This has a lot of functionality! They've really thought of the many various ways we want to use this.I like that it comes with the phone holder that mounts on to the rotating ball joint. That way I can take selfies or just pics from the tripod (which is what I got this for). The phone holder has rubbery spots where it touches the phone (so it's soft on the phone), and lips that stick out just a bit to give you confidence the phone won't slip out. Because of the ball joint, it rotates in all the directions. The phone holder has the female part for the bolt to go into on both the long end of it as well as the back end of it (which helps you be able to position your phone at any angle). It also has a "shoe" section on it, to hold things that slide into camera shoe sections.When I pulled this from the package, I was unsure how to open it up. It was intuitive... but not quite. But the drawings on the sides of the package demonstrated that the legs do come out, and the top does telescope up. I would have liked actual directions though. The key thing to know is that the black plastic grippy ring below the gold ring needs to be unscrewed (turned several times in the direction of the unlock icon) and then you can open the tripod legs. Again, to keep the legs propped open, screw that ring in the direction of the lock button. The slide open and closed very nicely - feels like good quality. I think the rubber on the legs is so someone can step gently on it to keep it in place, or so you can put a rock or something on a leg to hold it in place (the rubber gives some grip for both that use, as well as using it as a selfie-stick).It telescopes very nicely, but it takes some effort. Since it doesn't just slide willy nilly, you don't have to worry about it slipping down or out - it stays in place nicely, wherever you telescope it to. It does telescope to the length it says (around 2 feet), so I understand why they say this is for a desk. It can sit on the desk all squatty, or it can telescope up up to 2'.I plan to take this in my car, to use as a phone tripod when I'm away from home. So I would love for it to telescope higher. But that's not what this does, and that's fine. I can use this on top of a picnic table if I need the camera to be at face-level.This is a little heavier than I'd prefer. But for what it is, what it does, and what it has... and especially the high quality of it all... it's really a good weight.I'm extremely happy with the quality and functionality of this, especially that I can use it with my phone!