Nokia HH-23 Tripod mount - not quite as expected

As I mention it quite a lot, you may be aware I own a Nokia 808 PureView phone, it's major attribute and claim to fame is that it has a 41megapixel camera unit (although I actually thoroughly enjoy it as a 'phone' as well) and as such I have looked at and read about a couple of accessories for it, sadly the two I have invested in have been somewhat dissappointing, this is rare, as I have always found Nokia accessories to be extremely well made and functional, however the CC-3046 which I wrote about here http://carman58.hubpages.com/hub/Nokia-CC-3046-Hard-Cover-Buyer-Beware and the HH-23 have been a little bit of a let down, not in build quality, but in functionality !

I am by no means a professional photographer, just a Nokia phone fan, who likes to take photographs and if some turn out well, I like to share them (well sometimes it's only me that thinks they turn out ok, but you get the point ?) So I thought as all the 'professionals' were shouting out about the HH-23 and its availability on my timeline on Twitter I may find it useful in some situautions, and as I have a mini tripod I use with my digital camera I thought I'd give it a go. Coincidentally, as the mount was in transit my friend Richard Dorman @Sheridan01 on Twitter mentioned how bad it was and suggested I cancel/return it. As I respect and admire his opinion on Nokia phones and his amazing ability at using the cameras on them I was a little deflated at the impending arrival of my new accessory !

Surprise surprise, Richard was correct ! The HH-23 doesn't quite work as is should, it will hold the phone on the tripod, but the 'universal fit' isn't too good, the back of the mount is perfectly flat and the back of the 808 is curved (even my N9 & Lumia 800 are 'pillowed') and so the fitting of the phone to the mount is not exactly snug. Secondly when I first tried to attach my 808 the natural position to mount it means the mount presses the physical lock/unlock button on the phone and switched on the torch function on, after a few attempts I got it to hold the phone reasonably, but it wasn't especially secure , in fact I found it actually felt more so with the CC-3046 case attached as it both stopped the lock button issue and seemed to give a better grip on the phone, but this of course causes more issues with the actual camera button which kinda defeats the object ?

Now despite my own findings and Richards professional advice, I AM going to keep the HH-23, basically because I think I will get some use from it, I have taken a couple of Videos which were to say the least a little shaky which hopefully a tripod will eliminate and the taking of self portraits (not that I take a lot of those) or groups I actually want to be photographed with will be achieved well enough using the timer in the camera menu.It may also be possible for me to experiment with Time Lapse photography using the tripod mount if I ever get that adventurous,also it will actually work with my other phones, the N9 & Lumia 800 do fit slightly better, but overall I don't think the HH-23 is something I could reccommend, although any advice or opinions from people who have used it successfully would be really appreciated.

Well that's it for now, hope some of the photos I've posted will demonstrate the fitting issues and that maybe Nokia will take a second look at the product and the way it fits, as I really enjoy Nokia products and really DON'T enjoy criticising them.

Thanks for reading.

Stephen Quin

19/08/2012