I try so hard not to fiddle with my phone while driving—it’s impossible. With the worsening traffic here in the metro, my phone keeps my road rage level down. So I decided to get a car mount so that it would at least take my phone off my hands.

I’ve seen magnetic car mounts before but I never really paid attention. I thought that it would never hold the phone as snug as expandable grips (which I’ve used). So I thought I’ll try a cheap one: Mypro Universal Air Vent Car Mount, it’s P299 in Lazada. This way if it doesn’t work out, at least it wouldn’t sting. It was a game changer.

Mounting. I use a silicone case for my phone so sticking the metal plate at the back of my phone that comes with the mount is required. This was gross. However, it didn’t bothered me as much as I thought it would. Mounting the phone is effortless. The magnet is strong enough that when it’s close, you’d get that satisfying “suck” from the magnet of the mount.

While driving. Once the phone is mounted, it really holds well even in potholes and road humps. I haven’t experienced my phone falling off the mount. There’s also no wobble when interacting with the phone.

Unmounting. You just pull the phone, that’s it. If you worry that the magnet is too strong that it would detach the mount from the air vent, it’s not.

Wireless charging. So all is well, I’m rocking this nice magnetic car mount, then it occured to me: what if there’s version of this that’s also a wireless charger. What if once I mount the phone, it would also start charging. Turns out, there is! There are lots actually. I looked around and found this—Nillkin Magnetic Wireless Charger Air Vent Car Mount Holder Pad For Phone—in Lazada for around P1500. Mounting, unmounting, and stability is pretty much the same as Mypro. I would say that Mypro’s magnet might be a bit stronger than Nillkin’s.

However, its wireless charging isn’t quite there yet. Mounting your phone and expecting the wireless charging to kick-in right away has 60-70% success rate. The reason is the horseshoe-shaped metal plate attached to your phone should be aligned to the four magnets of the mount. With enough repetition, your muscle memory should pick up the correct position. Another important thing to note is wireless charging isn’t as fast as cable charging. Depending on your phone’s power transfer, it could go from 5 watts to 7.5 watts only.

Wireless charger car mounts have clear use case but it needs to be further refined. Someone should make the Apple version of this device (*cough* Kenu *cough*).