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iHome iC16 – portable Android dock review

Price(4/5):
Design(5/5):
Features(4/5):
Overall Score:4.3
Advantages Disadvantages
  • Beautiful design
  • Is portable and battery powered
  • Has separate battery for clock functions
  • Can play and charge Android powered devices
  • You can’t charge your phone on battery power
  • Speakers are quite small
  • No built in Am/Fm radio

Manufacturer

As I have mentioned previously iHome is a worldwide known brand that produces accessories for Apple and Android smartphones ranging from speakers to alarm clocks and their main focus is on Apple devices. But occasionally they also make some docks and docking stations for Android phones are wonderful to use! iHome is actually a subdivision of SDI Technologies and that is a company that was created in 1956 so they know what they are doing!

Review

iHome iC16 front viewiHome iC16 is an Android docking station that is developed and manufactured by iHome and this is a docking station / speaker for Android phones. This docking station is actually one of the few models that is portable and can work on batteries but sady like all battery powered docking station it can’t charge your phone while running on battery power. This dock has the dimensions of 5.04 inches x 4.73 inches x 6.42 inches (12.8 cm x 12 cm x 16.3 cm) and weighs only 15.68 Oz (444.5 grams) and that is at it should be for a small portable device!

Looking from the the outside we see a very stylish looking elongated speaker / alarm clock that is made entirely from plastic but it has a different colored side accents that makes it look sophisticated and beautiful. Basically the whole body is made from black glared shining plastic that is a fingerprint magnet but it looks really great!  At both end there are metallic looking stripes that accent those Reson8 speakers that are built into the ends of this portable device. Those speakers at both ends have beautiful black covers that are made from perforated plastic and again makes this device fell much better than it actually costs. Those speakers behind those speaker covers are loud enough to fulfill a medium sized room with rich and clear sound and you can hear and feel even some amount of those deep bass sounds that make every music playback that much better.

At the front of this device there is an LCD display that has 3 brightness levels and an / off mode that can be convenient in nighttime use. The clock functions are saved into a small coin battery but the display is backlit only when the dock is plugged into an electricity outlet or it has batteries inside. The LCD display is medium sized and it displays clock, AM/PM settings, battery level, if the alarm clock is set, and the ZZz or snooze option. That backlight shines in a blue color and is produced from LED diodes so it doesn’t chew up that much electricity.

If we look underneath the device we can see four rubberised feet that protect this dock from sliding and don’t allow it to scrape your desk or other surfaces. But on the back of this dock there is the port panel that has 5V 3.4 Ampere power adapter socket, a 3.5 mm AUX In socket, regular USB port for charging devices and settings for that USB ports voltage outputs (B/A). And what is interesting is that there is a button that is specially designed to set daylight savings time and that feature you can see less and less often and I think it is a great bonus for this device.iHome iC16 back ports

At the top of this dock you will find 6 buttons (On/Off, Alarm, +, – ,Alarm Source, Snooze) and these are the main controls with whom you can control all aspects of this docking stations usage. This iHome dock allows you to customize the snooze time, display settings, alarm source, volume and switch between daylight savings time on or off and that makes this a really customizable device that can be made to fit any environment and adjusted to anyones needs.

Apart from all these features there is also an opening for 4 AAA batteries that allow you to listen to music while this dock is not plugged into the electricity outlet and that is a great feature but what they should have made is a charging dock with built in battery that recharges while on power and can charge your phone “on-the-go” as there are no such devices currently available on the market.

iHome iC16 full setBasically this is one great designed docking station with great features and amazing build quality and I can recommend it to anyone who want’s an Android docking station / alarm / clock / speaker.

PS: This dock also works with the iHome Sleep alarm application that you can read about more in our previous iHome docking station review HERE!

Erick Hodge

Erick Hodge

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