CES Coverage: Iomega’s SuperHero (Backup and Charger for iPhone) promises to be great

One of the coolest accessories at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) has gotta’ be the Iomega SuperHero Backup and Charger for the iPhone– we’ll call it the SuperHero for short.

Essentially, the SuperHero is designed to let you charge and simultaneously backup your iPhone’s contacts and photos. But, unlike Apple’s proprietary dock which stores the files on your Mac or PC , this peripheral allows you to keep your Little Black Book on a 4GB SD card (which is included with your purchase, by the way).

I know what you’re thinking: how are you going to be able to backup your entire Beatles collection with a mere 4GBs of space?! Here’s the simple answer: you’re not. The SuperHero is not– I repeat, is not– a replacement for Apple’s iTunes software. So, this also means that you won’t be able to make copies of your text messages, emails, or even email settings. Rather, it’s a super convenient way for people who might not sync their phones that often to still be able to backup their contacts and those all-important photos.

The entire process is insanely easy. Simply dock the device, run the free application called ‘Iomega Superhero’, and click the backup button. It’s that easy. You’ll also have the option to backup multiple phones, adjust what you want to backup (Contacts only, for example), or even restore from a backup (it’d make upgrading to a new iPhone that much easier).

As you might’ve guessed, the SuperHero is compatible with the iPhone (3G, 3GS, and 4), as well as the latest generation of the iPod Touch. It’ll ship sometime later this month for around $70, while the app we mentioned is available now. If you ask me, owning one of these is a no-brainer regardless of whether or not you’re an iTunes power user.

Below is our hands-on with the SuperHero. Be sure to watch it; we know you want to.