AZURAOKEY Smartphone Camera Shutter Remote Handle Selfie Review: Just Like a Toy

POSITIVES

✓ Colorful

Sold in different colors for fun

✓ Affordable

Makes for cheap stocking stuffers and gifts

NEGATIVES

✘ Terrible magnet

Doesn’t actually hold your phone

✘ Cheap feeling

Lots of plastic

✘ Wireless charging is iffy at best

Didn’t work for my device

Purchase Price: $16.99

Buy on Amazon

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Admittedly, it’s taken me a while to become one of those smartphone users who take photos with a phone grip. You can imagine how many photos and videos we snap with our smartphones here at The Sypnotix, but I’ve always preferred to just hold my phone in my hands and record as is. Why bother bulking up the device even more with a grip that you might not necessarily need? Why charge yet another device so that you can have the convenience of pushing a button instead of your display to take a photo? Today’s review is about the camera grip from AZURAOKEY that comes in various colors and is sold on Amazon. Let’s take a look.

feels like a toy

The AZURAOKEY smartphone camera shutter grip is advertised as a 3 in 1 device. Compatible for both iOS and Android devices, the remote device functions as a phone stand, camera grip, and wireless charger (if you purchased the qi charger option). Without wireless charging, the phone stand sells on Amazon as of this review for $14.99 while the wireless charging variant retails for $17.99. It comes in a variety of colors including black, blue, pink and purple. The version we purchased was the blue variant that came with wireless charging.

Simply put, the AZURAOKEY shutter grip feels like a toy. In fact, with the colors they sell it in, it can probably pass as a toy very easily. The plastic design is lightweight, cheap feeling, and not necessarily the most durable. The grip portion of the stand features some textured feel that gives it some added design. The front of the stand has additional design features with words like “Imitation Camera Feel” and “Record Beautiful Moments.” An ode to inspiration, but a little gimmicky and comes off as cheap more than anything. On the bright side, the device is handy and easy to carry around.

When connected via Bluetooth and on, there’s a blue indicator light that illuminates next to the shutter button just below the power button. While the design of the device itself is usable, the power button is smaller than I’d like, making it a little bit of a clunky experience to turn on and off the device. The grip charges via USB-C (cable not included) and houses a 200 mAh battery. The shutter button is nice and clicky and comfortable to rest your finger on when looking to take pictures with it in both landscape and portrait modes.

Weak Magnet and Disappointing Attachment Capability

Similar to other smartphone grips, the AZURAOKEY connects via magnetic components to the smartphone. If you’re even thinking about using this camera grip with your smartphone, you’ll have to remove your case every single time. My iPhone 13 has a very thin Peel case and even then is unable to connect to the phone grip with it in. 

I’m also pretty disappointed with how poor the magnet is on this smartphone stand, even without a case on. When I’m using the grip as a camera mount, it’s very easy for me to accidentally touch my phone or bump into it and even the slightest touch will cause the phone to potentially come off its magnetic attachment or cause it to slip a little. While this makes it easy to rotate the device between landscape and portrait mode, it’s too easy to rotate. Simply put, the magnet is not strong enough to hold up my iPhone and I imagine other similar sized devices will also feel shaky on this camera grip. 

I’m not sure what the strength is in this camera grip. Even as a phone stand, I’ve seen my phone knock itself over when I get a notification and there’s a small vibration from the phone causing the stand to jet off balance and lurch forward. For those looking to use this when traveling, I’m really not confident in its ability to use as a selfie stand or a reliable camera holder. Traveling in crowded areas or placing it on an uneven surface may very well disconnect the magnet from the phone.

wireless charging doesn’t even work

As mentioned before, there’s two versions of this stand that are sold. We purchased the wireless charging variant but our camera grip doesn’t charge my device at all. While connecting to Bluetooth is easy enough (there’s simple instructions on the Amazon product page), I really can’t review how well the Qi charger works because it simply doesn’t. It’s possible Amazon sent us the wrong version of the charger out of the distribution center or AZURAOKEY’s quality control just isn’t that great. 

Who is this made for?

There’s quite a few more expensive versions of these camera grips on the market that people use more reliably. That being said, they’re typically more than triple the cost of this one from AZURAOKEY. I can’t possibly fathom any content creator or photographer using the AZURAOKEY camera grip for their professional endeavors. The camera grip not only feels cheap but it’s unreliable both as a charger and magnetic holder and stand. Perhaps the only thing that works about this is that the shutter button does indeed snap photos when connected to Bluetooth on the device. For that reason, I can see people buying this as a stocking stuffer gift for high school students who want to dabble in photography or people looking for a cheap and affordable grip that they can use as a one-off for a trip or similar experience. Even then, I would recommend paying a little more for something that works better.

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