Not sure I'm ready to plunk down $100 on a dock, but they are addressing the major reasons why I don't use a dock either -- because I hate to have to remove my iPhone's case all the time. And it does look awfully nice.
But, for $100, I think I'd prefer inductive charging over worrying about lining-up the dock connector properly.
Did you miss out on backing the Elevation Dock Kickstarter project? It wasn’t hard — it secured a record $1.4M in funding in less than 24 hours, absolutely crushing its goal of $75,000.
Elevation Dock became an overnight sensation, surpassing the legendary TikTok iPod nano watch kit, the previous Kickstarter record holder.
But fear not, Elevation Lab has opened pre-orders for its promising iPhone dock. It’s available in aluminum ($90) and black ($125) which includes a shielded Line Level audio out and compact USB wall power adaptor. Plus $10 for shipping. Shipping will be in April.
“$100 for an iPhone dock?!” I can almost hear you shouting at your computer.
Well, yes. It costs $100. But if it’s anywhere near as nice as hype, I’ll be buying several.
If you’re like me, you dock your iPhone on your nightstand each night and probably keep it docked on your desktop while you work — I know I do. The problem is that the Apple dock sucks because it doesn’t work with cases and you have to fight with it to insert and remove it.
I don’t even use a dock for my iPhone and default to simply plugging it into a dock cable.
You can see renderings, images as well as video (click on the main image to play) of pre-production samples on their Kickstarter page.
Here’s a bit from the Elevation Lab website:
If you have tried using docks for your iPhone, you have probably felt our frustration: Undocking is difficult, many aren’t designed to work with cases, they are lightweight, and are generally made as a cheap plastic afterthought accessory.
That’s why we designed the Elevation Dock - Simple to use, quick undocking, works with or without a case, and looks gorgeous on your desk.
We didn’t stop there - It’s beautifully precision CNC machined from solid aluminum and has a gorgeous surface finish - setting a new bar for quality. It complements the high-level craftsmanship of the iPhone like no other.
And if that wasn’t enough, Kickstarter was featured on Portlandia and they talked to Fred Armisen.
