Just Mobile’s AluCup ($30) is just what we’d expect from the company; the name says it all, really. Aluminum body? Check. Cup-shaped design? Check. Designed to hold iPads as well, we find it to be best suited for iPhones and iPod touches. The precision-cut aluminum tube is fitted with a silicone rubber insert in your choice of black, yellow, red, or blue; a pad of the same material pokes through the bottom to prevent the stand from slipping.
AluCup is a truncated cylinder, ranging from about an inch tall at the front to two and a quarter at its highest point.
Not surprisingly, the aluminum is beautifully machined and completely smooth, coming in a natural silver color. The rubber insert can come out if you force it, but is clearly designed to stay securely in place under normal use. If you’re using an iPhone or iPod, you can simply place it in the cup. It rests at a little higher than 50° off your desk. Alternatively, you can rest your mobile device on top of AluCup.
Thanks to the silicone, it won’t slip, and you can use either portrait or landscape orientation. Surprisingly, it’s secure enough for typing on an iPad or iPad mini, and it’s at a nice angle too. Slits through the aluminum and silicone provide a wall to manage cables.
There’s really not much more with this one. It’s an elegant solution, but a simple one.
