$22.95 at the time of this review
Courtesy of Wireless Ground, I received this iPhone cradle kit to review. The first thing you'll notice with this cradle is that it's not the standard white color of Apple's line of accessories for the iPhone and various iPods. It's matte black and I find it to be a more complementary color scheme for the iPhone.
In terms of features, the cradle comes with an AC adapter that connects to the USB cord so you can charge the iPhone directly from a wall socket. Removing the AC plug allows you to plug the cradle directly into your computer to charge and sync your iPhone. The end of the USB cord that plugs into the cradle itself has a mini-USB connector. It would be nice if this had an iPod 30-pin connector so you could take the cable itself and use it to charge your iPhone without the cradle, but for the price, I'm not going to complain that much about this.
The cradle itself features a blue LED light to indicate that it's receiving power. The AC adapter also features a red LED to indicate power. These are really useful visual indicators to show you when the cradle is powered. If you've set up the electronics in your home office on power strips you turn on and off regularly, these indicators are
great to let you know if your iPhone is getting any juice in case you've forgotten to flip the switch. Though if you're thinking of using this as a bedside cradle for your iPhone, you should note that the blue LED is pretty bright and won't be helpful if you need a totally dark environment in which to sleep. I'd suggest covering the LED with a piece of tape or something, but then that would ruin the aesthetics of the cradle (if you care about that sort of thing).
Using the cradle
This cradle works exactly like the OEM cradle that comes with the iPhone. I've been using it to sync my iPhone (which I do once or twice per week) and to download the latest firmware update (1.1.1) and it worked perfectly. I do not get the "This accessory is not made to work with iPhone" message either, which is nice. I do get this message when I use my Apple Universal iPod dock, and it gets a little tedious to acknowledge it (I always switch my iPhone to Airplane mode when I get that message - I must be paranoid since it should work even if I don't do that).
Note that the OEM cradle holds the iPhone in a more upright position than the Wireless Ground cradle - see the pictures for a comparison. This doesn't make it any harder to read or use the iPhone while it's in the cradle, but may be a matter of preference for you. If you keep your iPhone closer to your hand on your desk and tend to use it while it's docked, this should make it easier for you to use. At the arm's length distance where I place the iPhone dock on my desk, it works just fine for me.
The cradle charges the iPhone as expected with no issues at all. Removing the iPhone is still a two-handed operation, as it is for the OEM cradle. I don't worry that it will scratch the iPhone in any way - the clear plastic bracket that forms the "backrest" isn't sharp or abrasive, and simply guides the iPhone to properly align the male and female parts of the dock connector. The Wireless Ground cradle is definitely less compact than the OEM one - while it's build quality is good (there are no moving or loose parts), I wouldn't recommend this cradle if you are a frequent traveler since the clear plastic bracket could break off. The OEM cradle is a better choice if you're looking for something compact to take with you on a trip.
Summary
The cradle offers an incredible value when you compare it to Apple's OEM iPhone dock kit. Apple's kit costs $49 for the same components and functionality. Wireless Ground's cradle kit costs less than half that and offers the LED indicators which can be really useful. It works exactly as it should with the iPhone, and even matches the iPhone better than the OEM cradle, in my humble opinion. The only thing you can't do with it is use the included cable by itself to sync/charge the iPhone. But that's not a big issue in my view and it doesn't detract much from the overall value of this kit. If you need a spare cradle kit, get this one instead of Apple's!
iPhone Sync & Charge Cradle from Wireless Ground
$22.95 at the time of this review