If you’re looking for a charging cradle for your phone when you’re riding in the car, you might like to consider a Strike Alpha cradle.
Ausdroid has been playing with one for the last week or so, and our review unit designed for the HTC One (M8) has performed well. The suction cup grip isn’t too strong, but when paired with the supplied adhesive disk (for fitting to a dashboard or similar), it holds on like a limpet mine, and nothing short of a head on collision is likely to dislodge it.
It’s not just grippy. The Strike Alpha cradle features a 2 Amp charger, meaning even the most demanding of handsets will take a charge nice and quickly. There’s even a passive antenna booster built into the cradle which, when paired with an external antenna on the car, will offer your handset better reception while driving around in regional areas.
Not satisfied with just offering a better cradle. the Strike Alpha also integrates NFC circuitry, meaning you can set your handset to perform particular tasks when docked (e.g. switching to a Car Mode or starting some tunes).
We found the Strike Alpha cradle a great little unit, and in a market flooded with cheap car holders that don’t really do a great job, it might be worth checking one of these out.
The Strike Alpha cradle is available online for $149 (for most models) at strike.com.au.
I have one of the iPhone 5 Alpha cradles with the windscreen mount and I disagree with the review here. When it’s fixed with a little moisture it grips like a demon. You cannot pull it off. Try it.
I’m sorry, it’s $150 and it has a poor suction attachment? It’s not hard to do, some of the cheap $10 chinese mounts I’ve bought have brilliant suction, and if I spend at least $40 on a holder I EXPECT a strong suction mount.
Isn’t the suction mount on the windscreen what 90% of people use?
Not going to disagree there. I’ve seen better suction mounts in ten dollar stands, but equally, that’s just one part of it. This holds the handset so securely that – if the Mount itself would grip the windscreen as strongly – I’d use this mount on a motorbike. That’s saying something.
The problem, Chris, is it doesn’t matter how well the mount grips the device, if the mount can’t be used in the way most users expect the mount to be able to be securely installed in their vehicles, then folks who do buy it will be returning it for a refund.
A company making a negative name for themselves is never a good thing.
I have one one for my Iphone4 and my Samsung Gaxlaxy S5 in my wifes car. They work really well, it grips more than jeniskunk comments on this website. My phone never dies of battery like my iphone4 used to, its great !!!
I’ve got the Alpha iPhone 5 version for the otterbox case. You can’t get mine off the windscreen once the suction lever is down.
or i could buy something cheaper and put a NFC sticker on it 150 bucks for some plastic no thanks
hmm price or where to buy it would be good?
$149 from Strike.com.au