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Apple Announces New Dock Connector Called 'Lightning'

Uh-oh. Charging $29 for the cable/adapter can only mean that the it is not a simple adapter/cable. There must be a chip in there somewhere. And that means cheap third party cables won't be available anytime soon, if ever.

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sandman42 said:
To support analog line out, it seems like a pretty simple solution would be to make a connector that plugs into the lightning port and to the headphone port at the same time. in fact, I wonder if this wasn't part of the reason for moving the headphone port to the bottom. So far we haven't seen any connectors like this, but I expect they'll be coming...
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Good point. Very probable.
 
ctdonath said:
The announcement noted "All-digital, 8-signal design." Ergo, no analog audio/video wiring to just connect in-product analog hardware to another device.
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But on most existing devices, are they taking analog audio from the old connector? I wouldn't be surprised if at least some were taking digital audio and had their own D/A converters.
 
Well it's got one of those typical clever names Apple likes to give it's products.

It would be nice to have a longer cable, but short cables are another Apple tradition.

Every inch they keep for themselves... means more money.... and Apple loves their money :)
 
Listen up everyone that has a BMW or other car that uses the "iPod Out" feature to recreate the iPod or iPhone's UI on your car's video screen (EXAMPLE)....

Apple's new Lightning to 30-Pin adapters (big ugly white plastic or cable version) do not support "iPod Out" or "Video Out!"

If you own a car or audio head unit with an iPod/iPhone interface like the example above, YOU ARE OUT OF LUCK (for now) trying to use the new iPhone 5 with your vehicle or head unit.

Just saying!

Mark
 
are they including a transfer cable for free in every iphone? Otherwise, this is a terrible idea lol.
 
Mark Booth said:
Listen up everyone that has a BMW or other car that uses the "iPod Out" feature to recreate the iPod or iPhone's UI on your car's video screen (EXAMPLE)....

Apple's new Lightning to 30-Pin adapters (big ugly white plastic or cable version) do not support "iPod Out" or "Video Out!"

If you own a car or audio head unit with an iPod/iPhone interface like the example above, YOU ARE OUT OF LUCK (for now) trying to use the new iPhone 5 with your vehicle or head unit.

Just saying!

Mark
Click to expand...

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milo said:
Don't jump to conclusions.
Click to expand...
 
mahk said:
On the Apple Store pages for the two adapters, they both have a warning about "Video and iPod Out not supported."

I get the video part, but does that mean I won't be able to use the adapter with the 30-pin cable in my car to play music?
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milo said:
That's what I initially thought too, but googling it, it looks like "iPod out" is a specific feature where the iPod's screen display is output to other devices (cars etc). But they should still clarify that.
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I hope you are right... otherwise, there is no reason to buy the adapter.

Assuming you are right, I wish they had a black one because my Zeppelin Air is All black and a white adapter would look hideous

appleguy123 said:
Will new docking stations even support the old features like audio out, or will they need to use Bluetooth for that? We lost pins, so I think we'll lose features too.
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A good chuck of the pins were for firewire...

motorazr said:
You'd think with a name like lightning, they planned for it to work with thunderbolt...
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They still could... I assume this will be able to support USB3 and Thunderbolt when they decide to make the cable available

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What is with some of their product names and slogans...

EarPods?? Really?

On the Apple Store page...

New iPod Touch: "Engineered for maximum funness"
 
Mark Booth said:
If you own a car or audio head unit with an iPod/iPhone interface like the example above, YOU ARE OUT OF LUCK (for now) trying to use the new iPhone 5 with your vehicle or head unit.
Click to expand...

I hope you are wrong. But at least it's only the adapter that doesn't support iPod out; not the lightning port. You just need to get the lightning-to-USB cable instead of using the adapter.
 
avonord said:
I hope you are wrong. But at least it's only the adapter that doesn't support iPod out; not the lightning port. You just need to get the lightning-to-USB cable instead of using the adapter.
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I don't think USB will cut it. I'm pretty sure that all vehicle and 3rd party head unit radios use a CUSTOM cable if they want to use the iPod Out feature. I don't think there are enough pins on USB to support iPod Out.

