iPhone 3G not compatible with existing accessories
Questions asked over Apple's (lack of) customer consideration
Reader Experience "I've just fallen foul of the fact that the new iPhone 3G is no longer compatible with a countless number of my existing iPod accessories."
"The problem is that, whilst it may work after a fashion in some, it won't take a charge.
"The cause of this problem apparently lies in the fact that the iPhone 3G, unlike its predecessor and all previous iPods, no longer supports charging though the 12V pins on the [allegedly standard] Apple iPod dock connector, only the USB pins.
"This renders many accessories severely limited at best and, in the case of car audio connectors such as the Dension ICE>Link, effectively useless; with 3G and Bluetooth enabled, the iPhone 3G reportedly gobbles juice even faster than my elderly 2.0 litre Mondeo. The same is apparently true for the Bose Sound Dock and, ironically, even Apple's own iPod HiFi!
"Many 'official' fully integrated car audio systems seem to be suffering the same fate.
"Apple will defend this on the grounds that it has been warning 3rd party manufacturers against using the 12V power pins for some time now; however, surely the idea of a standard (albeit proprietary) such as the iPod dock connector is that the goalposts don't shift. For those hoping that a software update may reactivate the 12V pins and rectify this, think again - it's being reported on various forums that the 12V pins aren't connected to anything inside the iPhone 3G. See numerous posts here.
"Still, it seems that at least one entrepreneurial outfit has detected the possibility of a gold mine in the form of an after-market adapter. (Select iPod standard accessories → iPhone charge converter.)
"So what are the reasons behind this change? Apple doesn't have a great presence in the iPod/iPhone accessories market, but it runs the risk of ticking off God-knows-how-many existing customers, not to mention its business partners in the iPod accessories market. Would anyone from Apple like to fill in the blanks - and suggest when a fix may be available?"
Many thanks to "Doctor Mesmer" for this email. If you have any comments on this issue, Register Hardware wants to know your thoughts.
COMMENTS
Handy reference for iPhone 3G Apps
I was looking for a car charger for my new 3G iphone and found these sites useful:
http://trevinchow.com/blog/2008/07/31/iphone-3g-compatible-accessories/
http://carljonard.com/2008/07/how-to-charge-your-iphone-3g-in-the-car/
http://forums.ilounge.com/showthread.php?t=231828
hate to buck the trend...
...but I had the third-gen iPod which came with a dock and lots of bits and pieces. When it finally died, I got the new iPod "Classic", and it fits just fine in the old dock... just thought I'd say :)
iDontCharge
Dammit I left my 3G iPhone charger and USB cable in the office and headed off on holiday taking the charger and cable which the robbers didn't want to take when they pinched my old 40 Gb iPod photo.
After talking about how great Apple are by using standard connectors I found that my cunning plan had been foiled and I had no way of getting any juice into the phone.
I decided to leave my fruity goodness at home and redirected my calls to my Blackberry Curve which at least has a standard mini USB power connector (nice one RIM). It's just a shame that phones don't offer an option to redirect text messages as well.
PS It is not the only problem
PS it is not the only problem with Ifoney 3G , the latest hot topic in the Cupertino Pirates Roasting Forum is a number of white case new phones complete with pictures of the very flawed external casings after less then one months work in the wild are now sporting numerous hairline fractures as well ! Undoubtedly the other hued Ifoney 3G's will be reporting similar faults shortly !
This cracks me up of the form the silly users of generation one rubbish being bitten in the rump yet again , oh how sweet it is indeed !
Talk about throwaway preplanned obsolete technology being sold to the one in ten thousand flash mob wankers twice in a row in under two years , the Pirates at Cupertino have truly excelled themselves at fleecing their fans yet again !
Or as Ralph Muntz would say to these silly punters "Ha! Ha!" !
Choices with buying Cupertino Pirate technology being bought for it looks superficially cool or good , just turned a mite fatal as a certain socialite would say !
But... how come then that....
... Apples Universal Dock (the one that works with all the other older devices, has a remote etc) works with the new iPhone 3G (as long as you get the little plastic inserts to make it sit snugly)?????
