The PhotoFast iPADock Charges Many But Impresses Few

If you have multiple iPods or iPhones, it sometimes makes a lot of sense to have an iPod Dock. In this case, PhotoFast has launched the iPADock which lets you charge two iPads simultaneously and does a lot more. So where does it lag behind?

Design
The iPADock is a small dock that has a neat and attractive design. The quality of plastic is top-notch and the dock is built to a nice finish. The dock has two grooves, big enough for an iPad to fit inside each. At the base, there are three slots below each of these grooves. These slots are meant for the proprietary Apple dock and this is what puzzled us a bit. A little behind these grooves, there are iPod camera connection kits. At the back there are a host of USB ports and memory card slots. From the right side, it starts with a DC 5V/5A adaptor, followed by four USB slots meant only for charging your Apple devices. Next comes the MemoryStick and SD/SDHC/SDXC card slots. It doesn’t end here though, there is also a CF/MD reader and next to it is a Host mini-USB port. Finally, below the CF/MD slot , there are three USB slots.

Charge me some more

The iPADock can charge two iPads, four iPhones or six iPod nanos simultaneously. In short, the iPADock charges many devices and can also double up as a card reader. Along with the dock, you get a charger, three Apple dock cables and one mini-USB cable.

Performance
In terms of charging devices simultaneously, the iPADock does its work well. The second groove is not very convenient for the iPad; but you can still fit your iPods and iPhones conveniently. For your information, you cannot access data stored in these memory cards through your iPad. Rather, once you connect your laptop to the mini-USB slot you can access data stored in these cards and USB drives.

The host of ports behind!

The first and foremost problem is that of the cables. There are just too many of them. Also, if you call it an iPad/iPod dock, it should have a built-in dock. Instead of this, you have to connect the USB-to-Apple dock cables to charge your devices. While one end goes to the USB port situated behind, the other end is supposed to be sticking out from below the base. Connecting more devices mean including more wires. Plus, if you want to access multimedia cards through your computer or laptop, you’ll have to attach another cable.

While we are impressed by the number of devices it can charge, it’s not very convenient to carry all these cables around.

Verdict
The PhotoFast iPADock will set you back by Rs. 5,000. If you are paying so much for only the integrated memory card reader, it doesn’t make any sense at all. Agreed it charges multiple devices simultaneously, but that is something many docks can do - it's not really a USP. The iPADock deserves only two stars, which are for the design and functionality. It loses three in terms of price, the number of cables it ultimately uses and the meaningless multimedia card reader.