This will not stand. #dockhumor

Does plugging in the USB cable still work? You get one of those for free right? You seem to have some skill with tools, just rout out a nice looking piece of wood to fit your phone, then hollow out the bottom to fit the cable.

I'm a little confused as to why you'd be willing to pay $100 a month for an iPhone, but not spend a measly $29 on the dock they made to fit it.

Ok, it's a little bit annoying that the old dock doesn't work with the new phone, but that's not a problem exclusive to Apple. It's kindof how electronics companies work. Usually when you buy a new device, you have to get new accessories. It's a silly little game they play, but that's the price you pay to be one of the chosen.

Dock? The last gadget I docked was a Handspring Visor. My phone syncs wirelessly, like Christ fucking intended.

There is a simple way around this. I bought a Belkin USB 2.0 hub with
iPod dock years ago from Woot.

It has a line out… (i am skeptical on this microphone 3GS dock), and
five glorious powered USB ports. I have used it with every iPhone.

Apple is by far the least restrictive in accessories. Buy a zune,
Sansa, or Android phone and see how many options there are for docks
that traverse product generations. If you think the dock sucks. Don't
buy it.

And those universal dock connecters are genius. They allow old 3rd
party devices (like my Teac iPod alarm clock) to securely hold my new
iPhone without any manufacturer intervention.

Lastly, apple dropped the price on the phone series when they got rid
of the dock. This is their version of choice and it keeps fanboys
happy. The price goes down and you don't pay for accessories you
don't need.

So do yourself a favor and stop buying Apple accessories when there
are hundreds of options out there. These options are all thanks to the
dock connector that people hated in 2003, but makes oh so much sense
now. (except that FireWire charging is gone).

Sent from my iPhone

not to mention, the $100 a month service isn't exactly the best service in the whole wide world.

Wow, really? is it that hard to just plug it into the dam wall adapter? if it was any easier to plug it into the dam dock, they would include it instead of the fucking wall adapter. Think about it. Stop bitching, stop whining, and start accepting that APPLE is running the business. Not you. Dont get your panties in a bunch.

grab a dock for an original iphone — my iphone 4's happily charging away in one right now

Are you sure about that microphone-amplifier thing? Because the dock connector provides audio out and having a microphone in the dock connected to an amplifier connected to the audio out jack would be far more expensive than just connecting the audio-out pins on the dock connector directly to the audio out jack.

Um, first off, if you don't want to pay $29 for a dock, use the sync cable. Second, it's common sense that the universal dock adapter is for the universal dock, which in my opinion is the best dock Apple sells because majority of their products work with it.
Second, this statement you said is completely false: “the audio out is provided by a microphone in the base of the dock”. The dock gets the audio from the 30 pin iPod connector. Those two little grills in the dock are there to leave room for the iPhone's speaker and microphone.
Third, if you were upset, you can return these items within 14 days without a restocking fee. You didn't have to waste $9.

That is the price you pay for bending over for Lord Steve and his wonderful world of innovation. He needs all that money so he can keep releasing great “new” features to impress his isheep

YEAH JOHN JEEZ SHUT UP ABOUT APPLE ALREADY THEY ARE CLEARLY BLAMELESS WOW WHAT A WHINER LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Yes, clearly when you spend some money you should have no problem spending some more money, I agree.

The service works wonderfully here in geek centric san francisco. Not sure what you're talking about.

Well, this sounds like ” If you're willing to get fucked once, why not go for double penetration. “

Right, and you, Nikola Tesla, charged your phone in what way?

Yes, yes, I'll register that now.

Surprise surprise, you need a Universal Dock to use adapters made for the Universal Dock, and the shape of the phone changes between hardware revisions. Do you, ya know, think before buying things and then blogging about it, or is it just an impulse?

I wish I could like this 10 times.

Android, cough

The adapter will be for a Universal Dock they work well.

Also, it's only $29.

Without being connected to a computer.

OMG you've got a choice – just buy android phone

Just get it at DealExtreme.com instead of Apple. It'll probably be just a few dollars instead of $29.

Just use 2G Dock

If you are smart, you would have bought a universal dock and used the dock adapter. How could you be stupid enough to think a dock sleeve would fit your 3gs dock? stick to a pc and an android phone please, apple does not want you as an imbecile user who writes silly blogs.

Thanks, this will give me more reason not to go for the Iphone, I have the Icrap 3gs. hated it.

Exactly. Stop being such a puritan and live a little.

nope. Just stop bitching and buy a dock if you need one. I never use one since I dock in my Sony alarm clock.

Yeah, because all Android phones share the same “dock” connector, right?

People………

Buying apple products at this stage of the game is only going to encourage Apple to continue with this bullshit. They won't listen to you unless you STOP GIVING THEM YOUR FUCKING MONEY.

Er, yes, actually. And mini-USB is common and cheap. There's no excuse for using a proprietary connector/charger on a consumer device like this — the only reason to do that is to gouge your customers.

“(Did you know the audio out is provided by a microphone in the base of the dock, which connects to an amplifier and then the audio out jack? It does.)”

No, it doesn't. That's stupid, and you're stupid for thinking that.

That's incorrect, really, the Nexus One for example doesn't have any sort of data connection on the bottom “dock”, only charge points. Having to use a cable != dock. Using a cable is what the OP is trying to avoid.

Really? All I see on twitter is @wilshipley and @chrismessina complaining about AT&T in san francisco sucking big floppy donkey dick

He didn't assume that the dock would fit, but I think it was a reasonable assumption that the identical-looking connector would work the same.

Actually, the bottom of the Nexus One has three contact points: power, ground, and data.

i too would like to get in on this “bitching” thing of which you speak. please add me to your mailing list.

