When it comes to accessories, I review a lot of them, some I will keep using, others I will stash in a drawer for specific moments, and others I will give away to friends and family. Just rarely, do I come across an accessory that, from the unboxing moment until the first use and throughout continuous usage, gives me the “I LOVE IT” effect. It probably happened with my Sennheiser CX-500 earphones only. Now I have another one to add to that category: the Clingo Universal Podium, sent for review by the awesome folks at MobileFun.co.uk .
As I was unboxing the Universal Podium, I didn’t expect it to be this well built. I was assuming it will have plastics, not metal, and an average build quality. Imagine my shock when I noticed how heavy the box was, and upon opening it, saw the Podium inside, tied around, looking all sexy in dark black steel, I kid you not. Steel. On an accessory. And the light green sticky pad just adds to the effect. It’s ridiculous how great it looks.
Now let’s tour this Podium, shall we? The base is a curved one piece of black steel that, thanks to its weight and sturdiness, won’t fall over no matter in what position you place your gadget.
The lower side of the base has a dark patch of non-slip coating that will let the Podium stand firmly in place on any office desk or bed-side table, or basically any hard surface.
On top of the base, is a ball and socket system that helps fix and rotate the main phone holder part of the stand.
The back of the latter has a Clingo.com engraving on each side, with a “Patent Pending” notification.
The holder has a large green pad with Clingo’s own self adhesive technology and this is where all the magic happens. Just press your mobile device into it and it will stay there, not falling, not peeling off, nothing. When you need your phone back, peel it off, and it will be removed in a fraction of a second, with no residue whatsoever left on its back. How they manage to pull off an adhesive material that doesn’t stick is beyond me, but it works wonderfully well. However, you will have to clean it every now and then, as dust reduces its stickiness. A simple wipe with a damp piece of cotton brings it back to its original state.
Thanks to the ball and socket system, you can actually fix your mobile device to it and rotate it in 360 degrees. The pad also rotates about 90 degrees, so you can easily have the screen facing you whether you’re on the same eye level, below it a bit, or looking down on it from above. Below are a few shots portraying various angles with my iPod Touch.
Also thanks to the lack of boundaries, you can virtually fix any mobile device on it, be it an iPod Touch, iPod Nano, Nexus One, various Nokia models… From the smallest of all phones to the biggest of them all, they will all fit nicely on the Universal Podium.
Another main advantage is that you can use sliding QWERTY devices while keeping them on the stand, in landscape mode, without them tumbling over.
I have a small Ikea table that I use as my desk, and the Clingo Universal Podium fits the bill in terms of size and ease of use. The clean design, the somehow athletic shape, the robust steel, the universal fit and the simple press and peal system to attach gadgets, make this a perfect offer. Needless to say, I am in awe and from now on, it will be the standard against which I will measure any desk stand I get for review.
The Clingo Universal Podium is available from MobileFun for £19.95 (about 32$) and although that might seem a bit steep for a desk stand, I can’t praise it enough as it is universal so you won’t need to buy another one when you get a new mobile phone, no matter what size or design that one will be. I originally looked at the Universal Podium as a solution to view videos and web browse on my iPod Touch and I find it perfect for that, but if you want to look at other options, MobileFun also offer a lot of different iPod Touch 4G Desk Stands and iPhone 4 Desk Stands.