Tablets are all the rage these days. If you don’t have one, someone you know certainly does. At my house we didn’t until I recently purchased an iPad 2 for my wife. Now a lot of the cases we see fold back and will help prop the screen up slightly, but really that just works for a landscape view. A dedicated stand would be a bit more flexible here. Cooler Master has a product meant to address that issue. Enter the Cooler Master Wave Stand.
Product Name: Wave Stand
Review Sample Provided by: Cooler Master
Review by: Jakob Barnard
Pictures by: Jakob Barnard
Features:
- Foldable universal tablet stand
- Slim size for convenient carry
- Support table PC in landscape and portrait orientation
- Premium aluminum fits your tablet in style
- Compatible with iPad, iPad2, Xoom, Flyer, and most tablet PCs
Specifications:
- Model C-IP0S-ALWV-SK
- Material Aluminum and rubber
- Dimension 148x100x32 mm / 5.8x3.9x1.3 inch
- Weight 336g / 11.6 Oz
- Color Silver
- Warranty 2 years
- UPC Code 884102013508
Packaging
The packaging sports the Choiix logo, which is Cooler Masters accessory brand. It sports a picture of the stand holding an iPad and features the white and orange motif. The back literally shows a rearward picture of the stand, which gives you a little better idea of how it works. There is a front flap that opens up to allow you to see the stand in its collapsed form.
Unboxed
Taking the stand out of the box it is clear Choiix went for simplicity here. Even the contents are simple – only containing the stand and a basic information sheet. With the design they were trying to echo the aluminum look of the iPad and pulled it off well. The rubber pads feel “grippy” enough to hold the stand in place on a countertop and also keep a device in place. While it is targeted at the iPad crowed, this would certainly work for any tablet sort of device.
The stand is simple with the middle section folding up to the desired height. Depending on what orientation you are putting the tablet or what angle you want to view it at, you simply fold to that point and leave it.
Usage
The stand actually does a good job at staying where it is set. I used it over the course of a couple of weeks and didn’t notice any shifting when I had the iPad on it for periods of time. I got my wife an app for her iPad to store cooking recipes on it, and had her try using it there. She found it easy to use and when collapsed, small enough to throw in a kitchen drawer.
Overall
Its simplicity is what sells this as a tablet stand solution. It works, isn’t overpriced, and the styling is attractive. The kitchen scenario is likely where it will continue to be used in my house. For mobile use the folding case should be sufficient, though this stand is compact enough that it could be thrown in a bag if you watch movies on the go. There are of course other stands out there on the marked, some even under the $40 price tag, but with the attractive design, variable angles that stay put, I quite simply like this stand.