MEGATech Reviews: Apotop i-Selfie

Apotop’s i-Selfie device doesn’t look like much. It’s small and rubber and, in my case, powder blue. It looks like a creature you would see in a Pixar movie, utterly alien in design. I’ve come to learn that its unassuming appearance is part of its charm, though, because the i-Selfie does what it does very well.

I don’t like selfies. It’s not the attention-grabbing arrogance of the whole thing. I’m no stranger to narcissism. My problem with selfies is that they’re so painfully boring. Ninety-nine percent of selfies fall into two categories – an arm’s length picture taken with the front camera or a picture taken in a mirror using the rear camera where the picture-taker isn’t even looking at the lens. Whenever I take a selfie, which is whenever my mom asks for a new picture of me, I’m at least ambitious enough to use the timer to get a full-body shot. Kids these days, get off my lawn, etc etc.

We can’t all be Peter Parker, but we can take better pictures, and the i-Seflie makes that pretty damn easy.

What it is, What it Does

The Apotop i-Selfie is a tiny rubber device that hangs off your keychain and serves a dual purpose. The device is actually two pieces. The rounded tab is a remote button that pulls out of its holder. The empty holder can then wrap around your phone and form a makeshift stand. The i-Selfie connects to your phone via Bluetooth through the official app. Once you initially pair the device, all you have to do is start the app and hit the button.

Timer, Be Gone!

Like I said, I’ve used the timer feature on my smartphone camera quite extensively. It serves its purpose, but it’s less than ideal. The most difficult part is finding the right place to prop up the phone so that you can get a good shot. This usually involves stacking various objects around it for it to lean on. Then you have to hit the timer, run into place, wait for the picture to be taken, and only then can you see how the picture came out and whether or not you need to retake it. It’s not a fun process. The i-Selfie replaces and improves this process, sort of.

The Little Blue Disc

I’m going to get weird for a second, but the button portion of the i-Selfie goes beyond ergonomical and is just downright fun to hold. It fits like a dream between your forefinger and your thumb and pressing the button makes me feel like a secret agent detonating a remote explosive. I played a lot of Goldeneye as a kid.

This portion of the i-Selfie works flawlessly. The only thing that really matters is the responsiveness and the phone snaps a picture the second you hit the button. If you don’t think you got a good picture, hit the button multiple times and take multiple pictures. The i-Selfie successfully turns your phone into a viable option for remote portrait taking.

The Little Blue Dongle

Once the disc is taken out, the rubber holder can be slid onto your phone, which will prop it up if you position it correctly. Most of the time it worked great, but there were a few times when I couldn’t the phone to stay in the position I wanted it in. It’s always going to lean back slightly, so you have to position it lower than what you’re looking to shoot. The problem is that the stand function of the i-Selfie almost feels like an afterthought, when it’s actually pretty crucial to the device’s overall functionality. Being able to remotely take a picture doesn’t mean much if you can’t position the phone properly. Still, like I said, it gets the job done most of the time. Just don’t expect perfection.

Rubber and Plastic

The i-Selfie holder seems to be entirely rubber, while the disc seems to be entirely plastic. It doesn’t feel very durable, but as far as I’m concerned it doesn’t have to be. The rubber holder should protect it if you drop it, unless you have extraordinarily bad luck and drop it at an angle where the disc takes the brunt of the damage. Higher quality materials probably would have raised the price, so I think the build is fine just like it is.

More Than Meets the Eye

Upon first glance, the Apotop i-Selfie looks completely unimpressive, but the more I use this thing the more I realize how much I like it. It’s such a simple idea, but that’s why it works. Apotop didn’t have to bend over backwards to execute it well, they just had to make something that was small, functional, and hard to break. It works fine with my Samsung Galaxy 3, its range is further than you’ll ever need to take a picture from, and I can’t imagine the tiny circular battery hidden in the disk is going to die any time soon. For those who take a lot of pictures with their phone, this can help take your selfie game to the next level.