Omoton C3 Cell Phone Stand review: It also works for tablets?!

Shopping for a smartphone stand is no easy feat. Not because there aren’t options out there, but because there are too many. A quick Amazon search will present you with an onslaught of choices with different features, made of varying materials, and at many price points. Very few products really stand out, and for us, one of them is the Omoton C3. It’s been in our review table for a bit, and we are ready to tell you all about it.

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What is the Omoton C3 Cell Phone Stand?

The Omoton C3 Cell Phone Stand is simple to understand (the definition is in the name). It’s a contraption that helps prop your smartphone up. It is especially helpful if you need to use your phone while your hands are busy. We found ourselves mostly taking advantage of it while cooking or multi-tasking. This accessory made it simple to watch a video on a phone while also working on a laptop, for example. I also loved using it to view recipe videos while cooking.

The possibilities are endless. But what is it that makes the Omoton C3 Cell Phone Stand really special? Let’s dig into that in the next sections.

Omoton C3 Cell Phone Stand design and build

This is likely where the Omoton C3 Cell Phone Stand shines the most, especially considering its low price point. For a product that costs around $14 and can often be found on special for even lower, it is built surprisingly well. The aluminum body only weighs 7.8oz and feels pretty solid. This is because the unit is made of a couple of solid metal parts: the base and the holder. These are attached by a rotating hinge that can adjust the tilt.

One important factor to consider when choosing the right phone stand is the quality of its hinges, if it has any. As mentioned above, the Omoton C3 does. The hinge has a strong resistance to movement. You have to push it hard for it to move around, but it’s not perfect. For some reason, there’s a bit of give when the hinge first starts rotating. It’s a tiny bit looser the first few millimeters. This was never an issue when using the stand, and maybe I’m nitpicking, but it simply made me feel a bit less confident about the stand’s long term durability. Will it get more loose in the long run? I’ll be sure to update this review if it does.

You don’t need to worry much about its heavy-duty construction damaging what the unit comes in contact with. Strategically placed padding is great at protecting both flat surfaces and your expensive devices. I found no scratches or damage on anything. Chosen materials make it a breeze to wipe off this accessory with any cleaning products too.

Now, this stand has a very neat trick up its sleeve, and the manufacturer was quick to advertise it on its Amazon product page. They mention this stand is made for devices from 3.5 inches to 10.5 inches in size. At first, that seems like an overstatement considering the unit looks so small. However, once you see the trick it’s a major revelation. If you fold the holder all the way back and change the orientation, the Omoton C3 can be used as a tablet stand! Check out the image below to see what I mean.

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What is it like to live with the Omoton C3 Cell Phone Stand?

As a phone stand the Omoton C3 works perfectly. It offers a very solid construction that closely imitates a unibody design, but with some flexibility to adjust the tilt. The best of both worlds, right?

Not everything about this stand is great, however. As mentioned above, I wasn’t completely comfortable with the hinge’s quality, so I didn’t adjust it as much as I do other stands. Regardless, it’s a very light, good-looking, and pretty solid smartphone stand with little to complain about. But how does it work as a tablet stand? After all, Omoton isn’t shy about mentioning this functionality.

Of course, you don’t get the same flexibility as you would with a true tablet stand. You can’t adjust the tilt, and the tablet would have to stand a little further back than we found comfortable. It’s great if the lower angle works for you, but if it doesn’t there isn’t much you can do about it.

I used an Amazon Fire HD 10 with the Omoton C3 stand. I found that, while it works, the experience isn’t optimal. Using the regular mode, the stand is simply too narrow to fit a large tablet comfortably. It easily moves around, and I kept feeling like the tablet and stand would fall over. When in its secondary form factor, the stand felt much more solid holding a tablet. However, the angle just doesn’t cut it for my use case, which is using the tablet as a secondary device on my desk.

Portability may be another issue. Some stands can fold up to a very thin profile, which is great for taking them around. This isn’t the case for the Omoton C3. Its almost unibody design makes it hard to easily store in any laptop bag or case. Granted, this is not the type of product I like carrying around when working on-the-go. Having the option to do so would be nice, however.

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Should you buy the Omoton C3 Cell Phone Stand?

Some phone stands are more solid, others are better looking, and some offer advanced portability. That’s all great to have, but for about $14 you will be hard-pressed to find a better cell phone stand than the Omoton C3.

With that said, we wouldn’t advise that you buy the Omoton C3 if you really want to extensively use it with a tablet. The accessory is too small for a 10-inch pad, and the secondary mode is too limiting. It works as a tablet stand in a pinch, but the experience isn’t good enough. There are some great tablet stands that will do a much better job. As a cell phone stand, however, the Omoton C3 is a pretty good investment!