World of Apple

The PED3 Stand

I love nifty little beautiful contraptions. One day while browsing through my RSS feeds on Apple-related subjects, I came across a picture of an iPod Touch/iPhone holder that I absolutely fell in love with: the PED3 by ThoughtOut.biz. The price wasn’t chump change at $39.99, but let’s face it; I had just spent $400 on my Touch, so I really wasn’t balking at the price tag. As soon as I had some splurge money, I purchased this elegant product and have been enjoying it ever since. I had always hated simply placing my Touch flat on the desk, and I had the further problem of “losing” my Touch as it blended in way too perfectly with the black galaxy granite!

So what precisely does the PED3 do? It is a rotating desktop stand for the above-mentioned products. I do not own an iPhone (not for lack of desire I assure you), so my review is based solely on my experiences with my iPod Touch. Also, please note that the stand is specific to the devices; the Touch PED3 has different dimensions than the iPhone PED3. The construction is solid steel with glossy black baked-on enamel and rubber grips that allow access to headphone jack, charging port, and on/off button as well as preventing the holder from scratching your device. The 360 degree rotation feature works flawlessly, allowing the Touch to be viewed in both vertical and landscape modes. Its base design follows the streamlined look of a cinema display with a similar back cut-out to allow cord passage. In short, it turns your device into a showpiece with its own special home.

What could make this product better? Nothing that wouldn’t increase its price, but one possible improvement for a higher price point would be integrate the charging cable into the design so that it would be a complete charging station and holder. Would I have paid more for such a feature? I don’t know that I would as I am having no issue with simply using the charging cable that comes with the Touch, though I do find the white cable to be a distraction from the sleek black look even though it is an Apple distinctive. I had also thought at times that I would like to have a few different viewing height options, but that was beyond the purpose of this stand, which does have two different viewing angles.

The NAJA King Stand

Since this item has been a fixture on my desktop since my purchase last year, I knew I had to make it one of my first reviews here on World of Apple. In preparation to write the review, I went to the Thought Out site to see what promotional material and images were available, and to my delight, another product in this line was available which scratched one place that I had itched. The NAJA King provides, in a funky-fresh modern design, a stand with a completely flexible viewing height and position. I had long since been entertaining the idea of purchasing another PED3 for my work desktop but had a problem with having two of the exact same luxury item. At the same $39.99 price point, the NAJA King solved this dilemma, giving me sufficient excuse to contemplate another purchase. However, the vendor kindly provided me with a NAJA King, which I feel important to note for full disclosure in this review (and I will always state when the product I am reviewing was provided to me gratis from a vendor or developer.)

I am just as pleased with the NAJA King as I am with my original PED3. It actually suits my purposes at home better with its variable height capability, and my PED3 is much more suitable for my work desk. I note that Thought Out also offers a spare “coil” for sale at $22.99 which I am considering so that I may move my Touch while affixed to the holder to various set-ups throughout my home.

The NAJA King has the same holder construction as the PED3 but instead of a fixed metal stand, it attaches to a flexible and surprisingly sturdy “snake” 3-foot coil stand. Thus it can be twisted and molded to multiple viewing angles, positions, and heights making it perfect for placement in odd or awkward places. Also, the flexible coil allows it to be flattened for easier travel use which was one drawback of the PED3 for some, though not me.

The NAJA coiled

In addition to the high-quality promotional images provided by the vendor, here are some real-life pictures from both my home and work set-ups.

My PED3 at work

My NAJA at home

NAJA on the roll!

Each user will have a different vision of how to utilize this product with their iPhone or iPod Touch, but I tend to use it to allow my Touch to act as a second mini-monitor running iTunes on a little screen to the side for my constant viewing of album art or videos while surfing or working. In my research for this review, I have read of some pretty unusual uses by some persons including suspension from the rear-view mirror of their car in addition to this interesting image from Thought Out’s Flickr gallery!

Thought Out has holders available for other iPod lines as well, so if this kind of product intrigues you as it did me, please go and visit their site to view the full product line. The proprietor, Mike Talmadge, is a great guy to work with. And for those who are curious, I had read that “NAJA” means “cobra.”