iPhone Docked

This weekend I went on a spending spree. I had to get my wife a new case for her new (my old) iPhone 3G. After much looking she desided on this one. Ultra Case Carve. I bought a new case for my iPhone 3GS, the InCase Slider in white. While I was on a spending extravaganza I picked up a charger that I have had my eye one since it’s release, the Griffin PowerDock.

I had my eye on the PowerDock 2 because I had always known we would be a multiple iPhone house, but little did I know that my 9 year old son would also have one. That lead me to the PowerDock 4.
I ordered mine off of Ebay and paid about $50 but you could pay as much as $70. With a little more patience you could probably save more. Let’s take a look what comes in the box.
It seems more and more manufacurers are using creative and minimalistic forms of packing. Griffin is not an exception to the rule. The packaging is attractive and they do a decent job minimizing the use of extra material. In the box you won’t find a seperate users manual, instead they are printed on the inside of the box.

After opening it up you will find the charging unit itself.  Just to be nit-picky, I do feel they could have done a better job with the presentation of the unit in the box instead of just wrapping it in a piece of plastic and sticking it in there.  So many devices and accessories use the box as means for presentation and it makes opening it so much more enjoyable, like you have found a lost magical treasure and you now possess the power to RULE THE WORLD!!!  Oh, that’s just me?  Moving on.

In the box you the the Griffin PowerDock 4, 8 Universal Dock inserts included to fit most iPod models that charge by Dock Connector , and the power cord.  My only grip is that I would like to see two of each kind of dock inserts.  If you are buying a 4 dock charging station the chances of you having more than one of a certain device is pretty darn good.  If you do need more adapters you can buy them on Griffins website.

The Griffin PowerDock 4 is Apple Certified for both iPhone and iPod and guaranteed to work with all models.  I happen to have 3 iPhones in the family, which makes this charging station a welcomed addition.  There is nothing worse than hunting down a cord or charger (Especially after a trip) jut to find that another family member is using the cord or worse, you’ve lost it.

The build quality of the Griffin PowerDock is what you would expect from a Griffin product.  Beautifully designed with a solid feel. The top of the unit is a 16th of an inch sheet of Aluminum.  When I saw pictures I was sure it was going to be some kind of laminate, but like the unibody MacBooks Pros the top of this device is cut (and shaped) from one piece of aluminum.  It really gives you a warm fuzzy feeling about the unit.  When you pick it up it has a bit of weight to it.  Aluminum is not a heavy metal, so I assume it is from the components inside.  However the metal on top plus the weight really makes you feel good about the quality of the dock

The bottom of the device is made of a black glossy plastic except around the plug and along the bottom to reduce the look of scratches in areas more likely to see nicks and scratching occur.  Good thinking Griffin

To ensure the PowerDock stays where you put it Griffin has added a generous amount of rubber to the bottom of the PowerDock. I love little touches like this.  A lot of companies just stick 4 or so plastic, felt, or rubber tabs to the bottom of their devices. Take my Bose SoundDock for example:

I can assure you, with both the weight and rubber on the bottom, this thing is not moving unless you want it to.

The charge rate of the dock is just as fast as plugging it into an Apple wall charger.  It doesn’t matter if there is one device charging or four.  I have noticed, sometimes when I set one of the devices in the dock when multiple devices are charging all the devices will flash from hibernating to active for a sec.  This does not appear to harm anything or interrupt the charging. Over all This is a great device for a household with multiple portable Apple devices. I highly recommend the Griffin PowerDock.

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