DoBox is looking for funding for a desktop docking station that gives the 2018 iPad Pro an array of additional features. A keyboard and trackpad are the most obvious, but there’s also a built in hub with HDMI and other ports.
On top of all that, the proposed DoBox Pro will have a slot capable of adding up 2TB of additional storage.
DoBox Pro is still on Kickstarter
Before anyone gets overly enthusiastic, at this point this docking station is only a Kickstarter campaign. DoBox is looking for people willing to give them money now so that the company can fund the production of this product.
And it won’t start shipping until February at the earliest. Assuming the company makes the $20,000 in-preorders it’s hoping for, of course. If not, it may never ship at all. Still, it’s 20% funded on day 1.
Early details of this iPad Pro docking station
There are many keyboard cases available for the iPad; the DoBox Pro isn’t one of them. The designers calls it a docking station, and it’s designed to be used on a desktop, though it does have a 16.000 mAh built-in battery and it appears reasonably portable.
Either the 12.9- or 11-inch iPad Pro is held upright by a slot on one edge of this accessory, and the two are connected together with a short USB-C cable.
This allows the tablet to get input from the backlit keyboard and a trackpad. The latter feature only became possible with this week’s release of iPadOS 13.
On the back of the DoBox Pro is a multi-port adapter with dual USB-A 3.0 ports, plus HDMI, Ethernet, and 3.5mm audio. There’s also a microSD card reader.
On the inside is what appears to be a slot for a SATA solid-state drive. This product’s developers are somewhat vague about this, just say “You can even add an internal storage up to 2 terabytes,” but the image shown is of a SATA.
If this sounds intriguing enough buy now then wait four months to receive, make a $199 pledge on the accessory’s Kickstarter page.
DoBox prepared a video overview of its iPad desktop docking station:
Source: DoBox
