iLounge

Company: Bubble Design

Website: www.BubbleDesign.com

Model: Habitat, Secure Habitat

Price: $24.99, $39.99, respectively

Compatible: iPod 1G, 2G

Bubble Design Habitat

By Dennis Lloyd

Publisher, iLounge
Published: Monday, March 31, 2003
Category: Stands

Pros: A perfect home for iPod. High quality with some useful features.

Cons: None.

In a crowded field of iPod stands, along comes a distinct, creative solution, the Habitat. If you’re like me, your desk is not exactly cluttered, but not exactly organized. Though it’s easy to plop the iPod on your desk, shouldn’t you have a place for iPod among your stacking chaos?

The Habitat is a well built, well designed, stand with more features than the average iPod stand. Made from injection molded, clear, poly carbonate acrylic, its unique design incorporates areas to stow your Apple earbuds/ cable and FireWire jack when not in use.

Features

The Habitat comes in two models, standard Habitat and Secure Habitat with stainless steel anti-theft bracket, which can theft-proof iPod for those days when you’re in the office and away from the desk. Slide your iPod into the stand, slide on the security bracket, then using a standard Kensington computer security cable lock your iPod into place. Your iPod is now in lock down and prevents that beady-eyed co-worker from swiping your iPod. The Habitat and Secure Habitat fits all model iPods.

I asked Wayne Calco of Bubble Design, the designer of the Habitat stand, why he chose to develop a Secure Habitat model.

“It was later that we heard about iPods being stolen off people’s desks, and even at Macworld some were stolen from vendor booths. That made me think that a theft resistant feature would be a good idea. We worked on several iterations of brackets and finally got it perfect. (it [bracket] blocks the iPod ‘Hold’ switch for added security). We then had to have our tooling modified to include the little hole [security slot] in the back, that all the Habitat for iPod products now have.”

I found it a bit difficult to coil the earbud cable to stow it in the “pocket” on the back rest. You have to coil the cable tightly, so that most of it fits inside. Then the iPod can lie flat against the slanted back rest. I’m assuming most people won’t bother with this feature, because I can’t imagine someone taking the time to coil the earbud cable and stuffing it into the “pocket.” Other features worked flawlessly, and the earbud holders are a nice touch.

Final Thoughts

I’d like to see 4 instead of 2, larger, clear grip pads on the bottom of the stand, because with all its features you tend to slide the stand around the desk everytime you have to stow your earbuds, fiddle with the FireWire cable, etc. One large diameter, “ring” shaped pad would be ideal.

Though its design is, a bit more involved than other minimalist iPod stands on the market; the Habitat stand’s versatility out shines the competition in features. If you want ultra simple, this stand is not for you. It also takes up more room on the desk due to its larger footprint compared to other stands.