I finally got around to trying the iPhone with the iPod adapter in our other car, a Neo Ion from MP3YourCar. The Ion is wired directly into the stereo’s CD changer port, so there’s just one cable and the audio quality is great. But, like the Belkin, the Ion charges the iPhone but does not route audio to the car stereo. And (unlike the Belkin), the cable to the iPhone is too short to allow use of the phone (except as a speakerphone) while it’s plugged in. The short cable can be a hassle even with an iPod (e.g. when someone in the back seat wants to choose the music), and so far I haven’t found any iPod dock extension cables.
Apple was farsighted to standardize on the 30-pin dock connector for multiple generations of iPods, and smart to use it in the iPhone, so it’s a shame that the compatibility with existing adapters is only partial.
