The iPhone Dock Bed

My girlfriend and I both have an iPhone. Every night when we go to bed, we plug them in for charging. We also use them as our alarm clocks.

Until very recently, we did this by using the typical charger. Only my girlfriend’s side of the bed is rather far from a wall socket. So, she’d plug in a very long iPhone cable (that we got from Deal Extreme and was literally falling apart), but it was not quite long enough: she’d still have to get up (to reach for the phone, e.g. for turning off the alarm).
Plus, it was in my way to get to my side of the bed. So … several times I almost stepped on her iPhone, and many times I stumbled after getting stuck behind the cable. Less than ideal, right?

A very long time ago, on February 11, 2012, I backed the Elevation Dock Kickstarter for two docks. Somewhere in the beginning of 2013 I had received them. They’d been lying around in a closet, unused. A waste of money? I almost regretted ordering them.

A few weeks ago, the long iPhone cable finally gave up. I thought of the Elevation Docks again. I started thinking how to put them to good use. We don’t have night stands (no room for that besides the bed). I considered building a tiny nightstand myself. But that would make cleaning much more bothersome, and wouldn’t serve any other purpose. Ideally, I’d be able to attach the docks directly to the bed. One visit to the local hardware store later and I had all the parts I needed: two of the right pieces of metal, six screws and some fine iron wire.

First, the L-brackets:

Then, the power plug extension box for the docks to be plugged in:

Finally, securing the docks with some fine iron wire through the Elevation docks’ speaker holes and through the top holes of the L-brackets:

We’ve been using it for several weeks now, and we’re very happy with how it turned out. It’s a pleasure to use!

It’s a fun and simple life hack, that should last for a very long time. Hopefully until the next thing beyond the smartphone¹ :)