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Apple Readying Miniaturized Dock Connector for Future iPhones?

SockRolid said:
Two things I'd like to see in a next-gen dock connector:

1. MagSafe for a nice "snap" among other benefits. Don't like the current metal-on-metal sliding.

2. Orientation-independent attachment. No need to look for the light gray icon to determine which side is "up."
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I totally agree with you. I have one of those alarm clock iPhone doc things by my bed, and it's a bugger to slam down the iPhone on it in the dark and hope i can get that thin connector in the slot. It doesn't feel good, and it's a fiddly crappy fit.

Time to fix this!

Not to mention that I have about 10 of these white doc things and none of them fit anything! I have one for iPad - but that won't work with the stupid case I have for the iPad, and then the iPad 2 one I can never find. Then I have a couple for the original iPhone and iPhone 3G, 3Gs, and then 2 for the iPhone 4.

I should throw it all on Kijiji. I end up just using a regular white cord plugged into a power bar next to the lazy boy chair, but wow, it's a mess.

I don't know the answer, but I hope something good comes for this like MagSafe.
 
Mockup, anyone?

I can't believe no one has posted a mockup yet… IMHO, it's fairly obvious they can do away with the upper part of the plastic/metal shield (as the male connector's shape would still be vertically asymmetrical), as long as the pins are redesigned so as to be sturdier. Have a look and tell me what do you think:

apple_dock_connector-new12.jpg


Plus, this design would go hand-in-hand with a previously rumoured slimmer female dock connector. I presume it could be carved right in the middle of a tapering section, much like in the current iPod touch, but seeing that the connector wouldn't need an inner male section anymore (like in SD card readers vs. FW400 and Thunderbolt ports), it could be much thinner and deeper to give more stability (allowing for even slimmer devices with softer tapering sections).

Also, even though new accessories would have to be introduced specifically for the new iDevices, these would actually be backwards-compatible with all previous generations (albeit with a flimsier fit on account of the loss of the retaining clips ans upper shield, I suppose).
 
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Moving away from such a ubiquitous connector, however, would be walking away from an enormous ecosystem of existing 3rd party products.
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All you would need is just a simple adapter that fits on top of the old connector equipped 3'rd party products.
 
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Appel would have to be ******* crazy to throw away a multi billion dollar ecosystem.

For this to happen Cook would have to find Jobs secret stash of shrooms in the CEO office or something.
 
ptysell said:
Appel would have to be ******* crazy to throw away a multi billion dollar ecosystem.

For this to happen Cook would have to find Jobs secret stash of shrooms in the CEO office or something.
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Why? Apple have done it before. Almost every new redesign breaks compatibility with docks. It started when they shifted from Firewire all the way up to the iPhone. Plug an iPhone or iPod Touch into an older dock connector and you lose functionality.
 
We've already got wireless syncing - that solves half the problem. Turn the glass already on the back of the phone into a solar panel and ditch the cable altogether. Marketing thought: "Keep device in direct sunlight."
 
I love the 30 pin connector. It beats the hell out of a mini usb connection. No way is Apple going to change it.
 
Ditching the cable would be an utterly stupid move by Apple, first of how are we going to sufficiently charge our devices? Inductive charging is a possibility but taking around an inductive charger would normally take up much more space compared to a simple cable, not to mention the ridiculous we'd have to pay for every additional charger we might need.


Secondly, even though Apple is all about simplicity and most people would claim that easy automatic wireless syncing, AirPlay and all that kills the need of an actual interface and cable isn't thinking about speed and reliability.

First of wireless syncing takes longer than today's dock solution, and when we are starting to see iPad's and iPhone's reaching 64GB+ it would be stupid to not offer any sort of reliable and stable synchronization for their devices. In my opinion the USB dock connection have been too slow in the first place and I've hoped for a FireWire 800 and / or Thunderbolt capable solution for a while now in order to speed things up significantly. And if Apple want's to support and push Thunderbolt to the masses they need to start implementing support in their own devices. I don't say the dock should be Thunderbolt only, that would be silly but having a USB-backwards compatible Thunderbolt and / or FireWire 800 supporting dock would make matters and speeds greatly improved.


And a dock benefits greatly from the fact that you can simply dock your device into a set of speakers for instance and get it charged while you use it, which is a great advantage for many when their at the cabin and with smartphone's short battery life to begin with killing such a feature would be tiresome for many of use whom normally dock every night and using the device for music and keeping it fully charged for next day's adventures at the same time.



