I unboxed my iBeani at work just when one of the IT support guys were passing my desk. They wouldn’t believe the skull and crossbones I was holding up was, in anyway, a tablet stand. My partner thought it looked like a beanbag for a cat.
It’s easy to understand the confusion. I’ve a few tablet stands and they’re all carefully arranged strips of plastic. The iBeani is very different. It is a beanbag and I’m sure if we had a cat then I might well get sat on.
As odd a concept as the iBeani may be it works. Actually, the whole concept makes very good sense with just a little bit of thought.
The beanbag is firm enough that you can plonk a tablet on to it and the tablet will sit at the angle you want for easy ready. As a beanbag you can sit it on your lap, on the arm of the sofa, on the bed and pretty much anywhere.
One of the features I liked the most was that the iBeani works as a stand for tablets that are already in cases. My Nexus 7 is main ebook reader and it lives in its case. I didn’t need to pull it out of the case to save my hands from holding the tablet while I read. I just dropped it onto the beanbag as you can see in the photographs.
Another nice touch is that you can place the tablet landscape or vertical. It doesn’t matter.
I like the fact the iBeani has a hoop at the top for easy pick-up and, I imagine, I could hook it onto a door to keep it away from any pets. I also like it as a phone sized pocket.
It works with books, by the way. There’s enough grip to support a hardback and the beanbag is flexible enough that you can turn the pages of the book without dragging the paper.
The iBeani tablet stands come in a range of colours. I went for a pirate themed one but there are stylish art covers, patterns and single colours. I think they should look at anime designs and rock up at an MCM this year as I suspect they’d do well. Sadly, I suspect the license to do a Deathstar iBeani will be too expensive.
I’m rather fond of my iBeani already. I don’t think they’re widely known about and this will make them a great birthday gift idea.
My iBeani was provided for review.
