I spent months holding my phone at arm’s length for video calls, like a hostage video. The angle was always wrong: too low, too close, or my arm got tired and the whole call turned into a shaky mess. I bought a five dollar phone stand to fix it, expecting to use it once.

It has been on my desk every day for a year. Best five dollars I ever spent on my setup.

What It Is

It is a small folding aluminum stand, the kind that holds a phone at a slight angle on a desk. Nothing motorized, nothing powered. It folds flat enough to slide into a pocket, and it has rubber pads so it does not scratch the phone or slide around.

What It Fixed

The video call angle is the obvious win. The phone now sits at eye level, so the camera points at my face instead of up my chin. I stopped looking like a witness and started looking like a person.

It also fixed smaller things I did not expect:

• Following a recipe while cooking, hands-free and splash-free
• Watching a video while eating without propping the phone against a jar
• Using the phone as a secondary camera for work meetings

What It Cannot Do

Fair warning: it is not a charging stand, so there is no cable management, and the phone sits at a fixed angle you cannot tilt much. For video calls the fixed angle is fine, because the fixed angle is the right angle.

Who Should Get One

If you take video calls on your phone, cook from recipes, or just want a second screen for reading, spend the five dollars. It is cheap enough that it does not need to be life-changing to be worth it, and it turned out to be anyway.

I bought a second one for the kitchen. The first one never left the desk.