Finally a company picked up the ball, and created a universal holster for the iPhone/iPod. I have been wondering why there hasn’t been any products focusing on being universal. For us who want to have a holster we have had quite a limited range of products to choose from. The OtterBox Defender for iPhone 3G/4, Speck Toughskin for iPhone 3G and Contour Showcase for iPhone 3G/4 are great cases, but they all come with holsters only fitting themselves. With the release of the HoldSter Speck not only covers the iPhone 3G/4 and iPod Touch, but also a wide range of other smart phones.
Everything within the measurements below can be inserted into the HoldSter:
Minimum size: 4.1” x 2” x 0.32” (10.5×5.2×0.8cm)
Maximum size: 4.8”x2.7”x0.71” (12.2×6.8×1.8cm)
Thanks to a spring mechanism the case adjusts automatically to whatever you insert into it. I have tried it with all the cases I have tried out for TouchGen, and so far only the ExoGear ExoLife has been too tall, and the OtterBox Defender too chunky. If you have a battery backup case chances are that it will not fit. For all regular cases it works really well.
The holster holds the device firmly by the four corner clamps. A soft padding inside the clamps means that they won’t damage your device. Furthermore the force from the spring is perfectly tuned to hold it in place, without either dropping it or catapulting the device out.
A belt clip is integrated into the holster, and it is strong enough to sit securely in a belt or on a backpack strap. It swivels 90 degrees allowing either vertical, or horizontal usage. It also acts as a stand when watching movies in landscape mode.
As you can place the device either screen in or out, and with or without case the HoldSter adds an extra layer of protection. If you drop your device in the HoldSter the clamps or back absorbs most of the impact. Sure there is a risk of the device falling out, but that is after the hardest impact.
There is one thing that annoys me somewhat about the HoldSter. As it is marketed towards the iPhone user I really would have liked a camera cut-out somewhere. To take a picture you have to extract the phone from the case. It is an easy process to extract it, but still cumbersome if you want a quick image.
Another issue is the looks of the HoldSter. Being universal it has to be somewhat bulky to accommodate as many devices as possible. This means that it is far from a slender product, and at times I think it looks downright ugly.
If you are looking for a holster for your device, and don’t want to be forced to use the limited number of cases that come with holsters this is a good choice. The simple spring mechanism works brilliantly. Having the extra protection the HoldSter brings is also great. I hope it sells well, as I want to see more universal holster designs.
Final Rating
HoldSter at Speckproducts.com $29.95
