Can’t stand the sight of one dozen or so chargers strewn around your desk? Clean up the mess with the iHome iB969, a multi-device hub designed to charge your iPhone, iPad and everything else that can draw power from a USB plug.
In place of the humps of loose cables, slabs of chubby plugs and a whole host of adapters, you get to decorate your desk with a sleek and sexy rig that looks awesome. With the iPad hoisted on the stand and all those other devices slotted in, in fact, the setup looks like a fancy contraption that allows each gadget to work together. Which, unfortunately, it doesn’t.
The iHome iB969 comes with a bevy of charging features: an iPad plug with a handy stand, dual iPod docks (with one able to sync to iTunes), a slew of power-charging USB plugs and an expandable, rubberized rest area for holding your gadgets (like the Sony Reader on the photo). A wood grain finish tops off the base charging station, making it a nice fit for any stylish work area (or, in my case, a breath of fresh air to an ugly table).
Integrated cable management guarantees the 36-inch sync wires, 12-inch USB-to-microUSB cable and 12-inch USB-to-AC adapter line stays out of sight. We would have appreciated more bundled adapters (I mean, those Chinese guys sell them like hairpins) so we can get rid of even more power plugs, but we guess most people can manage to find their own cheap USB-to-whatever plugs if they really want one.
The only caveat? The iHome iB969 is pricey, currently listed for $129. Expect the way cheaper Chinese rip-offs to come any minute now…
[iHome]