Something that would make even less sense is if Apple actually goes around and just die-shrink the dock connector without actually improving upon it's technology. If they just shrink it and thereby kills the direct support for thousands of dock devices out there without actually doing anything than shrink it a few nudges people will and should be pissed as that would be a downright silly sacrifice for such a small and cosmetic change.


Bring Thunderbolt and / or FireWire 800 into the mix, and perhaps introduce MagSafe to the dock connector as well so we would at least see some change and improvement instead of just a tiny little shrink of the connector itself. And please by the love of god don't go wireless only as that would kill whatever Apple hoped to build in the business / enterprise market.
 
What about existing hardware?

The dock connector and it's accessories form part of the apple eco-system that locks you into their hardware for upgrades. Just like apps do on the phone.

I have a dock cable near my bed, one on the computer and one at work. My car has a dock connector to link to the radio and I have dock connector on Logitech speakers. And an iTrip in my wifes car.

I can use the chargers, iTrip and the car adapter with the iPad 2, iPhone 4S or my wifes iPod.

When the 4S was released, I was happy to purchase as I knew all my hardware would still be OK. If it is all obsolete then I would seriously consider Windows Phone. If I have to buy all my accessories again, and keep two versions around, why not consider a whole new ecosystem.

Just my 2 cents.
 
nagromme said:
FWIW, I thought I read somewhere that Thunderbolt is not currently possible on iPad/iPhone because of the lack of PCI Express architecture. Don’t quote me...
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That is not the primary problem. The flash components within the iDevices are pretty slow, so Thunderbolt would not improve the transfer speeds. I'm pretty sure, a new connector combines low cost and widely available standard technologies, like USB 3.0 (backwards compatible to USB 2.0). +Thunderbolt is pretty useless for many Windows users.
 
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Why does everyone see wifi sync as fantastic? Nightly backups yes transferring data erm no ta 64gb is painfully slow
 
Hopefully the cable will support USB3, and will be sturdy this time around.

and hopefully the connector will be more reinforced, the other day my iPod touch fell and there's a small dent in the aluminum, and it's difficult to plug in.
 
kilwo said:
The dock connector and it's accessories form part of the apple eco-system that locks you into their hardware for upgrades. Just like apps do on the phone.

I have a dock cable near my bed, one on the computer and one at work. My car has a dock connector to link to the radio and I have dock connector on Logitech speakers. And an iTrip in my wifes car.

I can use the chargers, iTrip and the car adapter with the iPad 2, iPhone 4S or my wifes iPod.

When the 4S was released, I was happy to purchase as I knew all my hardware would still be OK. If it is all obsolete then I would seriously consider Windows Phone. If I have to buy all my accessories again, and keep two versions around, why not consider a whole new ecosystem.

Just my 2 cents.
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you buy a few $10 fat->thin dock converters and suddenly all your cables are compatible.Not a big deal.

Main problem would be any docks/accessories where the iphone/ipod fits flush with no room to breath. They'd be screwed by not allowing the extra space, but then they're screwed any time Apple changes how big the phone is anyway.
 
thebudda said:
What are the limitations of doing a mag-safe style connector? For that matter you could barely recess the contacts and have the connection just below the surface allowing for quite a bit of room spared inside. Since there'd be no need for a connector with tabs for releasing it you would a slim, flush end and also have the advantage of not needing special adapters or taking a phone out of a case to connect, you would just stick it in until it connects. You'd also get all of the safety benefits of a quick release system just like the Macs. It'd be nice.
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Not sure you'd get the safety benefits - the iOS devices are light and the magnet would probably still have to be fairly strong to prevent the magsafe simply falling off. The rest of the benefits stand though.
 
a micro-usb woulb be fine for charging, and BT and airplay is the future for streaming your music to the devices. there are more and more wireless players showing up each day.
 
unless its Thunderbolt I'm not interested..

I love apple products, have 2 mac pro's, cinema display, imac, laptop, iPhone and iPad..what i dont need is ANOTHER connection cable that'll no doubt be overpriced (from apple) and render my other cables defunkt....

please apple, if you're gonna do anything...supply a cracking pair of headphones that wont break after 5 trips to the gym...and maybe chuck a pair in with newly purchased iPads.. rant over!
 
Oh god, I just want a battery that lasts all day, not thinner. Just change the design a little bit, make a bigger screen and solve the goddamn battery.
 
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One of the biggest things keeping me on an iPhone right now is how many devices I have that hook up to this dock.

If they switch to something else, I seriously might go with another phone...
 
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