SPECIAL: Smartphone / Tablet Brackets

 When the author of this article was in his musical formative phase, music stands on a stage were only ever clearly assigned to one musical genre, classical music with the corresponding orchestral musicians. Perfect notists, who were forbidden any personal expression in the game, read the score like a novel and therefore did not need to memorize any passages. Impressive, but without a personal touch. Perhaps the area could be expanded to include dance musicians who had to be proficient in accompanying artists or who, due to an extremely high repertoire, needed support here and there with the lyrics or certain phrases.

But that was it when it came to the music stands, which always entailed a certain degree of stiffness. Rock music, for example, with music stands, completely unthinkable, downright blasphemy. The horror was all the greater when I first saw Wolfgang Niedegen, singer of the group BAP, on stage in front of him with a wooden music stand that seemed to cover half of his body, from which he was reading his lyrics, since it was apparently not possible for him to learn them by heart.

Those days are long gone. All forms of smart devices have long since made their way onto the stage, especially since 90% of all drum sets have a MacBook on the side from which the artists play their backing tracks, although they are not able to perform them live. In addition, a tablet today only takes up a fraction of the space that was previously taken up by music stands and, in addition to their main function as a textual support, these same devices have long since developed into a kind of digital control center in some areas, where amplifiers can be controlled remotely . can regulate your personal mix on the in-ear remotely via the digital console.

Today we want to take a look at the current products from the three largest providers in the area of smartphone / tablet holders and address the respective areas of application of the holders. Our three providers are the company Gravity Stands, which is one of the brands of the Adam Hall Group, the company Hercules Stands, which is a brand of the Taiwanese company KHS Musical Instruments Co. and the top dog from Wertheim in Germany, König & Meyer. The focus of the test is on attaching it to or on a microphone stand, but we will also look at table mounts, which should be of interest to both instrumentalists and podcasters in the table or keyboard area.


The basic orientation

All mobile device holders struggle with the same problem.

1.) Weight:

The products must be as light as possible. If the device were to exceed a certain weight, there would not only be a risk of a tripod tipping to the side, the device would also run the risk of moving downwards during the performance, as the respective holders may not be able to support the additional weight .


2.) Stability:

The products must be as stable as possible. The constant assembly and dismantling of the product and the very tight tightening of the screws always put a lot of strain on the product, so the metal and plastic materials have to be of a much higher quality than is generally the case.


3.) Transportability:

The products must be easy to transport, which means that they should have as many folding and bending elements as possible, which can be folded up so that the product can be transported in a small bag, but on the other hand can also be locked firmly again as quickly as possible , which means you don't have to fix too many joints every time for an upcoming performance.


4 Compatibility:

The respective holders must be able to accommodate different dimensions in terms of width, height and, above all, depth. For example, many devices are transported in a protective cover, which requires a high level of flexibility in the area of depth recording.


So, as test devices for the recording ability there is a current iPhone 15 in a slim protective case, an older iPhone X in an Otterbox case and an iPad Air in a massive protective case. We'll start with the smartphone holders. You can choose from brackets that are screwed onto a regular tripod or products that come with their own tripod.


The brackets in detail

K&M smartphone holders

The K&M smartphone holders 19761 and 19762 represent the simple variant of a smartphone holder that is also known from car holders. They allow a smartphone with a width of 4.5 - 9 cm to be held using a simple fold-out function in the foot area A ball joint allows a 360 degree rotation, although a real headstand cannot really be recommended due to the only one-sided, lower support despite the side clamps. The big advantage of these products is that they are easy to use, as you can lock the smartphone with one hand if necessary. The version 19762 is screwed directly onto a standard tripod with a 3/8" connection, while the version 19761 allows clamping for a tube diameter of 10 - 30 cm.

The 19755 version, on the other hand, with a height of 130 - 180 mm and a depth of 15 mm, is aimed at particularly tall or wide smartphones that require a stable hold on all 4 sides. The smartphone is much more secure in the recording due to the 4 holders, but this version has the disadvantage that, unlike the models 19761 and 19762, you cannot use the main camera because it is covered by the holders.

