Last year we covered the elegant and beautiful Joule from Element Case. A beautiful iPad stand, and so simple it its design. This year Element Case is back with a revamped Joule, a redesigned stand for the iPad 2.
6 Sporty i-Colors
It’s called Joule Chroma, and this year it comes in 6 apple flavored colors. It also sports a vent for your iPad 2′s audio output, which they claim ‘amplifies’ the sound. I’m more inclined to think of this as a small breathing hole for your iPad 2′s speakers – I wouldn’t say it amplifies, but it suffocates it a little less than some other stands… The vent for audio also breaks the pure minimalist lines of the original Joule.
In spite of our criticisms, it’s still a pretty snazzy number, but in our opinion the $150 price tag is a bit steep for this type of accessory, and although the new colors will appeal to some, we feel it looks more sporty now, and a little less elegant.
If you want to get one of these iPad 2 stands, head on over to the Element Case store.
Los Angeles based designer William Tang is trying to drum up funding for his birch and leather iPad 2 stand. It’s a folding V-shaped wooden stand that can be used to present your iPad in either portrait or landscape.
Hinge also has a hinge mechanism (surprise, surprise) that enables it to fold shut. When folded it is so small you can easily fit it in your pocket. Nifty.
William Tang is currently trying to raise enough capital to get his stand design into production. If you are interested you can pledge anything from $1 upwards to get his iPad 2 stand project rolling.
Tang says:
Elegant Simplicity: From the start, simplicity was my priority. I didn’t want a bulky case that held the iPad at limited angles and only landscape mode. I also didn’t want a stand that was too big to travel with or had too many moving parts.
iPad family portrait
Hinge for iPad is designed simply: a hinge and two arms. The arms hug the edge of the bare iPad (they won’t scratch the glass or aluminum body) and adjust to multiple angles, including landscape and portrait mode. Hinge is light and compact, folding neatly to fit in your pocket or bag.
The Stabile iPad Stand is a beautiful and elegant way to use your iPad when your hands are busy doing other things. It’s also a stylish way to display your iPad as a designer object around the home or office. You could set it up with a slideshow of images for example and seat it on your dresser. And it is also complimented very nicely by the Apple iPad wireless keyboard, as seen in the image to the right.
If you want to grab a Stabile iPad stand right now then the lowest price we could find was on Amazon, If you’re not convinced yet then read on for our review of the Stabile.
One of the things that is so cool about the Apple iPad is that browsing the web on the touch screen really feels like you hold the internet in your hand. However, if you could only ask your hand what it thinks about that, you might get a not so positive answer. Again, if you want to use the virtual keyboard, you may find it rather difficult to type while holding your iPad. There are lots of other situations in which an accessory like a stand or a holder is required to get the most out of your iPad. Think how nice it would be if you could have those cool recipes websites just under your nose while you cook.
While there are iPad cases that can also be used as a stand, we found some of them being quite unstable and wobbly, thus exposing the iPad to the risk of falling when you less expect it. Even the Apple iPad dock feels a bit insecure, because it’s lightweight and small, therefore the center of gravity of the iPad-dock assembly is too high to be safe. Such small accessories are excellent for travels or business meetings, but when using the iPad at home there are much better solutions. One of these solutions is the Stabile iPad stand. Made from a single sheet of solid American steel, this stand weighs 2.5 times the weight of an iPad. Its center of gravity is low enough to secure a very good stability, very hard to find in common docks, stands or holders.
Stabile iPad Stand - Alternate Views
Although solid, the Stabile iPad stand has an artistic shape, featuring elegant rounded edges and curves. If you don’t know it, you won’t guess the stand weighs almost 4 lbs. The functional aspect has also been thoroughly considered. The stand features anti slip and non-skid polyurethane feet, high-quality protective Santoprene padding for all areas where it gets in contact with the iPad. All these features, as well as the split back cable management solution are usual characteristics of all such products from Thought Out, a reputable manufacturer of innovative stand holders for various personal electronics products such as iPhone, iPod or GPS.
Small View - iPad Stand
The Stabile iPad stand allows using the iPad in either landscape or portrait view, with or without a protection case. It provides free access to all ports, so you can use your iPad with any other accessories you need, without any problem. The viewing angle is preset at 55 degrees. This could be perceived as a small drawback, however that particular angle has been proven to be optimal in combination with the stand height of 3.6” from desk to bottom of the iPad. The stand is available in two finish variants, silver and low texture black. Both of them look awesome, so you can choose the one that suits best your personal preference or your interior decoration style.
You can buy this iPad stand from Amazon. The black model is $49.99 and the silver one is $69.99, an elegant and functional addition to your home or office.
I found an indispensable gadget last week that I’m now using every day – not just with my iPad, but for books too. I carry it everywhere with me as it folds away to almost nothing – it’s called the BookGem and it’s a beautifully designed stand for your iPad, book, or anything else you may be reading.
BookGem - iPad Stand
If you are like me, you enjoy taking advantage of highly specialized gadgets like the Kindle or iPad that other people regard as almost useless.
“Why use the Amazon Kindle when you can read e-books on your good old laptop? Why get an iPad, when it lacks basic functions you’ve been used to since so long ago? A netbook is only a bit bigger and it’s a complete computer, isn’t it?”
