After having released SpeakerClock, a speech countdown clock, I got a couple of suggestions, one was not about the app itself, but about how you could stand the iphone on it’s side.
Kevin Jamison: “Now we just need to come up with a simple little stand similar to the iPod Touch uses to hold it in a tilted landscape mode. Maybe rubber coated feet so it won’t slide if you are using a podium.”
I remembered that every once in a while the blogosphere brought to light yet another clever way of solving such problems. A quick search on Google and YouTube yielded a couple of great solutions. Some that you can purchase , same that you can make yourself at little to no cost.
First let’s look at the professional solutions which typically cost between $5 and $10. After we’ve set the benchmark we’ll explore how we can achieve landscape stability ourselves. Building something useful out of physical things might be a welcome distraction from hours of coding Cocoa. 🙂
Professional Stands
MovieWedge
from MovieWedge.com
Crabble
from Seskimo:
The Crabble is the only wallet-sized stand to offer an easily and continuously adjustable landscape viewing angle, ranging from 45 to 90 degrees, and, with its rubber claws, it is the only wallet-sized stand to give you that grip.
GoGoStand
from GoGoStand:
The GoGoStand is a plastic folding stand that you can tuck away in your wallet for quick access whenever you need to prop up your phone or gadget. This stand was designed for all generations of iPhones and iPod Touches, but also works with many other phones including the Android G1, Droid, Palm Pre and more.
Travel Stand
from Griffin Technology:
Travel Stand flips open to safely hold your iPhone or iPod touch in landscape mode for comfortable, hands-free viewing of your movies, videos, music, photos and more. When the show’s over, wind your earphones around the included cord wrap and flip the Travel Stand closed. Compact enough to slip into your pocket, Travel Stand is the perfect blend of stand and storage.
Do it Yourself
Paperclip
Mini-DV Tape Box
LEGOs
The maker made the building instructions available at my request.
Paper
$100 Bill
Same folding technique as the paper version, by Enrique Pardo.
Laser-Cut Acrylic
Make Magazine has the guide, all you need is access to a laser cutter…
Credit Card
All you need are a pair of scissors, some tape and an expired credit card. By Rod Porterfield.
Cardboard Sleeve
A cup sleeve that you would get free with coffee at – say – a Starbucks.
Paper Cup
A dixie cup with optional cancer society rubber wristband for additional grip.
Business Card
By far the easiest, most spontaneous possibility, no tools required.
Conclusion
Having reviewed quite a few ideas that other people had for either sellable products or DIY options I think that I would go for a solution that I could carry amongst my credit cards. There the GoGoStand looks to me the best professional solution even though the media is hyping the MovieWedge. But I don’t see that fitting into my wallet.
Amongst the DIY it depends if you have time and tools at hand. The variant that has the most likelyhood of being portable is one using nothing but a business card. You don’t need any tools for it and the folding necessary is easier to remember than for the bill or paper versions.
Please comment below what you’re using or if you found a version that I have not covered.
Categories: Projects
