore because I've got a great whopping piece of plastic in the middle of my phone that keeps it from getting close enough to the charging pad to actually work.

- If you store your phone in a pocket and not a purse, you're going to catch the pop socket on your pocket's lining a fair amount.  That's irritating, and one of these days, it's going to be the cause of a phone drop.  I can just smell that coming.

- The plastic on the back of my Popsocket has a much lower friction coefficient than my lovely Spigen case did.  Translation: Your phone will slide around a lot more.  My case was nice and grippy on the back, so I never worried about my phone sliding everywhere when I set it down.  Now, I worry constantly about my phone because it's slicker than a greased weasel.

- My phone is too big for this thing.  You're supposed to be able to fully extend the socket and then push it back in on one side to create a kind of stand for your device.  I've seen other people do this with their phone, but my iPhone is so big and so heavy that the Socket doesn't have enough substance to actually hold my phone up.  Now...this seems stupid to me, because the whole point of these things is to make it easier to hold onto your phone if you have a big phone, so WHY WASN'T IT DESIGNED TO HANDLE A BIG PHONE?

- If your phone is so big that you can't span its screen while it's square in the palm of your hand, you aren't doing yourself ANY FAVORS by rooting your hand to one spot on the back of your phone.  My iPhone is a big phone, one of the biggest on the market right now, but I'm also a big guy, so I have big hands.  Even still, I have to move my hand around a little to get to everywhere important on my screen, and anchoring my hand in one spot means I actually can't reach all of my phone's screen.

- As previously mentioned, I have big hands, sssssooooo, this isn't exactly comfortable for me to use.

PROBLEMS SOLVED:

- Uh...well, if I'm literally doing nothing other than scrolling around on my screen, it's nice having a slightly more secure handhold.
- On those rare occasions when I'm holding my phone with my off hand and interacting with it using my main hand.


Popsockets are a device that, in spite of their mania, really only appear to have a limited audience that they're really useful to:

- People with smaller hands who still insist on having larger phones
- People with physical impairments or motor control issues
- Klutzes and morons.

This is one of those things that you should absolutely try before you buy.  I suspect quite strongly that it's only truly useful to a narrow group of individuals, and...well, I'm nothing even remotely compared to narrow.  If I want to hold my phone, I have something entirely more useful than a Popsocket to do it with.

My hand.

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Here we are at the end of this post.  I had intended fully to try and get used to the Popsocket for several days before rendering my final verdict, but it turns out that I didn't need to.  One trip to the supermarket saw me struggling to get my phone in and out of my pocket to check my shopping list a number of times.  I nearly dropped it twice, once outside in the dirty snow.  The first thing I did when I got home is ripped it off of the back of my phone.

I was immediately relieved.  And that's all you need to know.