Update on the quest for perfect iPhone car integration

This is a follow-up on my past post about my car audio frustrations with an iPhone. Yesterday I received my generic Chinese iPhone cables and car charger:

Ordered both for $6.81 Total

Best $6.81 I’ve spent in a while! The build quality seems just fine and the cables work as advertised; charge and play audio via AUX-out at the same time while allowing full access to the iPhone’s interface. iPhone 4 compatible too!

NOTE: The Apple iPhone 4 “Bumpers” case is not compatible; the dock connector port is too small for this cable’s connector.

So if your car has an AUX input and a lighter outlet, you are good to go. You could even get a tape deck adaptor to work with this via mini jack coupler to get better audio quality and the ability to charge.

I also highly recommend some kind of car mount for the iPhone/iPod so you have easy access to the on-screen controls and GPS apps.

This is likely the closest to perfect car integration I can get without owning a Ford with Sync.

The quest for perfect iPhone car integration continues

I’ve become annoyed with my 2008 Scion xD’s built-in iPod interface… For one I need an adaptor to charge anything newer than an iPhone 3G. Also to spite the adaptor, both my old 3GS and now iPhone 4 give an “accessory not compatible” error every time I plug it in. I also run a dock connector extension cable from the 1’ proprietary Scion cable to reach my windshield mount. Yet another down side is that I have to use my car stereo’s crappy interface to select tracks…

Now that I have a car mount I like allowing me to use my iPhone more safely while driving, I figured why not use my car’s AUX port instead of the iPod connector? I need something that both charges the iPhone and connects to the AUX port directly via the dock connector.

However most name brand car chargers with AUX output cost $30+ (Kensington 2-in-1 Charger and Audio Cable and Griffin AutoPilot for iPod). I realized that all these really are is just USB car chargers with iPod/iPhone dock connector and AUX cables built-in.

It didn’t take much Google searching to find:

Ordered both for $6.81 Total

I’ll be posting a review once I receive my order and have a chance to test them.

UPDATE: I also found this $19.99 ‘NewerTech® 3 in 1 Audio/Sync/Charging Cable’ if the above generic Chinese cables turnout to be garbage.

UPDATE: Checkout my review of the $6.81 cables.