So you want to clean your mobile phone, tablet or what-not. But hey, you’ve always wanted to have a kick-ass stand for your device as well.

Why not have both?

That’s the thinking behind procare’s line of Transformers-like cleaning products which try to do more than just clean your gadgets, such as a stylus that turns into a tablet squeegee, or a tablet cradle that turns into a cleaning kit.

This particular model is the Mobile Cleaning Kit Compact, a mobile phone/portable game stand that turns into a screen cleaning kit. What makes it even better: you get two things in one for less than five hundred pesos.

The back of the box

procare of Taiwan has done a good job of designing and manufacturing these accessories, as evident with the impressive build quality and the aesthetically clean packaging. This is no el cheapo cleaning product.

More than anything else, however, I wanted it because I did need a small portable stand for my phone.

Some assembly required

Open up the box and you get three distinct pieces:

The pieces of the puzzle

Here’s the thing. I was set on putting it together without relying on any instructions. After all, how complicated can an accessory get?

Turns out that, without further guidance, it can be as tricky as a Mensa puzzle. It took me a while to figure out which piece goes into what. Then again, that might just be my brain atrophying.

The guide at the back of the box provided some clues, but not about how the final “complete” kit should ideally look like when all is put together.

Spare instructions on the box

So first, we have the main body of the kit, which features an orange slide-out stand piece:

The main cleaner/mobile stand

We also have a very tiny triangle pad, which obviously is for some kind of cleaning action:

The tiny triangle cleaning pad

And lastly we have what looks like the main cleaning brush, shaped like a triangular log:

The main cleaning brush

The easy part is figuring out that the big cleaning brush fits into one of the triangular compartments of the main kit body:

So that's where it goes...

This is the trickier part. The other compartment of the kit body has a subsection that slides out. And it comes capped.

The other compartment, with slider and lid

With no clear visuals of how the finished product should look like, it took me a while to figure out what this compartment was all about. Was that a handle for pulling out the black section? But it looked so flimsy, plus I couldn’t get any traction for pulling the deal out. I tried prying the entire black lid off:

Is this another lid with handle?

Stupid me. In frustration, I twisted the tiny handle thingy… and then it came off. Of course. A hole. That’s where that tiny triangle was supposed to go into. Darn, I don’t think I can pass a Mensa test:

Aha! So this is where...

...this goes!

The fact that the triangular felt pad quickly moistened up upon snapping into place meant that the compartment was full of cleaning fluid. That’s a good sign. Note that this is refillable.

So listen. I had to go through all of that because I stubbornly decided to go at it on my own, and my brain apparently wasn’t functioning at top speed when I did it. But if ever you need more guidance on what this cleaning/stand accessory does, you can always head to their demo video here:

Then again, you wouldn’t know where or how to get to this video without a hint or a nudge.

Of course, what I really wanted was a kick-ass kickstand. And that’s what I got:

How it holds a 5.5-inch screen device

So the Mobile Cleaning Kit’s main claim to fame is that this is a cleaning kit that you really can take with you anywhere, mainly because you’ll have a good reason to (i.e. because it’s your portable phone stand). It lets you watch movies on your phone or play on your gaming device on a properly inclined landscape view.

Speaking of which, landscape is the only way to go here.  Try propping your phone as a portrait and the thing topples over. Center of gravity is too far back.

Cleanup time

As long as you don’t try stuffing too big a device onto it, the Cleaning Kit serves as a pretty good stand. And it looks quite attractive too… albeit a bit of a curiosity as strangers will be wondering what’s the deal with its odd shape.

But now it’s time to test it on its other feature, namely it being a cleaning product. So to this end I have drafted my trusty old iPad 2, with its smudgy, grimy screen:

Test subject: A smudgy iPad screen

First step: uncap the triangular felt pad, now moistened with cleaning fluid. Run it a few lines, zig zag possibly, across the length of your device’s screen:

First use the formula applicator...

Having duly applied a sufficient run of cleaning formula around the screen, next comes the brush. Gently run it up and down, capturing the formula along the way and wiping the grime off the screen.

...next brush up after it.

Was it effective? Well yes it was. After a few seconds, I was staring at a neat-looking iPad screen.

Voila! Clean screen!

Just… don’t try to prop up your iPad on this mobile stand. It ain’t happening. The stand is only for small handheld devices like phones or PSPs et al.

And my verdict is: if you’re in the market for something to hold your device up with, so that you can watch shows on it or something, then this is a pretty practical tool that does double duty as a carry-on cleaner. It’s one of those rare occasions when trying to be two things at the same time actually makes sense.

procare Mobile Cleaning Kit Compact

SRP P449.00

Available online via www.xtcwarehouse.multiply.com

Or via their dealers: Astrovision, Astroplus, Switch, Technoholics, and Tylex. For details on locations of shops, click here.

Likes

• Pretty good looking (and slightly intriguing) mobile stand
• Cleans. Yes. It does
• Can fit phones and other small devices of varying thickness, thanks to slide-out holder
• For a well made two-in-one proposition like this, this comes at a pretty good price

Dislikes

• Needs a bit more instructions (at least for aging slowing grizzled has-beens like me)
• Center of gravity is too far back. If phones get any bigger than a Note 2, don’t expect this to stay upright

Art

Art is a long-time editor for a number of technology publications. He is a Palanca-winning writer whose day job is to try to be as serious as possible while being a management consultant and lecturer. His favorite noodles: chapchae.

email: art@technoodling.netwebsite: http://www.technoodling.net