[MikeD]

Well, in Baig's article/review, it seems like the iPhone can't charge in some 'older' devices like a Bose Sound Dock etc...
From Gizmodo article: http://gizmodo.com/5023168/iphone-3g-reviews-are-in
"Baig also says that the speaker is improved, but notes strangely that you can't directly charge the new iPhone 3G in some old accessories, such as a Bose SoundDock or a Belkin car kit. There's actually an adapter coming that will enable charging on those. Weird. He finishes up with his wishes for the next generation: Flash, Java and WMV support, removable battery and an expandable memory slot. All in all, a pretty positive review."

I learned this first hand today in my car kit. ARGH! Now what I want to know is what is this 'Adapter' that is coming that will enable the charging? Anyone have any idea?

[Helmling]

Me too. Glad to hear about the adaptor. I was getting ready to eBay my Monster cable since the iPod it originally serviced died two weeks ago.

[mduell]

At this point it's pretty reasonable to expect Apple to break accessory compatibility with every generation.

[Nodnarb]

Originally Posted by MikeD 

I learned this first hand today in my car kit. ARGH! Now what I want to know is what is this 'Adapter' that is coming that will enable the charging? Anyone have any idea?

Me too! I came here to post the same thing... This sucks.

I was listening to Pandora in my car all day on the car kit, that used to charge my phone, and now my iPhone is almost dead. Lame.

(But, Pandora is freakin' awesome for the car!)

[ort888]

Didn't the Belkin have the opposite problem before? It would charge but not play music through the dock connector?

I thought it got patched or something.

All of these accessories add up quick. What other car adapters are out there that charge and play music though the dock connecter? Will they all be broken or just the Belkin one?

[Nodnarb]

Originally Posted by ort888 

Didn't the Belkin have the opposite problem before? It would charge but not play music through the dock connector?

I thought it got patched or something.

All of these accessories add up quick. What other car adapters are out there that charge and play music though the dock connecter? Will they all be broken or just the Belkin one?

Mine wasn't Belkin, it was some adapter from this car shop near me that worked flawlessly with the first iPhone.

[MikeD]

I wonder who will release this miracle adapter because I want my car to charge my iPhone since I have a long commute.

[Cory Bauer]

iPhone 3G doesn't charge in the iPod hiifi.

[MikeD]

Originally Posted by Cory Bauer 

iPhone 3G doesn't charge in the iPod hiifi.

That's actually funny. Nice one Apple. Where's the adapter? My battery was already running low today (Think it may may have been due to GPS use and the GPS antenna may have still been active while I was in a movie... When I saw battery was in the red zone, I was thinking again about this issue. Because normally, I would just plug it into the iPod connector in my car and it would juice back up...

[Cory Bauer]

Originally Posted by MikeD 

That's actually funny. Nice one Apple. Where's the adapter? My battery was already running low today (Think it may may have been due to GPS use and the GPS antenna may have still been active while I was in a movie... When I saw battery was in the red zone, I was thinking again about this issue. Because normally, I would just plug it into the iPod connector in my car and it would juice back up...

Yep. Doesn't charge thru the iPod car connector that comes built in to Scion vehicles either, and I assume the same would be true for all cars with iPod connectivity. I started with a full battery this morning and wasn't able to get thru the day without running out of power.

I'm unsure how an adapter could be added between the iPhone and a dock like the iPod Hifi anyhow.

[chabig]

When I get mine this week I'll have to try it with my Alpine adapter. It really doesn't make any sense that the phone won't charge if you provide power.

[Nodnarb]

This is getting ridiculous.

I NEVER had to worry about charging my old iPhone. Ever. I could even forget for a night, and it'd still be good for the better part of the next day.

Now, especially with the car charger not working, my phone is saying 20% battery left at about 4-5 PM after having a full charge. And it's a double edged sword, because 3G takes up so much battery, yet I can't even charge the damn thing in my car when I'm out during the day.

This needs to be fixed. Soon.

[ttoppins]

Picked up the Griffin Tuneflex and it works fine with my white 16gig Iphone 3G. Charges the phone fine and the aux stereo audio output works well into my car into the aux audio input of the stereo. Also, bluetooth in my BMW picks up incoming and outgoing calls fine and pauses audio. Good solution although I would rather have a more stable mount like a vent bracket mount. The flexible arms coming out of the cigarette lighter socket tend to wobble. It's a good solution until other options come out though.

[Brien]

What idiot decided to break compatibility in the first place? This seems like it would have been pretty easy to fix.

[Randman]

My Griffin PowerJolt works with the 3Gs as it did with the previous gen.

