At last! A proper Lightning dock for your iPhone, complete with its own built-in, pivoting Lightning connector. No longer do you need to sacrifice a valuable (read: overpriced) Apple Lightning cable to make a dock work with an iPhone 5.
Gear4’s dock is called, simply, the Lightning Dock. It does exactly what you want, and no more: Hold and charge an iPhone 5.
The connector pivots to allow easy on/off action, the dock’s shape allows for a slight rearward tilt so you can still use it while it’s docked, and the hole in the back hooks up to an microUSB cable you have lying around. And if you’re anything like me, you have more or these cables than you have mis-matched Tupperware lids.
The only thing some might miss is an audio jack for hooking directly up to a stereo. Then again, who uses cables to connect to speakers in the age of AirPlay?
The Lightning Dock is available now, for $40.
Source: Gear4
Thanks: Eloise!
Charlie Sorrel writes reviews and how-tos. Follow Charlie on Twitter at @mistercharlie, and at micro.blog on @mistercharlie
2 responses to “At Last, A Proper iPhone 5 Lightning Dock”
Ummm… I do when I am using the iPhone to make a phone call from my desk. The placement of the jack on the iPhone was a flaw in the design. Now I have to carry the blasted thing upside down, and hitting the off switch is a matter of pulling it out, pushing it, then putting it back in my pocket.
Other than that, I love the 5, and I think I’ll get the Belkin dock, as I have already purchased 2 extra cables, so another $29 won’t feel great, but it’ll do. Just have to make sure it has a headset jack, and not a speaker one on the back, side, or wherever it is.
I’m with jeffythequick, I’m not all that thrilled about the headphone jack being at the bottom so I’m hoping that when Apple (or someone else) releases a proper iPhone 5 dock it’ll have a headphone in port so I can take calls and/or listen to music at my desk with my EarPods (though I prefer my SkullCandy earbuds).
For now I rest my 5 in the small black tray from the iPhone 5 box. Trying to keep that aluminum back as scratch free for as long as I can.