Mark
 
Why bother releasing a new cable if it's not any faster? Apple would've stated it was faster in the keynote if it were usb3
 
Video and iPod Out not supported.

This pretty much sums it up for me:

*Video and iPod Out not supported.
 
musio said:
Why bother releasing a new cable if it's not any faster? Apple would've stated it was faster in the keynote if it were usb3
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It's thinner. I bet the old port wouldn't even fit on the new nano, otherwise. But I agree -- I much prefer a faster port too. Not that I have a Mac with USB3!

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AlexJaye said:
"Lightning" is a secret key word for "money" in this case.
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Or speed in which their wallet inflate. :D

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Mark Booth said:
I don't think USB will cut it. I'm pretty sure that all vehicle and 3rd party head unit radios use a CUSTOM cable if they want to use the iPod Out feature. I don't think there are enough pins on USB to support iPod Out.

Mark
Click to expand...

My BMW 1 series uses a standard USB cable. USB is USB. At most, the new iPhone may have a newer protocol when talking to accessories. Even so, it can easily downgrade to the older protocol when the two devices negotiate for communication.
 
Mark Booth said:
I don't think USB will cut it. I'm pretty sure that all vehicle and 3rd party head unit radios use a CUSTOM cable if they want to use the iPod Out feature. I don't think there are enough pins on USB to support iPod Out.

Mark
Click to expand...

This is very very bad news. I'll feel like I'm back in the stone ages if I can't use my iPhone with my Beamer.

I wanted to get a phone that had added features, not subtracted them.
 
avonord said:
My BMW 1 series uses a standard USB cable. USB is USB. At most, the new iPhone may have a newer protocol when talking to accessories. Even so, it can easily downgrade to the older protocol when the two devices negotiate for communication.
Click to expand...

And it shows the iPod screen interface on the BMW screen? If that's the case, "ipod out" may still work using a new usb/lightning cable, just not with an adapter.
 
avonord said:
It's thinner. I bet the old port wouldn't even fit on the new nano, otherwise. But I agree -- I much prefer a faster port too. Not that I have a Mac with USB3!

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Or speed in which their wallet inflate. :D

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My BMW 1 series uses a standard USB cable. USB is USB. At most, the new iPhone may have a newer protocol when talking to accessories. Even so, it can easily downgrade to the older protocol when the two devices negotiate for communication.
Click to expand...

What year is your 1-series? I have a 2008 3-series and it uses a Y-cable to connect the iPhone/iPod.
 
kas23 said:
What year is your 1-series? I have a 2008 3-series and it uses a Y-cable to connect the iPhone/iPod.
Click to expand...

I have a 2012. And I have a proclip car mount and a cheap black USB cable that connects to the USB port of my car.

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milo said:
And it shows the iPod screen interface on the BMW screen? If that's the case, "ipod out" may still work using a new usb/lightning cable, just not with an adapter.
Click to expand...

Yea.. The factory head unit shows the song and playlist from my iPhone.
 
alexgowers said:
So disappointed at the black version, looks like a black brick!

Why oh why go with anodised black metal as the band!

I would have preferred polished silver so so so so so much more.

The white one it will be for me considering.
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i'm the opposite ive gotten all white ios devices that were available so far but im going back to black for the 5 because of the black band. I think it looks way sharper then the silver band on the white. Kind of wich the white one had the black band as well think it would still look good like a white 4S in a black bumper.
 
Mighty Muskrat said:
Thunderbolt and Lightning, very very frightening

(Galileo Figaro)
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Aww man, beat me to it :p

To all those complaining, the new connector is not USB based that is why they didn't just make it micro usb port... adaptable interface means they could release a lighting to thunderbolt or lighting to usb3 cable in the near future. Of course they will pack in a standard usb2 cable in the box since it's still what most people have on their computers.
 
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