[pete.z]

Get a 1.99 dollar charger cable from China on Ebay,and wait for a better solution....

[chabig]

Originally Posted by Nodnarb 

This needs to be fixed. Soon.

Let us know when you fix it by buying a new charger.

[Nodnarb]

Originally Posted by chabig 

Let us know when you fix it by buying a new charger.

My charger/stereo plug is $200 and is installed directly into the back of my car stereo and comes out of the glove box.

If it was just a stupid cigarette lighter charger, I'd just buy a new one, but my point is that the $200 solution I had to play the iPhone through my stereo while charging no longer works. Buying a new charger wouldn't do anything, as I wouldn't be able to play music while it's charging.

[ghporter]

Isn't part of the USB standard a requirement that a device get permission to use current through the USB connection? That means an intelligent host, not just some +5VDC source. If I remember correctly, a lot of earlier iPods did this too. It sounds to me like this is simply a matter of the iPhone complying with standards... Where does all this "how could Apple do this to me?" stuff come from? It's like some people here think Apple is trying to get rid of paying customers. I understand some of you are still sleep deprived from that long line on Friday, but come on! Take a deep breath and remember to charge your phone when you get home. And maybe when you get to your office too.

I certainly wouldn't buy a $10 charger to support my $300 (with the AT&T discount) iPhone and expect it to work perfectly. Nodnarb, what $200 solution are you using? What iPod models did it work with?

[scottiB]

Apple has abandoned Firewire as a method of charging iPods and iPhones starting with the iPhone 3G, and as a result any devices that used the Firewire method of charging will no longer work with the iPhone 3G.

From Apple Gazette.

[Eriamjh]

Originally Posted by scottiB 

From Apple Gazette.

That was going to be my first guess. Until the 3G, you could charge any iPod on the FW bus. Now, that feature was probably removed.

In other words, a charger that charges on the USB bus will be fine. Older, pre-USB chargers will not. Since FW runs at 12-36V depending on implementation, there's more protection needed compared to the 5V that USB puts out.

[MikeD]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

Isn't part of the USB standard a requirement that a device get permission to use current through the USB connection? That means an intelligent host, not just some +5VDC source. If I remember correctly, a lot of earlier iPods did this too. It sounds to me like this is simply a matter of the iPhone complying with standards... Where does all this "how could Apple do this to me?" stuff come from? It's like some people here think Apple is trying to get rid of paying customers. I understand some of you are still sleep deprived from that long line on Friday, but come on! Take a deep breath and remember to charge your phone when you get home. And maybe when you get to your office too.

I certainly wouldn't buy a $10 charger to support my $300 (with the AT&T discount) iPhone and expect it to work perfectly. Nodnarb, what $200 solution are you using? What iPod models did it work with?

What about the $10K+ Scions and even Cory's Apply HiFi? These aren't just $10 chargers...

[GORDYmac]

Apple got a nice little patent for denying certain items from working with their devices. This issue with accessories not working on iPhones appeared shortly afterwards.

By the way, that cheapo charger from China won't work either.

[Nodnarb]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

I certainly wouldn't buy a $10 charger to support my $300 (with the AT&T discount) iPhone and expect it to work perfectly. Nodnarb, what $200 solution are you using? What iPod models did it work with?

It was a $150 adapter (+$50 installed) that plugs directly into my car stereo, and automatically turns on the iPod function of the phone and I can control the device through my car stereo controls. Not sure of the brand name, but I wouldn't call this some dumb adapter that I'm expecting to work; I'm shocked that it doesn't work, considering it worked with my old iPhone, my 5th gen iPod, and my girlfriends nano, and charges them all.

This still works with my phone (music playing, etc.) but the charging does not work.

How is that acceptable in your eyes? Not saying "Apple is screwing me over on purpose" but this has to be something new in this iPhone, and I don't see a purpose for it.

Combined with the lower battery life of this model, and the lack of options to charge in car while playing music, this disrupts my previous routine of having an always-charged iPhone and using it to play music in the car all the time. Now I can't do that.

[scottiB]

Did you have something like this installed?

Regardless, the new iPhone (and I'm sure all future iPods) have lost the ability to charge by the pins assigned to FireWire (as iPods lost the ability to sync and mount via FireWire). Belkin, or someone, will probably develop and adapter that will route the power from FireWire to USB, though how those will work in audio speaker cradles, I've no idea (I have an iPod Hi-Fi).

[herbsman]

For those looking to replace their existing car chargers that have AUDIO/AUX stereo-out ports while not spending too much money...

