Skip to main content

Hive Dock for iPhone hands-on impressions

We’ve been testing out a prototype version of the Hive Dock for iPhone for the last few days and here’s our review and overview of the product. For those unfamiliar, the Hive Dock is a dock for the iPhone 4 that provides the phone with clearer audio output and uses a magnifying plate to provide a 4X zoom for anything your iPhone displays on its screen. The product is actually pretty slick for movie watchers and the audio actually does sound crisper than iPhone 4 audio without the dock.

The iPhone can sit in either portrait or landscape and is incredibly easy to place in the Hive Dock. You just drop your iPhone 4 into the fitting slot with the device’s speaker in the speaker placement portion of the slot. The home button is always open when the iPhone is in landscape orientation and there is an opening in the Hive Dock if you want to use the device in portrait mode. The Hive Dock is not only for movie watchers, but does wonders for those who want to type without squinting. Using an iPhone text editor, the Hive Dock, and a wireless keyboard is a great expierience.

The magnification portion actually works great and is perfect for movies, games, web browsing, and really anything else you would use your iPhone for. One of the great parts about the dock is that it enhances your audio and iPhone screen without any electricity. The dock itself is also very light – so it’s very easy to carry and travel with. The iPhone is also still easy to use when in the dock, just wrap your hands around the magnification plate. Another plus for portablity is that the magnification lens actually can be stored in the bottom of the Hive Dock. The Hive Dock we tested is a prototype unit and the actually unit will be thinner and feature feet on the bottom for rotation. If you have any questions we’ll answer them in the comments.

You can support and pre-order the Hive Dock through Kickstarter.

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

You’re reading 9to5Mac — experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Don’t know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel