Kenwood IP500

[hypnotx]

This is not a new accessory but I thought I would throw it out there for the rest of the crowd.

Turns out that the Kenwood IP500 actually does work with the iPhone. I have one in my mini with an IP500 compatible head unit. It's a Kenwood stereo but I forget the model at the moment. The IP500 iPod interface is compatible with most of their head units though. In any case, when you plug it in you will get the warning about an incompatible accessory and it will prompt you to enable Airplane mode. Press NO and your iPhone WILL work with the interface as normal including charging etc. Every once in a while you will get a communications error when plugging it in but if you unplug it and plug it back in it will work. I have never had to do that more than once. There is a small issue with volume control in that if you get a phone call on the iPhone once you hang up the volume will be considerably louder than before the call. Other than that it works a charm. I bring this up as since the IP500 is technically not a supported accessory you will be seeing the price drop. I will post some more details when I get a chance to test it some more.

[Alpha Zero]

I used the IP500 in my car (have a Kenwood in-dash LCD) and it does work. Not worth the money though. You can't see sort your track list and there is no way to browse the tracks with the headunit. You can see the track name and artist, etc as the song is playing, but there is no way to browse to an artist, album, or song. You just mindlessly skip tracks. Not bad if you had 20-30 songs on your iPhone. I have over 500 songs and it's impossible to find a song. The other thing is if you don't turn Airplane mode on, the feedback from a phone call or recieve text messages can damage speakers if you have the volume up, that is unless you have your phone far from the headunit. Which then defeats the purpose of even having your phone because you can't reach it for when you get a call.

[NSXrebel]

I thought i'd update this thread. I have the same interface with my Kenwood headunit. DDX-7015. My old iPhone worked great. It does help if you create playlist, instead of just 1/no playlist. I have a double din stereo, so I can browse by artist, album, etc. I just upgraded to an iPhone 3G and music plays just fine, music fades when I get a call, but now it won't charge my iPhone. Something about the new iPhone not supporting Firewire anymore.... I'm trying to figure out a solution to this.

[Rosbaughcr]

My Alpine headunit + iPhone cable worked wonderfully on with the first gen iPhone (prompted for Airplane mode, but if you hit "no" it was still smooth sailing), but won't charge or recognize the new 3g iPhone

[NSXrebel]

Try this folks. It's the only solution I can find so far, without resorting to some kind of rewiring/resoldering. It's by Kensington. It has a pass through dock connector to use other accessories while you charge your device.