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iPhone/iPod with a mag-safe connection?

TheSpaz

TheSpaz

macrumors 604
Original poster
Jun 20, 2005
7,032
1
How cool would it be if Apple used the new Mag-Safe technology (found on the MacBook and MacBook Pro) on the iPhone and iPod touch?

I think that would be really cool! There is already no lock on the sync cables anymore… why even bother with a standard connector anymore? Just get the cable close to the connector and it will snap in almost by itself!

Just a cool idea I had.

It would be really useful in the car… I'm always connecting and disconnecting the iPhone in the car and it's a slight pain after you do it about a million times. I think it would be easier to just put the cable near the iPhone and it will just glide in by magnets!

Any comments on this idea?
 
I'm sure that when apple implemented the mag safe adapter onto the laptops it had tested it with all of the different types of connectors on all of their product range to see if it added any benefit or was even plausible and decided against it.

BTW the mag safe is hardly new.
 
what would be even better would be the wireless charge kind of like the pre has with stone you set it on or whatever they call it. It's the one and only the way the pre is superior to the iphone
 
Jhanson09 said:
what would be even better would be the wireless charge kind of like the pre has with stone you set it on or whatever they call it. It's the one and only the way the pre is superior to the iphone
Click to expand...

Q4 2009 /q1 2010 should see that released. Was posted on here couple of months back. Inductive charging pad thingy and a case. No thicker than the marware range of slippons
 
Something I want is wireless sync. Mm gives most of it just music and video missing.
 
I don't think it would work as well as you think, simply because the phone doesn't weigh as much as a laptop computer does. Unless they made the magnet much weaker for the iPhone version, the phone would still get knocked onto the floor before the magnet would come out.
 
That's a very good point. Making the magnet weak enough that it would disconnect before the device was launched very far would probably make it incredibly tedious to charge/sync with too many accidental disconnections.
 
Stampyhead said:
I don't think it would work as well as you think, simply because the phone doesn't weigh as much as a laptop computer does. Unless they made the magnet much weaker for the iPhone version, the phone would still get knocked onto the floor before the magnet would come out.
Click to expand...

My thoughts exactly.
 
It's already bad enough that the magnets in the speaker might damage any credit cards in the same pocket. Having another magnet on the phone wouldn't go down too well I don't think.
 
I'm not so much worried about it being able to pop out if someone trips over the cord. I just think it would be easier to plug and unplug the connector all the time. Also, I think with a more shallow port would be easier to keep clean.

I think it would be cool!

The more I think about it… the more I want it.

The biggest problem I think is… what about all the thousands of iPod accessories that people already own… they'd have to throw it all away and we'd have to wait for all the accessory companies to come out with updated accessories.

Hmmm.
 
This would be cool. The phone obviously doesn't have enough weight to make the "tripping over cord" feature work, unless the magnet strength was greatly reduced. But for easy connecting/disconnecting it'd be an awesome feature! I'd like to see something like this implemented in the future. :)
 
xUKHCx said:
BTW the mag safe is hardly new.
Click to expand...

Compared to the history of all Apple's notebooks, the Mag-Safe technology is rather new.

Isn't the Mag-safe only a few years old? It was introduced January 10th, 2006.
 
Inductive charging, wi-fi sync. This is the way to go. How about being able to connect one iPhone to another, and allow each too boot from the other, like Macs can in FTDM. I am probably wrong here, but it could work.
 
I've knocked my iPhone over many times by the cable. All of those times were straight off the table. So even if the magnet was weak enough, it wouldn't work like the magsafe on the notebooks. You need to have it come off at an angle, which I've never done in all the times it's been knocked down.

They already have something like the stone for the iPhone, except you need to have a case.

I'd like to be able to charge without touching anything or whatnot. Course that's only accomplished with solar, so oh well :/.
 
TheSpaz said:
I'm not so much worried about it being able to pop out if someone trips over the cord. I just think it would be easier to plug and unplug the connector all the time. Also, I think with a more shallow port would be easier to keep clean.

I think it would be cool!

The more I think about it… the more I want it.
Click to expand...

Cool?
 
TheSpaz said:
Compared to the history of all Apple's notebooks, the Mag-Safe technology is rather new.

Isn't the Mag-safe only a few years old? It was introduced January 10th, 2006.
Click to expand...

Magsafe is a development of a similar system used on deep fryers and fondue machines. I'm surprised Apple even got this patented as there is definitely "prior use" of this style of connector.
 
cjmillsnun said:
Magsafe is a development of a similar system used on deep fryers and fondue machines. I'm surprised Apple even got this patented as there is definitely "prior use" of this style of connector.
Click to expand...

That doesn't change the fact that Apple started using it fairly recently. MagSafe has only been in Apple notebooks for 3 years.
 
OllyW said:
Not really.

It would leave the thousands of iPod and iPhone accessories currently available totally incompatible with the mag-safe connector.
Click to expand...

So you're saying that technology must not move forward? Yes, the accessories would need to be updated, but that shouldn't hold back technology.

I doubt Apple is going to use the standard 30-pin dock connector forever.
 
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