iLounge

1

That’s actually quite clever!

Posted by Galley in Greenville, SC on July 22, 2009 at 3:03 PM (PDT)

2

That is pretty cool, my concern is, charging.
I try to keep the practice that I only charge my gadgets (and especially my gadgets w/o user-replaceable batteries, ahem) when they get low, and then take them off the charger when they’re fully charged. Doesn’t leaving your iphone/ipod touch plugged in 6-8 hrs(read:all night) damage the cycling of your battery?

Posted by ~ruindpzzle in san diego, CA on July 22, 2009 at 4:45 PM (PDT)

3

I like the idea, but I hope the accessory has the ability to launch the app when it is plugged in. I also hope that the app is updated to have its own alarm clock. If not, I can’t imagine using this as my sole alarm clock! I’d probably forget to set the alarm every night!

Posted by JW008 on July 22, 2009 at 5:48 PM (PDT)

4

Like this a lot. It’s rare that I don’t have to charge at night. As for the “leaving it plugged in damaging the cycling of the battery”, IIRC, the iPhone runs off wall power when it’s fully charged and still plugged in, so this would be a best of both worlds solution.

Posted by Aceon6 in New England, USA on July 23, 2009 at 5:43 AM (PDT)

5

@~ruindpzzle-

I worked in batteries for digital cameras for a couple of years, and lithium ion batteries (like the type in iPhones, iPods, and most digital cameras and cell phones) have more of a “charge lifetime”—a set amount of time that the dielectric between the anode and the cathode slowly break down, allowing for less charge to be held in the battery. The discharge profile for the battery wears down after a fairly set amount of time, and is much more dependent on keeping the batteries out of extreme temperatures (near room temperature as much as possible). Exposing to either extreme cold or extreme heat (leaving in the car on a day will generally get you in that range) will take a much heavier toll on your iPhone’s battery than the timing of discharge/recharge. This logic does not apply with NiMH (nickel metal hydride) and NiCd (nickel cadmium) batteries that are used in some heavy applications like power tools and electric toothbrushes that are much more heavily driven by motors.

The device does look clever. How big is it? Would it be good for travel?

Posted by Dave on July 23, 2009 at 7:42 AM (PDT)

6

The charger/stand is a good idea.  Maybe people should buy the charger to use with another app, however; numerous reviews on the App Store indicate that the GPS weather feature shows conditions for cities near, but not exactly, “my location”.  Some claim to be off by a hundred miles or so (mine is about 20miles off), and Kensington neglected to add a way to manually enter a ZIP code to correct it.

Posted by Zachary on July 23, 2009 at 1:11 PM (PDT)

7

This sure seems like a great idea, but when I went to the Kensington site, it says it’s compatible with the iPhone 3G (among other devices) but does not say anything about the new iPhone 3GS. Can that be correct?

Posted by Jeff on July 24, 2009 at 9:02 AM (PDT)