All in good standing
Is there anything outstanding about this stand? Is there something about this that will make your hair stand on end? Will this thing stand the test of time? To know where I stand on this, stand by as I stand and deliver yet another review that will make your heart stand still (I guess that’s enough puns for one review).
The USP of this product is the ability to set the stand at various angles which allows for various means to view the screen and interact with the devices that utilise the stand. The typical use case would involve tablets of various sizes that weigh just enough to test the muscular strength of your arms, should you decide to watch a movie on it. I have mainly used it with my Dell Venue 11 Pro when watching movies or using it as a PC along with a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. In those cases, it works really well, admittedly even better than a laptop with its protruding keyboard for you can set the screen in close proximity to your face and arrange the viewing angle for greater visibility. The stand supports the portrait mode equally well which I primarily use with my iPad when reading magazines. Never once does it give the impression of tipping over which is essentially what you need the most of a stand.
Coming to the build, the stand seems to be made of a combination of aluminium with rubber linings. I wouldn’t say the build quality is top of the line for the hinge is not very confidence inspiring in terms of perceived durability, but is quite smooth. The angle is set by pressing a button on the left side, the release of which sets the lock. It works great most of the time but for the occasional instance where the button gets stuck and needs to be cajoled out by pressing it again.
I think the best aspect of the design is the thoughtful layering of rubber at critical positions. The floor of the holding section as well as the pivoting support bear rubber straps that ensure that you won’t scratch the surface you set the stand on. Rubber nubs at the shoulder and a (removable) rubber lining running along the inside of the device holding section ensure that the back and the bottom of the device won’t get scratched as well. The face of the stand bears a cut-out at the bottom for interaction with the home button of the device and it works well for me with the iPad as well as the Windows tablet.
To surmise, the Anker multi-angle stand can be said to be a product built for a purpose which it fulfils really well. There are some doubts on the durability, but at this point of time, there is nothing much to complain about. The official distributor for Anker products in India (Yugadi) doesn’t stock this product, so it comes down to buying from sellers that import the product from US which significantly raises its price. For the design and utility, this product deserves 4.5/5 stars but for the fact that its priced quite high in India, it comes down to 4/5.
