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Griffin PowerMate

Apple is one of the most design orientated companies in the world. A great Apple accessory has to be both beautiful and functional. Turns out, no one really told Griffin. Well, clearly no one told Griffin that it has to be both attractive and functional, because they seem to have made a beautiful accessory that is essentially useless. It is however, beautifully useless. It may not have much function other than to look good, but it sure as hell does that well. Ok, I have exaggerated a little, the PowerMate does have some function. It can both scroll and adjust the volume, and it also has a very nifty software addon that allows you to add more function. But for the end user, is it really worth it?

Design: Clearly, Griffin’s priority on this was design. And it shows through. The build quality is truly excellent and the construction material is nearly all aluminium to match almost the entire apple product line. When it is used, it works well, with the scrolling motion incredibly smooth and precise, giving the perfect amount of tactile feedback. The glowing blue light adds a touch of interest to the otherwise plain device, but its unevenly spread glow could certainly be improved. The small record like ridges circling the top of the knob are beautiful and the perfect depth. The clicking motion is incredibly precise though maybe a little tricky to click while the knob is still being turned. Overall, a great effort by Griffin’s design team on this one.

Function: To be brutally honest, there is so little function to this device it is hard to write a paragraph on. It seems that it was mostly simply a play thing of the design team, a way of proving their worth, with little function added on. It can perform two actions; circular motion and clicking. It’s great for showing off to friends by scrolling frame by frame in iMovie or QuickTime, and it is actually fairly useful for movie editing, but other than that, it seems to be focused on, well, volume control. Even though there are three great keys on your keyboard, dedicated to the job, the PowerMate does serve as a fun add on to control the volume, emulating the knobs found on big AV devices.

Final Thoughts: Overall, the PowerMate looks great, and does what it does great. Problem is, it doesn’t do that much. For those who do manage to find a function for the device, they will be far from disappointed, and at a reasonable price of $45 US, it is far from overpriced. Fill this one under ‘Great for some, entirely useless for most’.

Price: $45 US + Postage

Available from: www.griffintechnology.com

Compatible with: All PCs and Macs with a USB port

Final Score: 6 out of 10 (Recommended for some)