I just got off the phone with griffin tech support and the guy told me that the griffin autopilot ($49.95) should be compatible with the new iphone 3g although it's not officially certified:

http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/autopilot

I believe him because I read another poster on discussions.apple.com forums mention that it was compatible with his new iphone 3g.

I'll be purchasing this at an apple store tonight or ordering via the web and i'll confirm the reports unless someone here can confirm first.

[vmarks]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

Isn't part of the USB standard a requirement that a device get permission to use current through the USB connection? That means an intelligent host, not just some +5VDC source. If I remember correctly, a lot of earlier iPods did this too. It sounds to me like this is simply a matter of the iPhone complying with standards... Where does all this "how could Apple do this to me?" stuff come from? It's like some people here think Apple is trying to get rid of paying customers. I understand some of you are still sleep deprived from that long line on Friday, but come on! Take a deep breath and remember to charge your phone when you get home. And maybe when you get to your office too.

I certainly wouldn't buy a $10 charger to support my $300 (with the AT&T discount) iPhone and expect it to work perfectly. Nodnarb, what $200 solution are you using? What iPod models did it work with?

(a) Firewire charging has been deprecated for some time. It finally went away in the new iPhone and some other iPods.

(b) 5vdc 500mA is the USB spec, and works fine to charge any iPhone, new or old. AFAIK, Motorola were the guys that used a standard mini usb connector, but ran a resistor between the contacts on theirs to signal to the phone that it was ok to charge.

(c) What Apple accepts or rejects (see the patent mentioned by GORDYmac) are devices which need to use the authentication chip to communicate their features with the iPod/iPhone. In the past, the iPod connector had raw composite video out and l/r audio. Now it has an authentication chip which tells the iPod/iPhone (a) I'm a legitimate licensed device, (b) these are the functions I can perform.

It's a little more complex than that, but this is why some older accessories will not function with the newer devices.

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by MikeD 

What about the $10K+ Scions and even Cory's Apply HiFi? These aren't just $10 chargers...

But do they have an active hub? Or, as vmarks points out, a chip that says "I'm an authorized device and this is what I can do..."? It looks like EVERYBODY got left out in the cold on this. Now it's sounding more and more like "we won't let ANYTHING out of the bag before launch" on Apple's part, and that's pretty un-smart. The third party channel is huge and supports Apple rather than directly competing with them...

[MikeD]

Not sure about the active hub and the chip I believe is a newer thing Apple has been doing. I agree with you that it's unsmart for Apple to be doing this. And those accessories do help Apple. As for the car makers, it takes forever for them to get new tech into cars (Usually hits Europe/Asia first a few years earlier). Now that a lot of cars are getting iPod connectivity, for Apple to 'break' it, won't make the automakers likely to keep em in there (support reasons). They'll just keep satellite as the only option.

[wood13]

How do you know, aside from the phone dying on you, that the charger isn't working? I've got two devices: a Belkin TuneCast Auto and a generic XtremeMac car charger. The charge indicator in the status bar comes on when plugged into either of them but I suspect the XtremeMac charger is not actually charging the phone.

If the charge indicator comes on, is it safe to assume charging is occurring?

[Nodnarb]

Originally Posted by wood13 

How do you know, aside from the phone dying on you, that the charger isn't working? I've got two devices: a Belkin TuneCast Auto and a generic XtremeMac car charger. The charge indicator in the status bar comes on when plugged into either of them but I suspect the XtremeMac charger is not actually charging the phone.

If the charge indicator comes on, is it safe to assume charging is occurring?

My phone actually says "charging is not supported with this accessory." I'd say it's safe to assume that if you see the charging symbol, your phone's charging.

[vmarks]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

But do they have an active hub? Or, as vmarks points out, a chip that says "I'm an authorized device and this is what I can do..."? It looks like EVERYBODY got left out in the cold on this. Now it's sounding more and more like "we won't let ANYTHING out of the bag before launch" on Apple's part, and that's pretty un-smart. The third party channel is huge and supports Apple rather than directly competing with them...

Sometimes companies have to make entirely new devices to comply with the new specifications where older devices cannot be updated. Consider my experience with a 1st generation DLO HomeDock Deluxe. I had a 3G iPod I placed in it, and it would not charge. It occasionally refused to display the music properly on screen, and would sometimes lock up. Upon removing from the dock it would work again. I called DLO support, and the nice young lady said "It's a surprise that it works at all!"

