Newisland Selfie Stick

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Pros Sturdy twist-and-lock arm. Includes rearview mirror for high-res shots. Solid, versatile hinge. Can mount other camera devices.

Cons Pricey. Not the longest stick available. Bottom Line Thanks to a secure device clamp and a rearview mirror for high-res photos, the Newisland is the ultimate selfie stick.

By Antonio Villas-Boas

The Newisland Selfie Stick ($39.99) pretty much has it all. It works well, features a sturdy extendable arm, and includes a rearview mirror for when you'd rather use your phone's higher-resolution rear-facing camera. It easily stands apart from the competition, making it worthy of our Editors' Choice award. 

The Newisland stick is adjustable up to a relatively short 31 inches from the base of its wide rubber handle to the plastic ball tip hinge at the tip of its aluminum alloy arm. It measures just over 11 by 1.45 inches (LW) when it's reduced to its shortest form, which is narrower than selfie sticks that use cradles to hold your smartphone rather than clamps. I prefer the twist-and-lock-style arm here over traditional telescopic arms, as it gives the stick a sturdier feel.

The clamp attached to the ball tip hinge securely fit our test Apple iPhone 6 Plus. Since the clamp attaches via a standard screw mount, you can fit other cameras with screw adapters as well. The hinge lets you swivel the clamp up and down to 180 desgrees, and is tightened into position with a thumb screw. It's the most secure hinge I've tested that also allows 360-degree rotation of the clamp.

A plastic rearview mirror included with the Newisland can be attached to the side of the clamp to act as a viewfinder if you want to use your phone's sharper rear-facing camera. It only gives you a general idea of the image you will capture, but it's a great feature for stepping up the quality of your selfie game.

The Newisland doesn't use Bluetooth to activate your phone's shutter, which means it doesn't have a battery that needs charging. A short, coiled cable with a 3.5mm connector protrudes from the tip of the arm. When you plug the connector into your smartphone's 3.5mm audio port, it will recognize the stick's shutter button as a Volume Up control, which is the default physical shutter button on iOS devices.

You may need to select what you want the button to do on certain Android devices. With the HTC One M9, for example, a box appeared when I first pressed the shutter button with options for increasing volume, zooming in, or taking a picture. On the Samsung Galaxy S6, however, it was automatically set to take a picture. The Newisland can reliably take selfies as quickly as you can press the shutter button.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get the Newisland to work with the Nokia Lumia Icon running Windows Phone 8.1, as it would only increase the phone's volume. There's no apparent way to change the shutter button settings in Windows Phone, so it looks like Microsoft devices are out.

All in all, the Newisland is an excellent selfie stick. It's not the longest one I've reviewed, but its sturdy construction, solid hinge, and rearview mirror set it apart among the endless sea of variations. The $40 price tag is a little high, but you can find it for much less online, making it the best bang for your buck. If you'd rather use Bluetooth to snap selfies, the Urpower stick is your best alternative, as it also includes a rearview mirror and a secure phone cradle.

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