A new Minnesota law restricts drivers to palms-unfastened or voice-activated cellular telephone technology, powerful Aug. 1. One alternative is to apply a Bluetooth earpiece, like this motive force in Los Angeles. Four phrases no one wants to listen to: “We need to talk.” But that’s what the Minnesota Legislature has decreed for drivers who use cell phones. “Hands-free” rules go into effect on Aug. 1, and drivers who forget about the law probably will find themselves chatting with a police officer.

Minnesota drivers on new 'arms-free' mobile phone law 1

The law means that you may’t have your phone in your hand while you’re using it. “One-contact capabilities” will nevertheless be allowed if the telephone is accessed without preserving it, typing or scrolling. This method that you’ll want something to hold your phone so you can faucet, however now not type. And you’ll need the blessing of a tenth-century Nordic monarch — however, we’ll get to that in a moment.

You can follow the regulation by buying a logo-new vehicle that routes your mobile phone through the radio and is activated through a button at the guidance wheel. But allow’s say that you don’t want to spend $35,000 right now. There are workarounds for older vehicles that value about $34,950, much less. To installation your rig, step one is to get a telephone mount. It’s not important, but it keeps you from fishing around because your smartphone changed into the passenger seat until you went around that ultimate nook, and it slid off between the seat and the door.

Your mounting alternatives are twofold:

1. Something that plugs into your air vent. You’ll discover innumerable alternatives online; most promote for under $25. Upside: Most of them keep the cellphone with a magnet so that you don’t have to fear finding a cradle that’s the exact length of your phone. Downside: You have to position a thin magnet on the back of your smartphone, which might also ruin your cautiously managed accent aesthetics.

2. Something that suction-mounts on the sprint. The rate is set the same. Some have adjustable brackets; however, once more, magnets are easiest. The upside is similar to the air-vent clip. Downside: Something sticking up for your dash may be distracting. But now you could dispose of the dashboard statue, the consumer saint of lost objects, because you now not will lose your cellphone on every occasion you move around a corner.

Note: Magnets aren’t usually blanketed with those kits, so check the particulars. You can get them organized cheap — usually a buck a throw — on Amazon. Now that you have an area to position your telephone where you can see it, you need to discover a way to communicate with it. Again, there are alternatives. Well, three, if you encompass yelling at the phone, however clearly, too.

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Lucia Stokes
Pop culture buff. General organizer. Music evangelist. Reader. Award-winning twitter ninja. Devoted food advocate. Skateboarder, maker, fender owner, Swiss design-head and doodler. Operating at the junction of modernism and sustainability to save the world from bad design. I work with Fortune 500 companies and startups.