Last month, I tried to squeeze thousands of displays at CES into just a couple days. That meant a lot of skimming past the same old stuff and stopping, occasionally, for the unique and noteworthy. Usually, it was some flashy thing with lasers that did the trick, but in one instance, it was the genius of simplicity. When I saw Danny and Lazy-Hands, I stopped for a closer look.
The Lazy-Hands Idea
The funny thing is that Lazy-Hands isn’t an entirely new idea. I’ve seen several iPad cases that have a strap of some sort built in, but they were all cases and that was their selling point, the strap. What about the other features of other cases out there like screen protection and bluetooth keyboards? What if I want the strap without the case? What if I don’t have one of the top-selling devices people always make accessories for? Lazy-Hands stepped back from all the over-engineering (and the extra cost that comes with it) and offered up a simple and affordable solution with minimal materials and an easy design. Watch the quick video to see what I mean.
iPad Results
I have an iPad 2 and it’s certainly portable, but you notice the weight after holding it for an hour. I ride in a van-pool to the office five days a week and often use the commute to catch up on my reading. Lazy-Hands Grip for Tablets was made for this. When Danny said he’d send out samples, I was sure this would be a game-changer for me. It is, but only as much as it can be. I love the protection my case provides, so instead of applying the Lazy-Hands velcro swatch to my iPad directly, I applied it to my case. It works great, but it’s still tiresome to hold after a while just because of the weight. To be fair, this is not the fault of Lazy-Hands. It did what it was intended to do, and in my case, that meant increasing the comfort time for holding my iPad from about 15 minutes to a little over an hour.
iPhone Results
Like my iPad, I really prefer to keep a case on my iPhone, so I attached the Lazy-Hands Grip for iPhones version to my hard case and tried it on for a week. My first concern was getting my phone in and out of my pocket. Surprisingly, that concern went away as I used it all week and allowed me to focus on the advantages of this product. Although decreasing the drop-factor of my phone was not the most important feature for me, I found that I began to naturally rely on Lazy-Hands to defy gravity for me while I loosely let the phone lean in my hand. What I most wanted from Lazy-Hands was my thumb back. The iPhone 5, in all it’s tall glory, made reaching every inch of the screen with my thumb nearly impossible when holding the phone with the same hand. For the record, my hands aren’t tiny. It takes a little getting used to, but now I can easily navigate every inch of the screen with my thumb while my other hand is free for, say, mocha. This was well received.
Conclusions
Lazy-Hands isn’t a curved TV or coffee pot that tweets it’s status. It’s a product whose allure is a combination of it’s simplicity, usefulness, and low cost to the consumer. The value of it is doubled when you realize that the Grips for iPad comes with two Grips and two adhesive sheets. The Grip for Tables / iPads runs $17.99, while the Grip for iPhones / Smartphones is only $8.99. If you have something in between, they offer the $15.99 Grips for iPad Minis, Kindles, Nooks, and other small tablets and e-readers. The product is worth the price and it works just as expected.
Want One? Here You Go
Well, OK. We can’t give one away to everyone. Luckily, though, our review package came with a bunch of Lazy-Hands product, so there’s extras to use in another giveaway. If you’re a regular reader, you know the drill. For the uninitiated, here’s how it works. Just select one of the entry options below and complete the instructions to earn your entries. You know you’ve done it right when your number of earned entries increases. I’ll let the giveaway’s random number robot magic thing select some winners who will be notified by email.