My iPhone 4 works perfectly with my Original iPhone Dock.

Just buy another dock like a good iSheep.

I must agree with you, this is just treating your customer bad for the sake of a little bit of extra false profit.

No, it really doesn't. Maybe in your neighborhood, but try 18th and Valencia sometime. I've suffered severe degradation in a friendship with someone who lives there due to completely -dropped- SMS messages.

You say the new phone is not 'recognized' but that means something in hardware is different, like a different pin-out so… why would it be expected to work?

At this point, anyone still supporting Apple gets exactly what they deserve.

Have fun with your closed platform. Maybe one day you'll develop a sense of ethics and stop funneling money into such a morally corrupt organization.

But probably not. You're probably just another trend-whore like the rest of the iphone flock. Have fun with your shiny.

Because the iphone is put on public display, and the dock is not. When your goal in buying a phone is to flash it around like “bling” to impress other idiots, you're not worried about what your dock looks like.

As soon as someone buys an iphone, it's safe to assume they aren't smart.

It only works if the customer keeps giving them money after being shit on. Apple fanboys will eat whatever Apple gives them, some of them might complain, but when the next iphone comes out, each and every one of those people will go back for another serving.

Once you've shown your corporate overlord that nothing can stop you from giving them money, you've removed all incentive to provide a decent product, haven't you?

The consumers are the cause of this. Apple won't change until people hold them accountable, and no one who buys Apple is interested in that.

Yes. San Faggottycisco, to you. Please don't visit, we don't want to hire any more trash collectors.

I have John's Android. He can't have it back.

It's certainly stupid, but that doesn't mean it's unlikely. I can well imagine they'd do that, in their intensely controlled world of digital rights management. Can't have a device actually outputting copyright data in a form that could be copied with even analogue audio over jack-plug levels of losslessness…

You know, the original iPhone dock works perfectly with the new iPhone 4. Try it out.

Steve Jobs talks you into trying anal and now you're angry because he's going too deep.

j,

why are there ads on your blog?

i feel really good i didn't get an iphone

Hurr, sell something called a universal dock adapter then say it does not work with the old dock yeah it's his fault!

thats great advice…

if you buy android you won't have to worry about a choice in docks or battery life, because you won't have either.

> I assumed it was meant for the dock that I owned, but this adapter was meant for some device which clearly didn’t match any thing that Apple has ever produced.

As implied by the name, the universal dock adapter is an adapter for the universal dock, which Apple produces, and which supports every iPod other than the first and second gen, and every iPhone. http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB125G/C Other apple products with docks also employ the universal docking mechanism, as do the bulk of third party docks. But universal docks are bigger, and they’re uglier, so maybe people prefer the device specific ones.

>(Did you know the audio out is provided by a microphone in the base of the dock, which connects to an amplifier and then the audio out jack? It does.)

Okay, now you’re trolling. Firstly, the iPhone don’t necessarily make any noise while doing audio out, and furthermore, iPods could do audio out before they had speakers! In fact, just a few paragraphs later you provide the true mechanism for audio out – http://pinouts.ru/PortableDevices/ipod_pinout.s… – Pins 3 & 4 on the dock connector do audio out. Maybe you should read before you write.

In general I would suggest that you read before you buy, too, but your original purchase goes beyond that. Just *looking* at the dock tells you it’s not backwards or forwards compatible – it *can’t* be, by necessity of its form! (universal docks don’t have this form and thus *can* be compatible) The fact that these docks don’t implement the internal hardware to make them forward compatible for the 3 people worldwide that dremel away at the dock to fit is about as far from treating their customers like bullshit as you can get.

Apple isn’t the only maker of iPod cables, and iPod charge/connection cables can be bought by consumers for $1.60 each. This is no more than one would pay for MiniUSB. Furthermore, since MiniUSB by itself only does half of what the dock connector does, Apple would have to extend the format in order to maintain their current feature set. Other smartphone manufacturers already do this – devices supporting MiniUSB are using incompatible proprietary extensions to the standard to allow things like extra power input, serial I/O audio I/O and video I/O – so it’s not much different to the iPhone when you move beyond just charging and syncing the phone (and, as I showed above, there is no gouging going on for that). Given the massive momentum behind the dock connector, there are huge downsides for them to changing to a different format (if they did so, they would be accused of gouging customers because they would force the obsolescence of millions of accessories), and given the lack of any pervasive use of microUSB, there’s not much of an upside to doing so, for either consumers or for Apple.

As far as *docks* (you know, the topic of discussion) are concerned, its even less of an issue – Apple’s devices are about the only place one can even say there is a standard. The connector itself is a small part of the issue for docks – not only do the connectors have to be compatible, the devices also need to fit. Standardisation in docks is *impossible* unless smartphones standardise the shape, size, and connector placement in their phone. (ie: it’s impossible) Even within most individual companies, connector placements and form factors vary wildly. This is why most docks are for one device only, even if the actual connector is standard.

Apple have been fairly set on a form factor & connector placement since the original iPod, and have been merely making things smaller and thinner along the way (excluding the iPad). This means they *can* have a universal dock, big enough to fit the older devices, but with inserts to make newer devices fit nicely. This is what they do – and what *only* they do. Is there *any* other manufacturer that has a forward compatible dock?

Hmmm…. I don't use my dock much, but decided to try out the dock that came with my 1st gen 2g iPhone. Conclusion… We have SYNC. I never use the thing so next time you're in Boston, you can have it.

While Apple’s products have many benefits, they are damaged by a disturbing
set of limitations on what customers and designers can do with them. This is
most especially actual of iOS, though other apple organization company
organization company products sometimes experience in the same way.