SGP was kind enough to send us their Aluminum Mobile Stand S10, and so we decided to be kind enough to review it! 

What we have here is a.... stand. For your phone. So your... err... phone can stand in it. SGP says it's for the iPhone 4 and Samsung Galaxy S II, so we'll take a look at it with an iPhone 4S. Do we like it? Look how cute it is! Of course we like it... mostly! See how much, after the break.

There may not be a huge amount to be said about phone stands. Some people love 'em, some people hate 'em. We here fall on the side of the stroking-our-chin crowd. We don't love 'em, we don't hate 'em. We just... acknowledge their usefulness to some people. And so it's with that mindset that we ripped into the smart (and slightly battered - thank you postal service) SGP box. 

Now we don't know what you guys think, but this is a sexy-looking stand if we ever saw one. The base is made of aluminum, looks strikingly-similar to an iMac stand, and the front hinged section is made of a more-comforting polycarbonate for your phone to sit on and not get scratched to pieces. The stand itself sits on four rubber feet, so it won't hurt your desk. It's very smart, that's for sure. The model we received is the Smoke S10, but it's available in several different colors, so choose carefully! The color denotation refers only to the upper section which holds your phone.

Here's a momentarily-naked iPhone 4S sitting on the stand. And it's right here that we come across our first issue. You see, it's not completely stable; if you knock the stand with any reasonable amount of force, the phone falls out the side of the stand. We tried this once, and won't be trying it again. The phone makes an ugly smashing sound when it falls onto a glass table. Ouch! That said, if you just need somewhere to rest your phone, it's quite a conversation-starter. I mean, look at it! If you have a current-design iMac, this looks positively stunning next to it.

Of course it's much harder for the phone to slide out when in landscape mode!

BigHugeNerd Goes to Work:

We decided we could somehow fix this lack of stability, and set about doing just that. 15 seconds later, success! With one of our favorite iPhone 4S cases, the Speck Pixelskin HD, you can seat the iPhone 4/4S into the little polycarbonate "claws" at the front of the Aluminum Stand. The claws wrap around the rubber of the case in either landscape or portrait orientation, and hold it tight. It's like a docking station now! You can even pick up the whole stand from the iPhone itself; the phone doesn't come loose. Awesome!

Using the Apple iPhone 4S in the SGP Aluminum Mobile Stand S10 with the Speck Pixelskin HD (Ohhhh product names!) is a total joy. Gone is the complete wobbliness of the iPhone in its grasp. Instead, you have a very stable setup for your desk. Of course you lose the aesthetics of the iPhone by protecting it, but hey - your phone is pretty sensitive to drops and scrapes, so best protect it, right?

So What's to Like?

Simple, classy, smart, solidly-weighted, rubber feet, pleasant polycarbonate, and a suitably stiff hinge with a huge range of rotation.

So What's Not to Like?

We wish the phone-holding part were made of rubber to hold the phone more solidly. It's not a deal killer, but it's certainly taints the deal a great.... deal. But we... dealt with it. If you have a different case in a similar vein to the SGP Pixelskin HD, you may want to try that!

Verdict

We really, really like this stand. However, without our little in-house "fix," it scared us a little too much to use on a regular basis, especially since we're from the occasionally-clumsy genetic pool. We realize everyone has a different tolerance (and clumsiness level), so depending on how you rate yourself you would either love this stand or hate it. With a compatible case on, it's a no-brainer, - highly recommended. As a standalone product? Sort-of recommended...

We award the SGP Aluminum Mobile Stand S10 a pleasing three and a half nerds. (If you have a case that works as well with the stand as the Speck Pixelskin HD, it's an easy four and a half nerds recommendation!)