The holder of the model 19755 is also available in the 19756 version as a table tripod, which can be used both in the office and on stage in the backliner area or on a keyboard, with the color changing from the pure black of the 19755 to a black/gray mixture changed. In this case, however, I would refrain from using a touchscreen control, as the underside of the table tripod is not rubberized and can be moved relatively easily. However, if the smartphone is controlled via Bluetooth, for example by a foot switch, you can of course view and use the product as a purely visual element.

The same holder is also used on the 19759 smartphone tripod, which allows a height of 600 - 1,400 mm and can therefore be placed very well on stage as a standalone solution. Here, too, the smartphone can be easily removed from the holder by simply folding the clamping device, which is located on the back of the holder, backwards using your thumb. This action can also be easily carried out with one hand.

A little fun on the side. All three brackets contain a black tube as a connecting piece of the very high-quality metal elements in classic K&M style, which at first glance looks like metal, but at second glance turns out to be plastic, which is very stable and which can be bent in all directions . I was really surprised when I unpacked the products and spent several minutes thinking about how I should bend a piece of metal.


Hercules Stands smartphone holders

The company Hercules Stands takes a slightly different approach with its HCDG-207B smartphone holder. The holder in the classic yellow / black Hercules “wasp layout” is suitable for smartphones with a diagonal of 12 - 17.5 cm. The system can be attached to 3 cm tables, round and rectangular bars, and the case or holder for the smartphone does not have to be removed. The weight of the holder is only 320 g and can withstand a maximum load of 1 kg. The system works with a simple spring tension and must be operated with two hands.

An interesting plus point of the system is an integrated “cold shoe” adapter, which is particularly useful for extended audio or video recordings. A "cold shoe adapter" or "cold shoe mount" is a mount that is located on the top of a mounting plate. It is called "cold" because it does not have its own power source. The additional devices are connected to the camera via cable. There are many options for mounting devices ranging from external microphones to another mini camera like Gopro.

However, the HCDG-207B can only demonstrate its full flexibility with the Podcast Arm HCDG-107B. In addition to mounting on a desk, it can also be clamped to round or square tubes, such as a keyboard stand. The arm can also be used with the tablet holder described later. In addition to the fact that the position of the clamp and the thread can be swapped as desired, so that the podcast arm can be attached to the surface with either the long or the short arm side, I particularly liked the “TightVice” holder Both arms can be fixed in a 360 degree position with just one screw, which extremely speeds up the assembly and dismantling of the product.


Now let's move on to the area of tablet holders.

K&M tablet holders

We'll start with the K&M 19743 Tablet PC Holder, a universal tablet holder with a clamping mechanism for all tablets measuring approximately 10" to 16". A special feature of the tablet is that the tablet holder is made of bio-based plastic. These plastics contain a proportion of over 50% to 100% of renewable plant raw materials and, by using renewable raw materials, help to conserve oil reserves and reduce CO2 emissions. Once again, K&M is committed to producing its products in the most environmentally friendly way possible; the company has been known for years for its recycling operations, its avoidance of pollutants in its products and for the treatment of its process water to drinking water quality. More information about bio-based plastics can be found at: biokunststoff.k-m.de.

The clamping range of the tablet PC holder is between 158 and 280 mm. According to the manufacturer, the holder is particularly suitable for using tablets with a protective cover or case up to a thickness of 18 mm, which is indeed the case. Even my iPad, which is in a very thick protective case, could be placed on the holder without me having to remove the protective case. The holding arm with clamping prism is suitable for clamping to pipe diameters up to 30 mm. As an additional side guide, K&M uses a perforated steel bracket, which ensures upright operation. If possible, attaching the metal bracket should be combined with a quick look at the operating instructions, as you need to press an inconspicuous plastic pressure lever for the “ratchet lock”. After that, the system is rock solid. The same holder is also available in the 19765 version, which comes without a steel bracket on the side and is only designed for upright operation.

