Telescope Generic Mobile Phone from Brando: A Hands on Product Review

I don't know about you, but my cell phone camera takes terrible pictures. I have no idea how it does it, but you can take an item that is right in front of you and it looks like it's far away.

Brando, an electric gadget company based in Hong Kong has created the Mobile Phone Telescope that has inadvertently solved the farsighted cell phone camera problem. Of course, it is not meant to, as this device is meant to be a telescope, clearly.

The box that it came in was, at best, minimalist. Included was minimal packaging, a scope, and plastic mounting frame, not to mention some superfluous silica gel. There is no sheet of instruction, other than what is written on the bottom of the box.

Before I talk about the Mobile Phone Telescope, I would have to say that is not for everyone. By that, I don't mean that every cell phone user won't want one, I mean that every cell phone user won't be able to use it. This is because the Mobile Phone Telescope has a plastic frame mount that only works on certain phones.

If you have a clamshell (flip open) phone, it probably won't work. The same goes for a slider. What you need a phone that has the viewing screen on one side, and the lens on the other. The frame adjusts to fit the phone over the lens, and the scope itself screws on from there. I found that this frame will not work if the lens of the camera is too close to the edge of the phone, or too much off center from the camera. This is because the clips that hold the framing structure into place will not stay these models.

I was fortunate enough to know a friend with a Verizon EnV, and it worked quite well. I used the Telescope, and I got a good image of something far away. Unfortunately, many cell phones are flips or sliders, so that eliminates a great majority of many cell phone users.

If you do have the type of phone that I describe earlier, that is, with a lens on one side and screen on the other, the Mobile Phone Telescope should work for you. You can get it on Brando for about $39.00 USD.

If you have a flip or slider phone, the Mobile Phone Telescope has a 7 x 18 scope that can be used on its own, providing excellent magnification. It could work as a mini-telescope, and you can even use the frame structure as a holder. Think of it as opera glasses with only one eye.