Google announced a charging stand that will let you juice up your phone while it's propped up in portrait or landscape mode.

While at its Made by Google event in New York City on 9 October, the Mountain View-based company unveiled what had been rumoured for months: the Pixel Stand. It's a dock that is powered over USB-C. It supports fast charging and can charge any Qi-compatible device, including the new Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL. It can even auto-switch the phone into Do Not Disturb mode when it’s docked at night.

Pixel Stand will play nicely with Google Assistant, too, so you can still use “Hey Google” commands when your phone is docked. But the Portrait mode is the key feature, because it will essentially let you cycle through photos in your Google Photos albums as if it were a live photo frame. It also works with Nest Hello, allowing a docked phone to display who’s at the door via your security system.

It seems like Google thinks you'll want to keep Pixel Stand by the bedside. It’ll cost $79/£69 when it launches on 1 November.

To see what else Google announced during the Made by Event, or to watch the show for yourself, see Pocket-lint's guide here.