If you don't want to attach your tablet to a microphone stand, but would rather have it placed in its own stand, you're on the right track with the 19789 model, where the 19765 model comes with its own stand. The tripod, which was designed specifically for tablet use, is extremely solid and, with a 300 mm diameter and 4.5 kilo cast gray cast base, offers great stability, which means that almost nothing will sway even at the full support height of 1,430 mm.




Gravity Stands tablet holders

The company Gravity Stands also has two interesting tablet holders in its range, both of which shine with very interesting details. At the very front is the MA TH 01 B holder, which in the typical gravity green / black offers a continuously adjustable clamping range of 150 to 295 mm and is suitable for pipe diameters of 15 - 35 mm using a solid fastening clamp. The tablet is fixed with two triangular holders made of plastic, while in the background a tubular steel construction locks all joints centrally using a single adjusting screw thanks to the Vari-Arm system, which also speeds up assembly and dismantling. Despite the steel construction, the product weighs only 0.662 kg and can be easily transported in any bag.

With the MA T TH 01, however, the range includes a plastic holder that can attach both a smartphone and a tablet to a microphone stand if necessary. This is particularly helpful if, for example, you need a device to read text and want to use the other device as a control unit for products in the background. In single operation, both the tablet unit and the smartphone unit can be attached to the microphone stand at a 360° angle using a ball joint. However, if you want to use dual mode, the smartphone unit is latched onto the lower part of the holding arm using a small tab and then holds the smartphone in landscape format below the holder, while the tablet unit can be locked at the front in normal 360° operation. as you need it for your business. The tablet unit is controlled with two tabs on the back of the holder, with the top tab locking the height of the tablet while the bottom tab sets the width of the two lower arms. Although the product is “only” made of plastic, it gives a very stable and durable impression, which is not the case with many plastic products from other manufacturers.



Hercules Stands tablet holder

With the HCDG-307B, Hercules Stands has a tablet holder in its portfolio, which at first glance attracts attention primarily due to the solid design of the metal arm, which can be attached not only to tables, round and rectangular bars up to 3 cm thick , but can also be swiveled twice over 360 degrees using 2 screws. Tablets or large smartphones with a width/height of 15.5 - 33 cm can be inserted. The tablets are held by two strong spring mechanisms, which have to be pulled apart with two hands, meaning that inserting the tablet into the holder requires a bit of practice at the beginning. What I really like about the system is the fact that you can rotate the four holding points by 360 degrees and, depending on what kind of product you want to attach to the holder, you can use the long sides, cross sides or the corners with them Breakpoints optimally reached. The product also impresses with its very compact dimensions and can be transported in the smallest bag. If you are willing to separate the actual plastic holder from the metal arm, the product can be folded even smaller.


Finally, I have the 23874 tablet PC holder bundle on offer, which, however, is primarily suitable for stationary operation or for FOH or monitor space, due to the gas pressure spring, tablets from 10" to 16" with a Weight of up to 8 kg can be positioned. Here too, a “biobased” holder is used. The clamping range of the tablet PC stand holder is between 158 and 280 mm, although thanks to the table clamp (up to 85 mm thick), the entire holder can be mounted comparatively quickly. USB-C and Lightning connectors can also be guided through the arm, leaving a tidy impression, especially since the entire system can be continuously adjusted in height up to 350 mm when the gas pressure spring is correctly adjusted and can also be rotated between portrait and landscape format.



In summary, I was really surprised at how much the quality of all three providers has improved in recent years. You can clearly see that a lot of brainpower and development work was put into the products by the respective engineers, because the mounts I found from other providers in this area a few years ago basically had the quality of hobby products, which were neither durable nor long-lasting stable yet structurally appropriate for the professional sector. What I found here are all high-end products, which have a high level of stability, very good workmanship, interesting detailed solutions and, above all, a solid design, which is definitely recommended today due to the constantly evolving application possibilities .

All very good products, with K&M getting another extra point for their environmental protection.