iPhone 3G works with Alpine iDA-X200 car stereo

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iPhone 3G works with Alpine iDA-X200 car stereo

I just wanted to drop a quick note letting folks know that my iPhone 3G works flawlessly with my new Alpine iDA-X200 car stereo. Charging and playing music from the iPhone's iPod work well. As an added bonus I can also play Pandora music through my car speakers with the system. I do get the "This is not a supported accessory do you want to enable Airplane mode?" question but I answer "No" and haven't had a problem.

In case anyone is in the market for a new car stereo to work with their iPhone 3g I recommend the Alpine iDA-X100 or X200 head units.

iMac 24" 2.4 GHz, Mac OS X (10.5.4), iPhone 3G

Posted on Aug 5, 2008 10:45 PM

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Answer 1

Aug 6, 2008 5:13 AM in response to engstrom

I ordered the ida x-300 .. Do you think the same functions with the iphone? On catalog I read that the cable usb for the iphone is not included ... I can say as you call your cable? Think than full speed the kce422-i go well for reload? Why did I have read that disabled support for the firewire but there is a boy who has said that work .. I can give some information on im?

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Answer 2

engstrom Author

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Aug 6, 2008 2:36 PM in response to Manuel Gaspa

I believe the iDA-X300 will work just fine with the iPhone 3G. My X200 comes with the iPod Dock Interface Cable. This is NOT the KCE-422i cable that comes with the X300. I don't know if you will get the full functionality with the KCE-422i interface cable.

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Answer 3

Aug 6, 2008 4:17 PM in response to engstrom

I have an Alpine iDA-X300. It does NOT recharge the iPhone. It does play and interface normally through the head unit.

I called alpine they said "Our engineers are aware that the alpine iDA-x300 does not charge the iPhone 3g and they are working on it.

I asked him if they are coming out with a new cable that uses different pins. He wouldn't tell me what they are working on, just that I should call back in a couple of weeks for a solution.

There doesn't appear to be any quick and easy way to hack the cable. I hope alpine will provide a solution for this. Otherwise I will be purchasing the x200 or x100, but not the x001, I hate the fact that you can't turn the navigation wheel all the way around.

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Answer 4

engstrom Author

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Aug 7, 2008 12:39 PM in response to engstrom

OK, just a quick update. Since my initial post I have taken some longer drives with the Alpine/iPhone 3G and I have discovered a problem. After about 20 or 30 minutes of playing music from the iPhone the stereo will just drop out sound for about 1/2 a second. Just long enough to be annoying. Once this happens for the first time the dropout become frequent happening about every 2-5 minutes thereafter. And the same songs will play perfectly without drop outs if I play them in the first 20 minutes so it's not that the data on the iPhone is corrected.

I'm going to exchange the X200 today - maybe it's just a bad unit I got hold of. Who knows, I might even try to update to the X100 - I'm still debating that. I'll post back here within the next day or two to let folks know how it's going.

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Answer 5

engstrom Author

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240 points

Aug 7, 2008 7:04 PM in response to engstrom

So I went to the store where I bought my Alpine iDA-X200 and explained what was going on. They seemed to think that is was a problem with all X200s and not just the unit I got - they've had a number of problems with stereos hooked up to iPods and even more so with iPhones.

Well, after playing my iPhone 3G on a demo iDA-X200 for 18 minutes it began to drop out the audio. 😟 They were going to call Alpine in the morning and see if they had any advice but before that I plugged in my iPhone 3G into their demo iDA-X100 and let it play. After 35 minutes on the X100 it hadn't missed a beat so I paid the difference and swapped out for the X100. So far I'm pleased but we'll see how things go over the next couple of days - I and hopeful but have my fingers crossed.

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Answer 6

Aug 12, 2008 12:13 PM in response to engstrom

Hey there, I have the same problem, but with the original iPhone. But here is something interesting. When the iPhone was running 1.1.4 of the OS, I never had the 'dropped audio'. But ever since I 'upgraded to 2.0(and 2.0.1), the dropped audio will occur with the iDA-X200. The problem isn't the deck .. it's the phone!!

Michael

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Answer 7

engstrom Author

Level 2

240 points

Aug 12, 2008 1:20 PM in response to michaelkhanna

I would argue that the problem is both the deck and the phone. I've had my 2.0.1 iPhone 3G playing with my iDA-X100 for 4 days now and have not seen to drop out problem.

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Answer 8

Aug 12, 2008 2:30 PM in response to engstrom

Well ... the iPhone used to "work" with the deck and now it doesn't. I understand that Alpine doesn't guarantee that it will work with the iPhone in any shape or form, but I feel like I had something and now it's gone. Whether it's Apple or Alpine to blame ... I'm not sure. Anyway it's pretty annoying. It'd pain me to pay more money to 'upgrade' my deck to get an experience that I already had but lost.

Michael

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Answer 9

fjarvis

Level 1

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Aug 17, 2008 1:11 PM in response to michaelkhanna

Hi,

I've got exactly the same problem. With my X200 and my original iPhone 1.1.4 software it worked flawlessly (and did with 1.1.2 and 1.1.3), when I upgraded to 2.0 it started having dropouts. I then upgraded to the iPhone 3G and still have dropouts. No problem if I borrow an iPod and it's also only after 20mins or so that it happens.

engstrom - is your X100 still working fine with the iPhone 3G - maybe I'll upgrade?

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Answer 10

rritler

Level 1

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Aug 19, 2008 4:30 AM in response to engstrom

@engstrom: Do you also use the X100 as hands-free receiver for your phone calls? If yes, are you satisfied (sound mutes with incoming calls, caller id, etc)?

Thx

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Answer 11

Aug 19, 2008 11:44 AM in response to AlpineUser

There is a company called CableJive that is releasing an iPhone 3G charge adapter that should solve this problem quickly and easily: http://www.cablejive.com/iphone3g_chargeconverter.html

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Answer 12

vktalbot

Level 1

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Aug 19, 2008 3:38 PM in response to engstrom

Are you sure it charges? It's been my experience with the X100 that, while it'll say it's charging, it doesn't actually charge. Either that or the charging is slow. That is to say, it discharges while in use at the same rate it's charging so that the net effect is the battery remains at the same level it started.

That's fine if you start out at a full charge, but bad if you start out low.

Anybody see a full charge at a rate consistent with charging from AC?

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Answer 13

astonmac

Level 1

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Aug 20, 2008 5:24 AM in response to fjarvis

Same problem here. Software 1.1.4 7000km's in my vacation, no jick ups. Perfect.
Since 2.0.0 and 2.0.1 after about 20 minutes hick ups in every song couple times.
Very strange. Don't know what to do??
HAs anyone already have a solution?

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Answer 14

Aug 20, 2008 11:32 AM in response to engstrom

engstrom wrote:
I just wanted to drop a quick note letting folks know that my iPhone 3G works flawlessly with my new Alpine iDA-X200 car stereo. Charging and playing music from the iPhone's iPod work well. As an added bonus I can also play Pandora music through my car speakers with the system. I do get the "This is not a supported accessory do you want to enable Airplane mode?" question but I answer "No" and haven't had a problem.

In case anyone is in the market for a new car stereo to work with their iPhone 3g I recommend the Alpine iDA-X100 or X200 head units.

Can it play video from your iPhone?

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Answer 15

astonmac

Level 1

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Aug 21, 2008 2:30 AM in response to astonmac

By the way, it works perfect with my bowers&Wilkins zeppelin at home. Even after 1 hour, no problem. It's a combination of the alpine with the new software. Has anyone tried 2.0.2 with the firts iphone?

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