iPhone Dock

Dock It.

One thing that has always baffled me about my iPhone is the why it comes with a wall charger but no dock. Actually I know why it is. It’s all about the money, and by not giving you a dock they ask you to buy one for 40 bucks. The thing is, when I am shelling out the kind of money Apple want’s for a phone, the least they could do is toss in a dock. I hate the wall plug with the power cord snaking out of the wall across my counter or desk.

Thankfully though, if you want a dock you don’t have to give your money to Apple or whoever made your smartphone. You can instead opt for Native Union’s which costs about the same and frankly looks better, especially when it is bundled with their belt cable. I also like the fact that this design gives your phone additional support so the weight of your phone isn’t placed exclusively on the lightning connector and the port on your phone. (I’m pretty sure this is what eventually caused my old phone to stop charging and the port to eventually fail)

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NOOKone iPhone Dock, Clock, and Ready to Rock.

Like many people I use my iPhone as my alarm clock. It sits on the night stand next to the bed plugged in and ready to go all night long. Over the last few years I have kind of been looking for a iPhone dock that I could set it in, but most are either overkill, or ugly as all hell. I want a simple solution that is well designed and unobtrusive. This is where the NOOKone shows some promise.

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Nookone by Robert Bye is a smaller, easy to use solution that can be used in both portrait and landscape modes. It’s small enough that you can pick it up to check email, send a text, or go through any of your apps, with the phone still connected.

NOOKone features a built in speaker that isn’t going to blow you away, but is going to be loud enough to wake you from a nights slumber, or allow you to listen to music as you drift off. The snooze feature is activated by tapping the “mute/volume” knob on the side of the unit. Charging your phone takes place via an inductive base plate that NOOKone rests on, allowing the main unit to remain portable and easy to grab. It will come with a free clock app, that looks pretty solid as clock apps go.

Now, I wish this guy would put this on KickStarter because I’m thinking if he did we could all have one by Christmas.

I’m Down to Three Choices. iPhone Speakers.

I have been looking for an iPhone/iPod dock for sometime. I want something that looks good, and can fill a room with decent sound. After many months of looking, reading, playing with and examining I have decided that I am either going to fork out the money for the Bowers and Wilkins Zeppelin, or I am going to get the iVTube by ValveDock. I know it’s a bunch of money for an iPhone dock, but they look good enough to have sitting out in the room, and they sounds great. Right now I am using an ancient Powerbook with iTunes streaming to a set of speakers tied to an Airport Express, so anything is going to be a step up. And until I make enough money to but the over priced Bang and Olufsen system of my dreams one of these will have to do.

In the process of looking I put together a list of my top three choices for iPhone/iPod docks. My criteria was pretty simple. Is it well designed, does it look good, does it sound good, can it fill up the living room with decent sound?

First up the Philips Fidelio DS9000.

The design combines natural wood and metal and is quite stylish.
It really looks great.
The sound is above average.
It packs enough power to fill the living room.
The resonating chamber helps boost bass.
At $675.00 it’s pricier than the Bowers and Wilkins Zeppelin.

Next is the iTube ValveDock.

It looks awesome.
It has Vacuum tubes.
It has superb audio reproduction.
It was awarded iPod product of the year.
It features separate docks for the iPhone and iPod.
Valve Processing gives your audio a warm rich tone.
Did I mention vacuum tubes?
It’s about $600.00.

Finally the Bowers and Wilkins Zeppelin.

Once again, it looks amazing.
Bowers and Wilkins has a great reputation for build quality.
It is well designed.
I like the remote the best.
It sounds great, and at 100 watts of power it can fill the room with audio.
Video output to the TV.
It’s about $600.00