Dexim MHub for iPhone and iPod

Most iPhone and iPod docks are one-trick ponies: they keep your device upright while it’s charging or syncing so that it won’t get scratched up laying on your desk and so that its screen is visible to you at desk-level. Sometimes a dock comes along that includes an extra feature or two, but Dexim’s MHub offers the proverbial kitchen sink. In addition to connecting your Mac or PC for syncing and charging purposes, the MHub includes three on-board USB ports, effectively doubling as a USB hub. And for good measure it also includes a slot for the SD card from your digital camera.



While the MHub comes with a power plug, I found that I didn’t need to use it even when I simultaneously had my iPhone, an external USB hard drive, a USB headset, and a USB charging cable for an external iPhone battery all plugged into the MHub at once. Your mileage is going to vary, however, depending on the power required by your USB devices and on the power provided by the USB ports on your computer (in my case an early 2009 unibody MacBook Pro). However, if you find that your devices aren’t all being properly powered and you do have to resort to using the power cable, the consolation prize is that the power brick itself provides you with yet another USB port (two actually, but one is for powering the MHub itself).



The footprint of the MHub is relativelty small, with the caveat being that with ports on three sides you’ll have to leave sufficient empty desk space around the hub so you can easily connect and disconnect your devices, but that’s true of any hub. The brushed metal styling and tapered corners are most closely matched in style by a MacBook Air, but the MHub will fit in stylistically with any of Apple’s brushed metal computers, or for that matter just about any silver-themed PC.



The only thing I wish were done differently is with the iPhone/iPod dock itself, which uses a lever system that holds the device firmly in place but would be more elegant if it employed Apple’s universal docking system instead. But in all, the MHub does a great job of replacing an iPhone/iPod dock, USB hub, and SD card reader with a single device that takes up a lot less space without having to pay extra for the privilege.