Apple Promises iPhone 5-Compatible HDMI and VGA Cables Coming Soon

[Alameda]

It's called technological progress. If you don't want the state of the art to move forward, that's up to you, but technology is going to change and Apple is on the forefront of that. The 30-pin connector was getting very clunky and inelegant and I think this new adapter will allow smaller, wearable computing devices into the future.

Sure, but hundreds of millions of smartphones use microUSB, which can provide 1080p audio/video, power, charging, control, and data. So we could be buying standard $4 chargers instead of $30 Apple chargers. I love Apple, but this move is just a money-grab.

 

[Want300]

Sure, but hundreds of millions of smartphones use microUSB, which can provide 1080p audio/video, power, charging, control, and data. So we could be buying standard $4 chargers instead of $30 Apple chargers. I love Apple, but this move is just a money-grab.

http://thetechblock.com/the-foolproof-dock-connector

This guy sheds a lot of light on the new dock connector and why it was necessary.

 

[portishead]

Yes, my iPhone, my iPod, my iPad. Everytime I travel to a hotel room, everytime my kids want to watch movies at their friends and families, every dinner party where parents want 90 minutes to have adult talk time.

This is invaluable to me.

Do you know how many people still do not have AppleTV, Blu-Ray, iDevices or flat screen TVs. Still a heck of a lot.

Mac Rumors represents an elite group of technically savvy people that are leading the purchases in this area.

You're a little late to the discussion but I don't understand your last sentence. Actually what does people not having flat screen tvs or blu ray players have anything to do with it? You sound like you always use it for your kids but that doesn't seem very wise. Give the kids a break once in a while from the tv please!

 

[Want300]

How anyone can even consider calling an interface that came out around 11 or 12 years ago "Lightening" is just amazing, and shows you just how dumb Apple think their consumers are.

Take a protocol over a decade old, call it "Lightening" and they will think it's super fast. Quite unbelievable.

The cable is not called "Lightning"... The actual dock connector is called that... Thats why the adapter is referred to as "Lightning to 30-Pin Adapter" and why the USB cable is called "Lightning to USB Cable"

http://store.apple.com/us/product/MD818ZM/A/lightning-to-usb-cable?fnode=45
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MD823ZM/A/lightning-to-30-pin-adapter?fnode=48

Meaning we will eventually see "Lightning to USB3" and "Lightning to Thunderbolt"... Although, they should have released these right away, it would have made more sense at least. I also think they should have put more explanation in the the new adapter and why they chose to do a proprietary one. I understand why they did it, and why they needed to do it. But I do wish the adapter had a lower price. My Zeppelin Air uses AirPlay and my Bose Soundlink uses bluetooth, so I can wait for cheaper ones to come out on the internet.

 

[rpenzinger]

Give the kids a break once in a while from the tv please!

But how else would they learn what toys they like, what sugar cereal to eat, how to swear, how to act, how to think?

 

[topgunn]

Dear Apple,

Please make this with a Lightning connector.

Thanks,

 

[portishead]

But how else would they learn what toys they like, what sugar cereal to eat, how to swear, how to act, how to think?

touché!

 

[kimvette]

Has anyone seriously ever hooked up their iPhone to a television??

I do when I travel, at the office when working on tasks where I spend lots of time waiting for processes to run, and also my AV receiver supports the iPhone (original through iPhone4S) natively. I use both composite AV and HDMI with my iPhone all the time.

 

[milo]

Has anyone seriously ever hooked up their iPhone to a television??

Don't have an iPhone, but I've done it a ton with ipods and ipad.

Along these lines, now that the nano supports video again, will it support video out with the right adapter?

 

[belumira]

my car, a hyundai, has a special cable that connects the 30-pin connector to a USB and audio jack. I can control the iPod from the racio itself (browse playlists and such). I don't think the adapter will work.

 

[milo]

(assuming the adapter IS just an adapter and has no circuitry or chips and just passes one wire to another)

According to the MW article it's not. Since the lightning connector is digital only, to convert to 30 pin and supply analog audio out, the adapter actually contains a D to A converter. Probably a big part of why it's so big too.

If that's true, probably won't ever see $3 cables. I'd still like to see Apple include free ones with all new devices though.

