Kickstarter spotlight: tablift
Having covered Kickstarter intensively for quite a while now, there are certain typical things I see project creators do that drive me nuts. Staring out to the side of the camera to give the impression that you’re being interviewed is one of them, and pretending that similar products don’t exist is another. The tablift project on Kickstarter now is thus a breath of fresh air, in that the demo video actually explains why it’s better than the competition, instead of just pretending there is no competition.
So what is it? The tablift is basically an iPad stand, breakfast in bed table, and a Gorillpad combined into a single unit. It has four bendable legs, which means it can stand firmly on uneven surfaces, and these legs also elevate the center piece of the stand to above your legs or anything else you might place it over. The center piece has several slots to put your iPad in (any generation), and a strap grabs onto the other end of the iPad to hold it in place. All put together, it’s a stand that gives you hands free operation on the couch, in bed, and other places, without being as specialized for a single use as many other stands.
The project creator claims there’s nothing quite like it, and I tend to agree. Both tabletop stands, pillow-like stands and flexible arm mounts have limitations in areas they’re not designed to work in. I wouldn’t go as far as saying that the tablift fits all situations either, but I have to say that of all the solutions I’ve seen for holding an iPad when you’re on “relaxing furniture” this is the one that I’d prefer to have myself.
The price won’t break the bank either, at least not while it’s on Kickstarter. $60 gets you a tablift that will retail for $80-90, and if you’re not in the US, $25 is what you have to pay for shipping on this somewhat large item. It’s designed for the iPad, but will fit lots of other tablets as well, simply due to how similar tablets tend to be for each other.
[Kickstarter]
