HiDock’s H1 USB-C dock represents a pointy departure (or is it an evolution?) away from most modern docking stations. A few of the normal connections on this USB-C dock really feel virtually like an afterthought, in comparison with this dock’s true objective: serving as an AI-powered speakerphone of types, with an related service for transcribing and summarizing calls. All of it feels contemporary and new.

The issue is that this: The accompanying HiNotes transcription app is simply an annoyance or two away from being actually worthwhile. However HiDock has made the app a income play, and lots of the H1’s worth unravels consequently. Nonetheless, for $279 there’s a lot right here — so it’s robust to easily dismiss this dock out of hand.

Additional studying: See our roundup of the most effective USB-C dongles and docks to find out about competing merchandise.

You may’t even characterize the H1’s {hardware} as “simply” a dock. The HiDock H1 consists of two linked gadgets, all tied to your laptop computer through a USB-C cable that’s about 1 meter lengthy (39 inches) and transfers a rated 100W of energy. The principle dock contains a big speaker, with quantity controls, a noise-cancellation slider, and buttons to put and cling up calls. However there’s additionally a separate Bluetooth earpiece, tucked right into a charging cradle which magnetically connects to the principle dock itself.

In any other case, the “dock” features are pretty regular. On the rear of the speaker are two HDMI 2.0 ports, two 10Gpbs USB ports (USB-A and USB-C), a 5Gbps USB-A port, 2.5Gbps Ethernet, an influence port. A second 10Gbps USB-C port with 18W charging capabilities, and UHS-II rated microSD and SD card slots will be discovered on the facet. Once more, that’s quite a bit.

Mark Hachman / IDG

Mark Hachman / IDG

Mark Hachman / IDG

With all that, you would make the argument that this dock deserved a Thunderbolt connection. It doesn’t, although. The H1 provides USB-C with Show Stream Compression (DSC), which signifies that it could assist two shows at 4K decision. On my default (Eleventh-gen Core) laptop computer, it delivered 4K on one show at 30Hz, and 1440p on a second at 60Hz. On a second laptop computer, with a 14th-gen Intel Core inside it, the dock powered two 4K shows at 60Hz apiece as anticipated. Sadly, docks with DSC expertise inside profit from trendy, up-to-date {hardware}, and laptop computer makers do a woefully poor job of telling you in case your laptop computer will assist the usual.

HiDock’s H1, then, is extra precisely in contrast in opposition to USB-C dongles and docks, however its value pushes upwards into the category of Thunderbolt docks.

The dock itself is slightly chunkier than you may usually count on. With the earpiece cradle linked, the size of the dock is about 8.25 inches, and the depth is 3.5 inches. However the speaker, which factors up at an angle, pushes the peak to 2.75 inches or so. That’s not an enormous deal in any respect, but it surely does imply that the dock could not match below a show. And at 1.15 kilos, it is a desktop system.

The H1 works fairly properly as a standalone audio dock. The mono speaker (7W full band driver, 5W tweeter) delivers daring, loud sound, with the quantity dial linked to your laptop computer’s quantity controls. Tapping the quantity dial pauses any audio streams you could have taking part in, and lights up a small LED ring to warn you.

Mark Hachman / IDG

Mark Hachman / IDG

Mark Hachman / IDG

I’m much less impressed by the audio earpiece. First, you’ll have to jack up the quantity to most to listen to something. You additionally could have to dial down the background noise-cancellation slider to its center level and even decrease. (When taking part in again Spotify, the audio minimize out and in in an in any other case quiet room till I lowered the slider.) There’s not lots of vary to the sound, both; the earpiece works finest for calls, not music. I additionally had bother merely clipping the earpiece to my ear, although I attribute that extra to my choice for earbuds. HiDock charges the speak time at eight hours, which I didn’t particularly take a look at.

There’s no headphone jack; the built-in speaker and earpiece is all of the dock provides in that regard.

Mark Hachman / IDG

Mark Hachman / IDG

Mark Hachman / IDG

I merely couldn’t get the HiDock to file a name or audio that I spoke into it, although, which is among the H1’s promoting factors. The dock paired with my cellphone simply through Bluetooth, and I used to be capable of place after which cling up calls utilizing the dock itself. However there’s a devoted HiDock key on the higher proper that’s supposed to start recording if held down for 1.5 seconds. There’s an identical button on the earpiece that, when held, ought to do the identical factor. Neither appeared to work, even when the HiNotes app was open and linked.

The AI angle: HiDock’s HiNotes app

The accompanying HiNotes internet app permits you to use the dock to file and transcribe audio, together with calls, which, on paper, is an especially useful characteristic.

