Okay Geek Farm
Bluelounge Milo review
Jason Tsay
Bluelounge is probably one of our favorite companies when it comes to cool accessories. While they’re not necessarily made specifically for Apple products, they work best with them and have a similar design purpose: to make something as simple and functional as possible. Today, we’ll be taking a look at the Bluelounge Milo stand that uses a suction cup to hold your device upright.
Features
- It is perfect for hands-free movie viewing, video conferences, or just as a convenient home base.
- It works in both landscape or portrait modes and works great with almost any smooth surface.
- Works with any cellphone or MP3 player
Our Impressions
The Milo comes in a white cardboard box without just a quick instruction card in the box.
The first thing we noticed about the Milo was how light it felt. The entire thing is made of plastic and as a result, it is really light and doesn’t feel particularly premium. Don’t get us wrong, the plastic is quite sturdy but we would have preferred something like aluminum rather than glossy plastic. A Bluelounge logo is embossed on the rear of the stand while the suction surface and bottom strip are accented black. An antislip pad ensures that the stand won’t slide around while you’re watching a video.
Does the suction cup idea work? Yes, but there are some drawbacks. If your device has a glossy, flat back (like the iPhone 4), you really don’t have to worry about it falling off of the suction cup at all. You just give it a bit of pressure and you’re good to go for a long time. In fact, we tried to remove our device shortly after we attached it and needed to pry it off with a ruler. If your device has a non-suction friendly back, you’re going to have to resort to using the vertical orientation method by simply sitting it onto the stand. The bottom of the Milo has a subtle lip that allows this to be possible without your phone sliding off. We think it’s pretty cool how Bluelounge thought to make the Milo compatible with all devices in one way or another, rather than making it just for the iPhone 4 and other glossy backed devices. While the device is on the stand, you’re free to gesture all you want without having to worry about it falling off. Although the stand is made of hard plastic and thus non-adjustable, the angle it’s set at is pretty ergonomic. The drawback? You have to take a piece of tape and remove any dust from the suction cup to maintain it’s strength. It’s a minor annoyance but for the lazy, it’s a huge pain to have to clean something like a phone stand.
Overall
We like the Milo as a stand a lot. Although it’s made of plastic and the suction cup requires cleaning every once in a while, the Milo is a very well thought out product with support for more devices than just ones from Apple. It’s a very simple product and one that works great whether you use it for FaceTime-ing, watching a movie, or as an alarm clock stand.
Pro’s
- support for glossy backed devices and not
- very strong suction cup
- works with many cases
Con’s
- plastic construction
- need to clean suction cup ocassionally
Where to buy
Bluelounge — MSRP: $14.95
This review was done by Jason Tsay, who was provided the Milo by Bluelounge.
