If you're often reaching for your smartphone to take pictures, a pocket-sized tripod is a pretty cool accessory to have. The Kenu Stance ($29.95) is among the smaller ones I've seen, and it has a compact ball head that allows for some adjustment in position. With it, you'll be able to set up your phone to stand on its own to take group shots, or to simply steady it for capturing an image with a long shutter speed. But the Stance's mounting method—it plugs into your phone's data port—is troubling. There's no reason to put added stress on the only port you've got to charge your expensive device.

The Stance ( at Amazon)  is really small. When folded it's around three inches wide, or about the width of an iPhone 6 Plus ($299.00 at Verizon Wireless) . Without a phone, it weighs just 1.2 ounces. Its center leg has a ball head with a mount connector—an orange Lightning plug for iPhones or a green micro USB plug for Android devices—and its other two legs swing out so it can sit sturdily on a flat surface. You'll mount your phone in portrait orientation in this position, assuming that your data port is on the bottom of the device. The ball head twists up so you can keep your phone perfectly upright for level shots. If you're the type of person to enjoy an adult beverage from time to time, you'll be excited to know that one of the legs also doubles as a bottle opener.

The Stance is a pretty flexible device as far as positioning your phone goes when shooting in portrait orientation, but it's disappointing when used in landscape orientation. It acts more like a kickstand than a tripod here; the legs stay folded together and sit behind the phone at an angle. You can never get the phone to sit perfectly upright with this method, which leads to capturing footage at a slight tilt.

The awkwardness of using the Stance in landscape mode may lead users to shoot video in portrait orientation. That's fine if you're going to view it on another phone, but if you've ever seen a news broadcast using cell phone footage that looks very, very narrow on your HDTV, you know that it's always a better choice to shoot video in landscape.

Kenu states that the mount is nonconductive, but just because it won't short out a data port doesn't mean that the stresses put on the port by supporting the weight of your phone won't damage it. It's too much of a risk to take for an expensive device.

The Kenu Stance is a unique spin on the smartphone tripod. It's very compact, so it's easy enough to take with you wherever you go. But I'm not a fan of its mounting method, and it doesn't work well in landscape orientation. If you want a tripod that works with your smartphone, consider the Joby GripTight Gorillapod ($29.95) instead. It's the same price, uses a simple clip to secure your phone, and allows you to shoot in portrait or landscape without issue. You just can't use it to pop the cap off of your favorite IPA.

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