I love how they changed the adapter to make the device 'smaller' yet I don't see any iDevices being thinner this year.

?

Did you completely miss the keynote? Every single iDevice is considerably thinner than the previous version.

 

[autrefois]

It looks like they do [include a free Lightning to 30-pin adaptor]:

Image

If this is true, which it looks like, then this definitely makes things a little better.

Apparently it was just a mistake on Apple's part. The adaptor will NOT be coming free with the iPhone. And just when I was starting to give Apple some credit *sigh*.

Certainly they could have assumed SOME demand for all of their adaptors and had at least SOME amount of each adaptor type ready for launch. If they sold out they could go into their whole "we're so popular we just can't keep up with demand" routine

A routine that Apple has, predictably, already started concerning the iPhone 5.

"Pre-orders for iPhone 5 have been incredible," said Apple spokeswoman, Natalie Kerris. "We’ve been completely blown away by the customer response."

 

[smoking monkey]

Why does everyone say that the camera is better? Because Apple said so?

Er, yeah, why not? It's not as if the camera hasn't gotten better with each new iPhone. Why would we not believe it to be true?

Sure it's still 8meg, but APPARENTLY it has a larger sensor, slightly wider angle (33mm), is better in low light conditions, and has been sped up a fair bit.

But there will be comparison photos being released very soon for us all to check out.

----------

Dear Apple,

Please make this with a Lightning connector.

Image

Thanks,

Yes please as well...

 

[Alameda]

http://thetechblock.com/the-foolproof-dock-connector

This guy sheds a lot of light on the new dock connector and why it was necessary.

He doesn't make the case for why this is better than MicroUSB. Example: The connector socket itself must be soldered to the phone's circuit board. With only five solder points, MicroUSB offers a more reliable connection than a connector with eight or thirty pins, because packing those solder points together closely on a socket that gets moved about from insertion force causes more chance of failure.

Apple could have given us MicroUSB, and then you could buy $3 charging cables that would work just fine.

Have you ever had to buy a new iPhone cable? If you did, I bet it was because it got lost or the cable frayed. The connector was probably just fine.

 

[Aidan5806]

Oh I'm sure there is a lot more to it.

At minimum USB has 4 pins... 2 for power and 2 for data.

So with the Lightning connector there are now 4 extra pins.

Just trying to figure out what they do... as per my original question.

Right but my point is thats a minimum, and maybe the other 4 utilizes the same function but doubles thorough put, like in usb 3.0 and thunderbolt

 

[APlotdevice]

He doesn't make the case for why this is better than MicroUSB. Example: The connector socket itself must be soldered to the phone's circuit board. With only five solder points, MicroUSB offers a more reliable connection than a connector with eight or thirty pins, because packing those solder points together closely on a socket that gets moved about from insertion force causes more chance of failure.

A microUSB 3.0 Connector has nine ten solder points.

 

[iSayuSay]

The new Lightning Dock:

• 80% smaller
• All digital connection
• More durable
• Faster data transfer
• Cool and shiny
• Slow adoption rate
• Ridiculously expensive reversible adapter
• No accessories and docking support
• Strikes you in a second
  

 

[Alameda]

A microUSB 3.0 Connector has nine ten solder points.

The iPhone 5 is not a USB 3.0 phone, so why bring this canard of USB 3.0 into the discussion?

 

[APlotdevice]

The iPhone 5 is not a USB 3.0 phone, so why bring this canard of USB 3.0 into the discussion?

Apple has made it perfectly clear that this new connector will be incorporated into their mobile devices for many years to come. So it's a pretty safe bet that it will get USB 3.0 support eventually.

 

[Alameda]

Apple has made it perfectly clear that this new connector will be incorporated into their mobile devices for many years to come. So it's a pretty safe bet that it will get USB 3.0 support eventually.

USB 3 is nine pins, and Apple's connector has eight. So it doesn't look like Lightning is a USB 3 connector.

 

[APlotdevice]

USB 3 is nine pins, and Apple's connector has eight. So it doesn't look like Lightning is a USB 3 connector.

It has been suggested that the body of the connector acts as a ninth (grounding) pin. That's assuming this is a straight pin out for any kind of USB connector. Perhaps the USB controller is actually inside the cable. This would provide one explanation for the "adaptive interface" feature.