Review: Shoulderpod S1

On each vacation I’ve taken in the last few years, I’ve taken a compact digital camera along with my iPhone. However, with each iPhone revision, the camera gets so much better that I reconsider my choice to take a camera. The camera has a few features that the iPhone doesn’t have, but the differences are so minor.

The only thing that I seem to miss using the iPhone is simply how it feels and how easy it is to hold. I had read about the Shoulderpod S1 as a grip for the iPhone. I didn’t back it on KIckstarter, but it made it “to the big leagues” as I found it on Amazon.

I ordered it a few days for my last vacation and when it arrived, I adjusted it for my phone and tried it out. Its premise is pretty simple; provide a hand held mount for your smartphone. Operating it is easy; just adjust the screw and put your iPhone in it. I used it for a bunch of shots and being able to hold the phone without the fear of dropping it and being able to stablize it was very convenient. I didn’t take many movies, but the movies I did were less shaky. I also used it to take a timed shot and it worked well mounted on my Gorillapod mount.

The biggest “problem” with the Shoulderpod is that when I had it attached, I couldn’t really fit my phone in my pocket, so I kept taking it off my iPhone and reattaching it. This was a little inconvenient, but I’m not sure it was the fault of the little device.

Pros

• Makes it easy to hold an iPhone.
• Supports my iPhone 6 and other smartphones; very adjustable.
• Standard tripod mount allows it to work with GorillaPod and other tripods.

Cons

• Some pieces are made out of plastic which made lead to issues down the line with reliability.
• Taking the Shoulderpod on and off is a little cumbersome and leaving it on doesn’t fit in my pocket.

Summary

The Shoulderpod S1 makes a great addition to any smartphone user that relies exclusively on his or her phone for taking pictures on vacations or even for taking photos and videos of school functions, Holding my hold with just just a few fingers always has me nervous and the Shoulderpod’s grip takes this away and stabilizes pictures. I’m sure others have gotten good at taking smartphone pictures, but I think that the Shoulderpod will make it even easier to take good pictures.

The price isn’t that much and is a good addition to my travel bag. I will need to find a better way to deal with it so that I don’t take it on or off, but I consider that a minor issue.