Car and Motorcycle Mount Solutions for the Apple iPhone 4S

The much anticipated Apple iPhone 4S was just announced.  Faster processor, better camera, some new connectivity options.  An iPhone 4 on steroids.

The form factor for the iPhone 4S is quite similar to its older brother, the iPhone 4:

Height: 4.5 inches (115.2 mm)
Width: 2.31 inches (58.6 mm)
Depth: 0.37 inch (9.3 mm)
Weight: 4.9 ounces (140 grams – that’s a bit heavier than the iPhone 4)

What about your mounting options?  The good news is that if you have a mount for an iPhone 4, it will likely fit your iPhone 4S.  Since the form factor is similar, most custom cradles should fit just fine.  However, our opinion is that the new features while nice, are similar to the iPhone 4 and in addition the announcement comes approximately one year after the iPhone 4.  This means upgrades may consist of many iPhone 3 and iPhone 3G users.  It’s worth the upgrade for the improvements in performance and as pointed out, you can use your old case and mount.  Given the fact that the resale on the iPhone 4 is still reasonable, you should be able to pickup an iPhone 4s at not too great of an additional financial outlay.

Most people will be using the iPhone 4 or 4S with a skin or case (Otterbox makes great cases).  There are excellent mounts available for iPhones with or without a skin.  There are great options to mount the iPhone 4 almost anyplace you want.

First we start with a motorcycle.  There are two types of options.  The first involves an expandable cradle, and they fit the iPhone 4S with or with a case / skin.  The second is a weatherproof type.  We find that a lot of people might ride in the rain once in a while, and these are great to keep your device dry and secure.  You can read about these mounts here.  There are also a lot of custom cradle mounts available.  To use these, your iPhone must be without any case or skin.  Whichever option you choose, be sure that you purchase a good quality mount that will securely hold your iPhone 4S.

Within your car, the mounting options are endless.  We find that a lot of people buy car mounts for two reasons.  First, nobody likes their iPhone floating around on their passenger seat.  Second, you can use the iPhone 4 or 4s as a very capable GPS.  We find the cup holder and vent mounts make excellent choices.  We like the vent mount best for GPS users.  Of course the suction cup windshield mount is always most popular because it is level with your line of sight.  Be sure that you are driving in a state that permits these kinds of mounts.  If you would rather not use the windshield, a dash version of a suction cup mount might work well for you.

There are also a lot of specialty iPhone 4 or 4s mounts.  These specialty uses include wheelchairs, desks, tripods and microphone stands.  We also have seen a big use of iPhones in outdoor sports, for example hunters like to attach these to tree stands.