Yet, Kindle is one of Amazon’s best sellers, as well as Apple iPod Touch, with more than 230 days in the top 100 Electronics products. The demand for the recently launched Apple iPad exceeded all expectations, market analysts estimating a production rate of more than 2.5 million units per month by the end of this year. These figures show that I’m not the only one who enjoys specialization when it comes to such gadgets.
The only minor inconvenience I see in surrounding yourself with so many hi-tech devices is that you end up by having a lot of additional accessories such as chargers, cables, adapters, docks, cases and so on. This is why I’m happy each and every time I discover an accessory that can be shared by multiple gadgets. BookGem is one of these. Initially designed as book holder, the BookGem works perfectly as a stand for iPad, Kindle or Nook. It’s very simple and easy to use, it folds up amazingly small but it’s very effective and versatile. The spring loaded clips on the front side hold the iPad securely. The clips have nice, soft rubber tips, so the iPad is 100% protected against accidental scratches. The rear support legs flip open and snap into position, thus creating a solid support base for the iPad. Being made from indestructible ABS plastic, the BookGem is strong enough to hold the weight of an iPad without problems. If we only think that it was designed to hold much heavier books, we understand there’s no reason to worry.
Check out the intro video:
Depending on your needs, there are two ways in which you can use this iPad stand. By positioning the BookGem on the bottom edge of the iPad, you can obtain a more upright viewing angle, suitable for reading. Should you be willing to do some work that requires using the virtual keyboard, all you need to do is to clip the BookGem on the top edge of the iPad in order to obtain the lower angle, optimal for typing. The iPad can be positioned as you wish, in either portrait or landscape view.
If you want to use the BookGem but you already have your iPad in a case, you don’t need to remove it. The spring clips can hold variable thickness items, as they were designed to hold books with variable amounts of pages.
The BookGem is available on Amazon. If you hurry, you can still benefit from the current special promotion: buy three and get the fourth one free.
The Joule iPad stand from Element Case is a beautiful work of art in itself. Its unique design, its high-quality materials, its exquisite finishes are attributes that make it worthy of any interior design setting, no matter how stylish and expensive it may be.
The base cylinder of the stand, though slim and elegant, is heavy enough to provide solid support for the iPad. It features a soft velvet lining inside, so that it won’t harm your iPad in any way. The base has a nicely rounded cutout in the middle, enabling access to the iPad’s Home button. The Joule is CNC machined from solid aluminum, with three variants of finish: brilliant polished aluminum (available at $129), black anodized coating and anodized silver coating (available at $139). Per customer request, the stand can be engraved with a custom logo, thus making it an excellent present or corporate gift.
The Joule iPad stand uses a very simple support system that allows three preset viewing angles. To change the angle, all you need to do is take the magnetically attached support rod out of its current hole and put it into another one that corresponds to the new angle you want. The stand is designed for either portrait or landscape viewing position and it holds the iPad snugly, so it doesn’t move, even while you type on the screen. This is nice, but it also means that you can’t use the iPad in a case with your Joule stand. An iPad skin would be fine and would add the necessary scratch protection while using your iPad mounted in the Joule stand. Anyway, it’s obvious that the Joule was intended to be used with a naked iPad, because it complements Apple’s traditional finish in a brilliant way.
We absolutely love this iPad stand. You can get yours from Element Case.
The iPad is so cool! We can now say goodbye to all those uncomfortable positions we experienced trying to use the laptop while laying in bed on those lazy afternoons. The iPad is so slim that you can hold it in your hand, as if reading a book.
But wait! If using the iPad is just like reading a book, that’s not the most comfortable activity to do in bed either. My hands get tired, my shoulders and elbows get sore propping myself up. If you read in bed I’m sure you have had similar experiences.
But now, the good news: lazy readers, just like you and I, have come together on Quirky to help design a new product meant to improve their lives, and ours.
the "Cradle" iPad Lap Desk
Out of the Quirky passion for comfort and innovation, the new Cradle has been born, an “iPad lap desk with a twist”.
As their headline shows, the Cradle is a lightweight and portable lap desk specifically designed to hold your iPad and to enable you to use it in bed, or while sitting comfortably on your couch. The Cradle iPad desk is currently in pre-production but will be made from Plyboo bamboo plywood, a stylish and natural, rapidly renewable resource which can help us save trees that take generations to grow. So, if going green is one of your concerns, then the Cradle deserves a top place on your iPad accessories wish list.
The Quirky Cradle allows using your iPad in either landscape or portrait mode, thanks to an integrated circular rotating plate that holds the iPad on the desk. One of the most interesting comfort features of the Cradle is the foam cushion with woven covering beneath the plywood desk. This is the part which comes in contact with your lap, offering extra comfort and preventing the desk from slipping away.
Using the iPad with the Cradle lap desk looks like having breakfast in bed, served on one of those special tables. Quirky will serve it to us. We get to feel spoiled, and I’m sure everyone loves that.
If you’re interested in getting your own Cradle, check out the Quirky website now. You’ll need to hurry as there are only 857 Cradles available for pre-sale at the very reasonable price of $52.50 each.
