To be completely honest, I'm not a fan of original phone accessories. They are very expensive and this high price is very often overrated. But this time I made an exception and bought original HTC car holder. And I do not regret that decision.
Typical car holder from "nobody knows where this company comes from" costs from $10 to $30, while HTC Car Kit is available for about $50 - $70. This is 3-7 times more expensive, but I believe this is well spent money. Let me explain why.
- Mounting
HTC Car Kit can be mounted in two ways. You can fasten in to the front window of your car, or you can use additional adhesive disk, that comes in the box and attach it on your dashboard. Normally you can't attach regular and cheap car kit on your dashboard because of rough surface of the dashboard. This is a very nice solution, giving you opportunity to choose whether you want your Car Kit to be attached to the window, or to the dashboard without covering up your view. Also, it's very easy to mount the entire Car Kit and there is no risk of breaking anything.- Build quality
It's just perfect. This is one of the biggest positive aspects of having original accessories. There are no crack sounds, the used plastic is very solid and it looks aesthetic. The swivel neck is made of aluminium and you can rotate is in every direction. There are also no plastic hooks you can break accidentally. The resistance of the aluminium neck is very good. The cradle holds the device securely and firmly, so you don't need to be afraid that your device will fall out, unlike with the cheaper solutions I had in the past. However, without the cable attached in the cradle the device looses its stability (because nothing "holds" it inside the cradle) and can fall out. It is a problem, since not every driver want to drive with a cable attached all the time.
- Features
HTC devices comes with preloaded software you can run while driving in the car. With HTC Car Kit this application can be launched automatically every time you connect your device to the holder. It's nothing unique in the cradle itself, but it is the attached USB cable that does the trick. The micro USB part has a special terminal with a clips. Once your HTC One will detect it, HTC Car mode application will be launched. However, this feature can be of course turned off in settings. You can't have this feature working correctly with non-HTC Car Kit.- Equipment
Like every other original HTC accessory, the HTC Car Kit comes in a very nice box, where you can find the holder itself (made of plastic cradle, aluminium neck and plastic base with wheel and suction pad tab), micro-USB cable with a special terminal, adhesive disk, very nice looking car charger and short, multi-language user guide. The cable is very long, which I find as a drawback, because it has 2m, while 1m should be perfectly enough. Probably I will have to bind the cable and it won't look very cool. Replacing it with a shorter cable is not an option because of missing terminal in regular micro-USB cables.
- General conclusion
HTC Car Kit is worth its price. It looks way better then any regular car holder and I can surely say it is a premium product for a premium device, just like HTC One is. It's easy to use, easy to clean and it gives you additional control over your device with HTC Car mode application. Also, you can mount it however you like - on the window or on the dashboard. If you own HTC One and you are a car driver, I strongly recommend you buying this Car Kit.
+ build quality
+ design
+ alternative mounting methods
+ HTC device detection
+ comes together with micro-USB cable and car charger
+ swivel neck adjustable in every direction
- price (it is worth the price, but for some it sill might be too much)
- too long micro-USB cable (should be 1m instead of 2m)
- the device isn't secured well if the cable is not attached to the cradle
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