[ghporter]

So Toyota's deal with the Scions wasn't licensed with Apple? Or did Apple dump them? Or is this just a matter of "last year's model" being obsolete now that the new iPhones are out? It still sounds like a bad idea and bad business on Apple's part.

[wood13]

@nodnarb: Ah, that was the part I was missing. I've read several reports of chargers not working but I've not seen anyone describe a specific error message before, hence my consternation.

Thanks.

[vmarks]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

So Toyota's deal with the Scions wasn't licensed with Apple? Or did Apple dump them? Or is this just a matter of "last year's model" being obsolete now that the new iPhones are out? It still sounds like a bad idea and bad business on Apple's part.

Firstly: Toyota doesn't make car radios. They, like every other car manufacturer takes bids on this job from folks like Harman Kardon, sets what they're willing to pay for a radio per vehicle, and HK (or other) comes back with a stereo that meets the budget.

HK is a licensee and for Toyota to rebrand makes them also very likely a licensee, who followed the spec and license requirements for compatibility with specific devices. As you might guess, the spec is updated from time to time as new information becomes available.

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by vmarks 

Firstly: Toyota doesn't make car radios. They, like every other car manufacturer takes bids on this job from folks like Harman Kardon, sets what they're willing to pay for a radio per vehicle, and HK (or other) comes back with a stereo that meets the budget.

HK is a licensee and for Toyota to rebrand makes them also very likely a licensee, who followed the spec and license requirements for compatibility with specific devices. As you might guess, the spec is updated from time to time as new information becomes available.

Excellent points. The "iPod ready" feature is something Toyota used as a marketing item due to HK saying that their radio was "iPod ready." And Harmon Kardon's radios should still be compatible with iPod functions and features, whether or not they work with iPhones. I guess I got caught up in "why doesn't this just work?"

[MikeD]

Well, my car adapter DOES work with my iPod Classic. Just not my iPhone. They 'should' have one in the same compatibility with instruments that plug into the charge port though (so you would think right). It's just easier carrying one device over 2.

[MacOnlySince80s]

My wife's first generation iPhone never recognized various USB chargers (car charger for my Treo and Midland BaseCamp w/ Dynamo). I just got a GearJuice battery pack and it came with a $2.99 adapter that makes my iPhone 3G recognize both of these USB chargers. Worth a try.

[Eug]

Hmmm... The iPhone charges when plugged into my Dell monitor's USB port, but does not consistently charge when plugged into my Belkin USB hub.

Weird.

[MikeD]

Eug, is this using the regular white iPhone cable? That's weird because I'd assume it would work with all Apple white cables (since I thought this may be a proprietary cable issue).

[Eug]

Regular white iPhone cable. Perhaps the power output isn't enough from that hub.

[onecleverthought]

Doesn't charge in the Pioneer Avic-D3 either.

[xi_hyperon]

It's ridiculous that I can't charge my new iPhone on my HiFi. I mean, really?

[MikeD]

Well, I hope this issue gets addressed. I purchased a PowerJolt in the meantime to charge the phone in the car as needed. The manufacturer of my cars iPod kit stated that there could be a cable swap in the future.. Apple needs to just stick with one 'format' so that all accessories work with all the iPods/iPhones with the same dock connector...

[MikeD]

Originally Posted by xi_hyperon 

It's ridiculous that I can't charge my new iPhone on my HiFi. I mean, really?

This IS nuts!!! Now with the 3G, you could stream good music and have it play through the HiFi right? But if it won't charge... useless since all that streaming would drain the battery pretty quickly.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by xi_hyperon 

It's ridiculous that I can't charge my new iPhone on my HiFi. I mean, really?

Wut? Seriously??!?!



That's majorly lame.

[Nodnarb]

So after a couple weeks (almost), I'm still disappointed. I find my self less willing to use the iPhone in the car for its iPod and Pandora functions, because that just drains the battery more while being unable to charge. I already turned off the 3G unless I need it so my battery lasts more than half a day.

I'm sort of up a creek without a paddle, since I sold my first gen iPhone. Anyone hear any updates on some sort of adapter/ (possible) software upgrade to allow this?

Is this even fixable through software, or is it a hardware limitation on the new phone?

[Randman]

I don't see what the big fuss is. New iPhone, get a new charger. They don't about as much as a case and you can't use the 2g cases with a 3G phone.

[analogika]

Originally Posted by Randman 

I don't see what the big fuss is. New iPhone, get a new charger. They don't about as much as a case and you can't use the 2g cases with a 3G phone.

Hey everybody!

Check out the guy who didn't read the thread!

[Nodnarb]

Yeah, good job Randman. Not what the thread is saying at all.