Is anyone on this forum using the 4.2 iOS beta on their iPad? Someone at www.kenwoodforums.com just reported that he is getting full dock connector control in the same manner as with the iPod with his iPad and the DNX9960. The absence of dock connector control is the reason why the iPad is currently not compatible as an iPod with these units under the currant firmware. If you have the 4.2 beta, plug your iPad into the iPod cable on your unit and let us know what happens.

Will try first chance I get.

Thanks Robbert. I only have one person so far with this claim so wanted to get another opinion from someone I know will have access. There are several people that have been wanting this function for some time.

Confirmed.

I'm shocked.

WELL KICK ASS!!! I still dont know why anyone would want to sense it is still impractical in my opinion. But hey, who am I. Thats great news for all of you that would like to see this function.

Yeah, I'm not sure why someone would want to hook up an iPad to an AVIC, but it's cool that it works now.

I noticed in the pics that it does not seem to charge the battery.

Yeah the iPad doesn't charge from any USB though, only the AC adaptor. Even on my Mac it only gets enough power for what it's using.

Only "new" Macs can charge the iPad, talk about Apple trying to make stuff obsolete. Even my MacBook Pro won't charge the iPad when I'm in Windows 7, it's gotta be some driver thing Apple does to tell the iPad it's "OK" to say it's charging.

Hmm Interesting. Does the basic charge cable that comes with the iPhone/iPod charge it?

Yeah, older cables still charge it, but only in Mac OS X. Even if the MacBook Pro is sleeping it says it's not charging, but it does, just slowly and not that it ever charged that quick.

Ok so there has been no hardware pin configuration change in the dock connector on the iPad then. So if this is software related, I cant figure out why they would intentionally do this. I mean, there really is no reason to restrict this to just OS X. Sure we're talking about Apple here but they do have at least a good reason for changing standards in this manner. Regardless, if its software it is likely no head unit will ever be able to charge the unit without a new software embedded cable. On the other hand, the battery life with the iPad is so damn good this really isn't as big an issue as it would be with an iPod device.

The iPad pulls a lot of power, the only real thing I use it for is the MLB At Bat app and when it's tethered to the Mac even when it says it's charging it usually stays put (if I start it at 85% it will stay at 85% until the game is done, or maybe pickup 1-2% over the course of a few hours).

My guess is Apple didn't have time to code the UI for when it was connected in 3.2 so they plan on finally putting it in with 4.2. Or they didn't think it was necessary and they wanted to be able to say 4.2 added X more features. Either way I don't plan on using it with the AVIC, it's a little too big to fit into my glove box.

Hmmm, nice,but I dont know that I would upgrade to the 4.0 software on the Ipad. I did so on my Iphone 3GS and my battery lasts only about half as long due to multitasking and all the features. The battery longevity of the ipad is the reason that I bought it, so that I can use it for long road trips with usage of about 8 hrs. The 4.02 software will kill it with multitasking and all the new features.

No I doubt the multitasking on the iPad will make a huge difference in battery life. Of course it will impact it some, but the battery in the iPad is much bigger in capacity the what you get with an iPhone/iPod. That is the biggest reason for the shorter battery life. We will soon see however if the battery life with the iPad begins to shorten we will see many reports of it I am sure.

No I doubt the multitasking on the iPad will make a huge difference in battery life. Of course it will impact it some, but the battery in the iPad is much bigger in capacity the what you get with an iPhone/iPod. That is the biggest reason for the shorter battery life. We will soon see however if the battery life with the iPad begins to shorten we will see many reports of it I am sure.