The Arkon fold-up stand for Apple iPad is a stand with a mission: that of letting you enjoy your iPad wherever you go, without leaving a foot print.
It’s a very ergonomic device and unfolded will fit in any bag or a little drawer, if you keep it at home. As the name says, it folds!, meaning that you can reduce its size when transporting it.
It just looks like a slim piece of plastic, really, which can fit in any crevasse you can find between a shirt and a pair of speakers. But the Arkon iPad stand shines, of course, when it’s unfolded and with an iPad on top of it. The screw on the back of the stand allows you to find the perfect viewing angle for what you’re doing: writing, reading, watching a movie, or just winking at the screen for a cooking tip.
You can move the mobile foot holding the tablet at any angle you want- there are many predefined viewing angles, not just two or four, like on many stands. The material used it’s plastic, but everything feels very solid and the mobile parts will hold for many twists and turns, without getting loose and just “slipping” away between two positions.
Small and safe, the stand fits any travel bag or a few inches in a drawer
The stand is very steady, even on non linear surfaces. If you place it on a pillow in front of you for reading or typing, the stand will hold and not fall over. Of course, there’s a limit to what it can take, so I wouldn’t place it on a jet ski or something :P. However, if you place it on a table, it will stay just fine and poking the tablet will not make it fall over.
The stand was built in mind with those wanting to use the iPad while they’re on a flight, but don’t want to put the tablet directly on the little foldable table. Also, most cases are not designed for such small spaces and will not fit comfortably on that. This stand, however, will fit perfectly with that space and will hold the tablet very steady, so you can write or play something.
This iPad light stand is good for both landscape or portrait mode, but you should know that in portrait mode the charging cable might not fit, because the base of the stand is too low. Of course, you can turn the tablet upside down and in landscape mode this will not be a problem.
works great in landscape mode as well
Also, you can hold the iPad in some sort of protective sleeve or something while keeping it on the stand, as the contact surface is large enough in order to accommodate the extra size. Even without a folio, the iPad will not be damaged, as the contact areas are covered in a very smooth rubber coating and will not hard your tablet in any way.
The same rubber coating is on the base, so the stand will be stable at all times, even on slippery surfaces. Hard to talk about design and looks with this one, but if we’re to put labels on it, it looks like some sort of a tripod. It’s simple and black, being a perfect solution both at home or in a meeting, where you shouldn’t really go with your Snoopy labeled case.
The stand can be used for other devices, not just the iPad. Many users on Amazon, where the Arkon fold-up stand for Apple iPad goes for just 13$, are saying that they use the stand with a bunch of devices, including a Viewsonic G-Tablet, Asus Transformer or the Motorola Xoom. Basically, any tablet will do just fine, as the design is not restricted to the iPad.
Update from Mike: This is actually the stand I’m using in all my video reviews, I have two of them and work just fine with any tablet, ebook reader or even smartphone out there. They even work with mini laptops if needed.
designed to fit on airplane mini tables
Overall, this is one of the best iPad stands I’ve seen in a while, considering it’s so little (folded, it’s as small as a pocket knife), so flexible (viewing angles come in hordes on this one, for any type of activity you might imagine for the tablet) and sturdy enough to keep it steady on any kind of surface.
