A while ago we featured the Compass iPad stand from Twelve South, an intelligently designed iPad stand. I was of course a little apprehensive about giving it my recommendation since I hadn’t used it. Well now I have. And here’s my review.

It’s reviews like this that makes me wish I didn’t impose a no-swearing rule upon writing. The Compass is an amazing stand for the iPad, so perfect in every dimension, and oh yes, it’s multi-dimensional. The first thing you experience, is Twelve South’s legendary packaging; second only to Apple. Slide the box out of its outer casing. Then pull the top cover that’s holding the Compass together. Slide it out, and you’re holding a surprisingly heavy piece of metal. Inside the box is, is a beautiful document, suggesting ways to use the compass, and ways to use the box. It certainly is a pretty box. But suddenly you’re done admiring the packaging, and onto the prize of the day.

The most obvious use, is the landscape or portrait upright position. Extend the two feet sideways, and the iPad sits there at a perfect angle. It’s tilted just right, so when it’s at your desk, you’re looking straight at it. This eliminates light refraction and produces minimal glare. The non-adjustability might pose a problem, say if you want to use it on a raised table that’s almost at eye level, but mostly, it’s just right.

The Compass is very sturdy. The thing is forged from heavy gauge steel with silicone padding. You can place your iPad on it without even thinking about it. Tap freely. The silicone pegs at the bottom hold it there, so you can press the home button without having to hold the iPad, it’s so sturdy.

Typing on this thing is amazing. The reclined angle is just perfect. Move the back leg flat down, and raise the little leg at the back. When you look at it, it appears as if the foot pegs will come in the way of your typing, a doubt raised by one of the comments on our press release. They don’t. Not once did I have the problem. There’s another thing. If they do come in the way, you can push them in and use the iPad flat on that incline. The iPad rests on silicone padding, so it doesn’t slip down from that angle.

But there’s obviously some bad stuff, right? There’s nothing bad about the compass itself. It’s a fantastic product built to perfection. It just can’t do everything; not meant to do everything, rather. You can’t use it on surfaces that aren’t flat and sturdy. This means it’s impossible to type with the iPad on your lap, which is primarily how I write most of my articles. It also has an orientation problem, where if you place the iPad on its side with the volume controls, the volume down button is activated by one of the foot pegs; you’d be left with a muted iPad. Same thing for placing it upside down—the iPad suddenly wants to shut itself off. This is not all of the time, and if you’re conscious enough you can avoid it by placing it differently or moving the foot pegs in and out, but it does happen. But hey, if holding an iPhone 4 differently is cool, so is this.

There’s another issue, and that’s purely human nature, I think. This one probably relates to iPad stands. You can envision a lot of places you can use this thing other than just around your desk. Propping it up while cooking something in the kitchen, perusing through your RSS feeds while having breakfast, or having it sit on your coffee table while watching television. The problem is that the iPad is just too easy to lift off from the Compass, that you forgot to carry the stand along with you. Unlike a case, which is always on the iPad, you have to remember to carry the Compass along with you when doing all these activities. If I’m in the kitchen, and want to watch something, I’ll just prop it up against a jar of jam instead of walking all the way to my room, picking up the stand, and bringing it in. If I do carry the stand to the breakfast table, and have my breakfast, I somehow land on my work desk without a Compass to keep the iPad on. It’s a walk back to the breakfast table. Sometimes I forget where I left the damn thing. Also, not only is it too easy to pick up the iPad without the Compass, it’s a little cumbersome to pick up both. You need to use both hands while doing so, or you risk scratching the iPad’s back if you don’t hold it right. No, holding it differently doesn’t count in this case.

So while you can technically carry this thing around anywhere (they even bundle a svelte case for the stand), I think it’s more of a single location stand. If you want to carry it with you, it’s a conscious decision that you’re probably going to forget to make. But it is a great desktop stand for the iPad. It’s so perfectly angled. You can connect your dock connector cable to it. It has the best typing angle ever; I really flew through this article. And it’s so rigid you’re never afraid the iPad is going to topple over. Add to that it’s one gorgeous piece of metal. At $40, I think it’s totally worth it. Now whether you need/want/must have one, is entirely your call.

[Uploaded a few more shots, all in high resolution in this flickr set.]
UPDATE: The thing is actually forged out of heavy gauge steel, not aluminium as previously mentioned. Also, the padding is silicone, not rubber. Changed.