For the past (nearly) a year, I've been perfectly happy with my Alpine iDA-x300 receiver. It is an all-digital receiver with no CD option (good riddance) that fully supports my iPod touch first gen. Well, recently there has been a change of technology. Yesterday, I picked up an iPhone. You'd think that the iPhone would work properly with my head unit; well you'd be right - sort of. It plays and functions just like my iPod Touch, only it doesn't charge my phone! My iPod Touch charged just fine AND played fine. This isn't fair! I read around and found that it has something to do with Apple doing-away with the FireWire charging portion of their connector, and as a result, my receive will not charge iPod Touch 2nd gen and iPhone 3G models (works OK with original iPhone though). My question is, who know of a good receiver that is iPhone ready and will charge AND play at the same time, with the ability to search for music while still playing. If mine would charge my iPhone, then it would be perfect, but it just doesn't. What annoys me is that Alpine released new models (iDA-x303 and iDA-x305) that are iPhone ready, but I don't want to blow another $200 on a receiver. It seems I have no choice, but the asking prices for the x305 are just way too high for my tastes, and personally dislike the blue lighting. A major reason I bought my x300 was that it was the ONLY receiver that I like the looks of AND had red lighting to match my interior lighting. It appears there aren't any more receivers that fit the bill of full iPhone support and red lighting. But, does anyone know of something that comes close?
How quickly does your phone battery drain down? Me, I'd live with it and just charge my phone at home overnight - when I have a fresh cell battery, it will hold enough charge to not need recharging until the 4th day. If the new iphone sucks down enough power that you can't use it more than a few hours without requiring a re-charge, I can see where this could be a problem. A friend of mine in the club here did _not_ want his head unit to re-charge his ipod because the batteries were expensive and the extra charging cycles would shorten his ipod's battery life; that may or may not be a factor for you. I'm sure there's lots of sites, I usually peruse crutchfield.com for stereo equipment. I don't have a specific model to suggest, however. Good luck w/ the search, tho.
The problem lies with long road trips where I am constantly listening to music in the car. Or, when I get bored of my existing library, I use Pandora internet radio, which uses quite a bit of power via the cellular signal. Plus, I use my phone as a PDA as well, so I'm constantly tippity-tapping at the thing entering contacts, calendar info, and tasks, so it's not as though the screen is in power save mode a lot. The USB connection of my unit charges the phone but produces an error and won't let me use it in the car, only to charge. The iPod cable in it lets me play music but not to charge. What a PITA!
I run factory radios in my BMWs. I can't stand the look of aftermarket radios, even if they are so called more up to date. Sorry I am no help. Besides the best music is an S14 on cam and a SuperSprint Exhaust.
I think this may help you out. http://store.apple.com/us/product/TS696LL/A?cid=AOS-US-SHOP-Froogle I have not tried it (don't have an iPhone) but from what I have read/understand, this addresses the charging issue.
YESSS!!! I had no idea something like this existed! (Most of the accessories on the Apple website are headphones, cases, and stupid things like that) Thank you SO much! Expensive, but a helluva lot cheaper than a new receiver!