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Provides: iPod cradle
Developer: Konnet
Minimum Requirements: iPod or iPhone and USB cable
Price: $30
Availability: Now

Is your iPhone or iPod’s USB cable leaving you with a frown on your face? It’s just not as supportive as you might need, and that’s understandable. What you need is some support! Konnet has a potential solution for you with their very colorful iCrado.

So what exactly is it?  It’s an iPod cradle. Nothing more, nothing less. It holds your iPod and little else. Thankfully, it does this with a touch of style. The cradle comes in a number of different colors; that number being ten. I think it’s safe to say they have enough colors to match something on your desk. They probably could have gotten away with white, black and aluminum, but hey, some people like to express their personalities with iPod cradles.

The iCrado is made out of a solid piece of aluminum. Apparently, every accessory company with Apple related products took a big hint from Apple and decided that the phrase “solid piece of aluminum” just wasn’t something they could afford to pass up.  That’s good, though.  I like aluminum, and why have two pieces when you can have one solid piece of aluminum.  See, even I’m saying it now.

Okay, so what you might not realize from the product images is that the iCrado isn’t a complete product.  I might even go so far as to say it’s actually a USB cable holder.  It’s like Viagra for your current iPod cable.  The cradle essentially holds the original iPod cable (the more recent ones with the shorter/lockless dock connector) in the full upright position.  After it’s inserted into the cradle, it can be used as intended.  Your iPhone or iPod can dock and rest easy.

Obviously, there are some good and bad things about this dock.  Let’s start with the good.  It’s colorful!  You can choose form eight colors, and honestly, I’m betting that’s a big draw for a number of users.  You probably won’t be finding this many color choices from other companies.  Secondly, it works with many cases.  Most iPod/iPhone docks and cradles don’t work with cases.  This will also be a big selling point since you don’t have to take your iDevice out of its case to sync it with your computer.  So you don’t have to set it down and plug the cable in while it sits on your desk. 

Now to the bad.  Basically, this cradle is just a colorful piece of aluminum.  It can’t be used without a cable, though you have to already have one to get any use out of your iDevice right now.  So, I suppose you might think this is an efficient way of doing things, and you might be right.  But I’m left feeling like this product didn’t try hard enough.  Sure, it will dock my iPhone, but not without a little help.  For $20 more, I can get an Apple dock that doesn’t need my cable, and actually has extra features like the remote functionality.  But again, you can’t use that with a case on.

This cradle has me torn.  Part of me loves that it’s simple and makes efficient use of the cable you already have.  Another part of me dislikes that it doesn’t come with its own connection.  After all, it’s not really a complete product, and if you only have an older cable, you’ll need to buy a new one.  The pros have to outweigh the cons here for you.  So, if you like colorful docks, won’t give up your case and don’t mind it using your current cable, this is certainly the dock for you.  If not, I’d highly recommend you take a look at my favorite dock for the iPhone, the Podium, which won my previous iDevice cradle showdown.