At first I ignored the offer to check out the Huawei Tripod Selfie Stick since I rarely capture front-facing photos, unless I am traveling and want to share some of my experiences with my family. However, after seeing that this $20 accessory functions as a tripod with an aluminum arm I decided to try it out.
Once you open up the package, you will find a black rod about 7 inches (18 cm) in length and only 129 grams. The phone holder is folded down and fits around the tripod legs. Simply rotate it up and into position on top of the tripod selfie stick. You can rotate the phone holder through 270 degrees and tighten it in place with the single wingnut. The phone holder extends from about 57 mm to 82 mm so it fits a variety of smartphones.
Many selfie sticks require power to function, but Huawei created this one to activate via the 3.5mm headset jack. An embedded 3.5mm coiled cable is included that plugs into your headset jack. Thus, you never have to worry about charging up the selfie stick or carrying batteries to use it with your phone. You can’t use it with some new phones, like the iPhone 7 or Huawei U Ultra since those phones no longer include a 3.5mm headset jack.
The three plastic legs have rubber feet at the ends so you can expand the legs and set the tripod on a table without worrying about it sliding around. The three legs are designed to close up and form a circle with magnets in the feet holding them together in a cylindrical form. If you are using the device for selfies, then the legs are closed and secured.
The middle section of the tripod selfie stick extends another 28.5 cm for a full selfie stick length of 46.5 cm. You can also use this extended mode for the tripod, but be careful that your phone doesn’t cause the extended tripod to fall over. There are four aluminum extension pieces that extend and remain extended until you push the extension down into the base. The aluminum is colored gray and has a matte finish.
There is a single camera capture button above the three tripod legs. This can be set to activate the shutter on your phone. At first I thought this Huawei accessory was just for Huawei and Honor devices, but then I tested it with the new LG G6 and Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus and it worked perfectly well with these new phones.
Some advanced camera software includes modes where your phone must remain steady and in a single position for some time to capture the moment. With the Huawei Tripod Selfie Stick you can capture light painting, time lapse video, wide aperture shots, and more without having to carry a large tripod or power to make sure they work.
This accessory is reasonably priced, well constructed, and is now a staple of my gear back to help me capture more creative content. It also works well for video calls as the phone can be adjusted to match the height and position I need for better calls.
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