HiDock guarantees that the H1 comes with “lifetime transcription,” and that seems to be true. You’re inspired to obtain the HiNotes app in your laptop computer, Chromebook, or Android/iOS cellphone. Every HiDock comes with a complementary “membership,” the title for the midrange plan. The essential plan is free, however you solely obtain 30 notes. The midrange membership plan offers you a limiteless variety of notes — however, just like the free plan, every word is just 10 minutes lengthy.

Mark Hachman / IDG

Mark Hachman / IDG

Mark Hachman / IDG

You’ll have to pay ($12.99/1,200 minutes, or $119.99 for 12,000 minutes) for a “Professional” subscription that unlocks AI summaries and guide speaker identification. In the event you add a file, although, the file will be as much as 4 hours in size. The upshot? You’ll ultimately have to pay HiDock one thing to take full benefit of the H1’s capabilities.

It will get weirder, nonetheless. The HiNotes app isn’t a local app however an internet app, each in your cellphone, pc, and Chromebook. And whereas the desktop apps can handle your recordings, it seems that you would be able to solely file from the cell app. I assumed that you just’d be capable to file a cellphone name or audio simply by tapping a button on the dock or earpiece, however that doesn’t seem like the case. The combination simply isn’t as tightly woven as I might hope.

HiDock gave me some minutes as a part of the Skilled subscription to mess around with. After I tried transcribing utilizing the “membership” that accompanied the HiDock, HiNotes recorded briefly snippets and phrases. After being upgraded to the skilled plan, the transcription auto-formatted into paragraphs. The formatting was odd, too, providing a unique UI relying on whether or not I used to be viewing the app in portrait or panorama mode, and on a small or a full-sized monitor. It was slightly disconcerting.

Mark Hachman / IDG

Mark Hachman / IDG

Mark Hachman / IDG

However the recognition was excellent in each instances. I might have preferred the recording and the textual content to sync (Microsoft OneNote did this years in the past!) and I needed to manually tag the speaker each single time. In any other case, although, it was fairly spectacular.

For me, these nitpicks paled compared to the 10-minute limitation. Most of us schedule convention calls in blocks of half-hour to a full hour, so a 10-minute audio word actually doesn’t minimize it. The AI summaries are slightly good although, and assist to make sense of the dialog. In the event you got here to this evaluate questioning whether or not I’d select HiNotes over an AI-powered service like Otter.ai, the reply is: no, I wouldn’t.

HiDock H1: Efficiency

It’s considerably straightforward to overlook that the H1 is a dock, too! The HiDock H1 was typically secure — although, as famous above, what resolutions it helps will rely in your laptop computer. The H1 additionally often dropped the 4K sign for a second or two, leading to a black display however not really disconnecting the show itself. In any other case, although, the dock was secure.

Merely as a dock, the H1’s efficiency was fairly good. The dock handed 94W of energy to the laptop computer (at or close to the all-time excessive) from the compact little 150W energy brick. Whereas the dock’s metallic chassis stays completely cool, the brick heats up fairly a bit, slightly alarmingly so. Choose up the dock, and also you’ll discover that all the warmth is routed to the underside, which will get fairly heat.

The dock additionally provided 14.4W out of the USB-C charging port on the facet, which can fast-charge a smartphone. Once more, that is fairly spectacular. Even the opposite USB-C port places out 6.7W, which is kind of good.

Mark Hachman / IDG

Mark Hachman / IDG

Mark Hachman / IDG

The dock dropped 32 frames out of 10,000 whereas streaming, which was okay. I didn’t discover any chop or stutter whereas streaming, which is vital. The dock handed alongside 143MB/s whereas working PCMark’s storage take a look at on my take a look at SSD, on the excessive facet of efficiency, though copying a folder full of assorted information to and from my PC’s desktop throughout the USB-C cable accomplished in a typically common period of time.

I’m reasonably impressed with the HiDock’s efficiency. I can’t deny the worth right here. As a dock, HiDock’s H1 has quite a bit to supply, from the dock {hardware} to the earpiece to the built-in speaker to the HiNotes transcription capabilities. However I can’t assist however suppose that it simply doesn’t dwell as much as what it guarantees: The earpiece is mediocre, and the HiNotes software is actually designed to lock you right into a recurring fee to HiDock, even after “shopping for” the transcription service that accompanies the dock itself.

The HiDock H1 provides a ton on your cash, but when all of the options don’t ship as promised, what then? The HiDock H1 wins 3.5 out of 5 stars, balancing between a concerted effort to ship one thing new and modern, however falling brief.

Do you have to purchase the HiDock H1? I’d maintain off. I feel that HiDock must take a era or two and easy out the wrinkles. HiDock’s effort is worthy of applause, and there’s potential right here. But it surely’s not absolutely achieved inside the HiDock H1.