This Cheap Accessory Gave My Android Phone the One iPhone Feature I Wanted

Source Domain: www.nytimes.com

You can buy Android phone cases with MagSafe built in. But I already owned and loved a few phone cases, so I didn’t want to buy a new one (though I have tried a few). After some research, I was surprised to find a well-reviewed solution from ESR, a credible brand that also makes some of our favorite iPhone and iPad cases.

A box of MagSafe ring stickers next to someone holding up one of the stickers. Ivy Liscomb/NYT Wirecutter

The MagSafe ring sticker is as basic as it sounds: It’s a metal ring you stick on the back of a phone case (not on a bare phone) for magnetic paraphernalia to attach to. This thing is the perfect balance of cheap, not hideous, and actually functional. It even comes in a few shades, including a brushed-metal option that looks neutral enough to match most cases. The pack comes with two stickers, and it’s basically a no-brainer of a bargain.

These simple metal stickers attach to the back of any phone case, making it compatible with MagSafe accessories like PopSockets and car phone mounts.

The ESR MagSafe Ring Sticker package includes two alignment templates for a variety of iPhones and Samsung devices. If you have a non-Samsung Android phone, you’ll have to do some digging to figure out where your device’s charging coils are located, so you can apply the sticker directly over them. It’s possible to achieve pretty accurate alignment by looking at a teardown diagram of your phone or by finding where your current wireless charger sits on your phone. (For my own purposes, this ended up not being as necessary as I thought it would be. I found that I don’t like wireless charging due to how much slower it is than wired charging, so I almost never use that feature.)

Two alignment templates from the MagSafe ring sticker package. Ivy Liscomb/NYT Wirecutter

I tested some Pixel phone cases with built-in MagSafe, and while I liked this clear one, ESR’s MagSafe Ring Stickers are cheaper and give me more options. With so many fun case designs in the world, why limit yourself to a magnetic few? The stickers are also useful if you have an iPhone with a really thick tactical case that…

Source