I listen to my iPhone in my car all the time — mostly podcasts, other times music, occasionally an audio book, and sometimes while using a GPS navigation app at the same time — but I've been in the market for a new car kit. I had been using the Griffin AutoPilot
The basic features are the ones that you find in any car kit. You plug one end in to your cigarette lighter / auxilary port and the other end has a standard iPhone dock connector. It provides power to the iPhone and also acts as an audio out. A cord comes out of the plug that plugs in to your auxiliary audio input on your car stereo. I actually don't have an auxiliary audio input in my car, so instead I use a cassette tape adapter and I use cheap ($5.00) 3.5mm Stereo Coupler
What makes the LiquidAUX special is that it comes with a small wireless remote. The remote has four buttons: play/pause at the top, rewind on the left, fast forward on the right and shuffle at the bottom. The remote comes with a case in which it sits. The case includes a velcro strap that is designed to be wrapped around your steering wheel like this:
(By the way, you can click any of the pictures in this post to see larger versions.) You can attach the remote anywhere on your steering wheel, and the remote easily pops out of the case and can be turned 180º so that the play/pause button is at the top no matter which side of the steering wheel the case is on.
The remote works great and makes it very easy to start, stop and change music on your iPhone while you are driving without having to look at the iPhone screen. In fact, you don't even need to look at the remote to use it because the buttons are raised. Thus, you can feel where you need to press without taking your eyes off of the road. I found that I actually didn't like the remote on my steering wheel because as I turned my wheel and felt the wheel slide under my hand, I didn't like the slight bump of the case for the remote. But I quickly found a great solution for the layout of my car: I placed the remote around the emergency break right next to my seat. That actually places the remote at a perfect position for my right hand and I can easily find and use the remote without needing to look at it at all. So here is the setup in my car:
You might not mind the remote case on your steering wheel, but in case you do, consider whether you have an optimal alternative location in your car like I do. Wherever you place it, the remote is really the best part of this product. By the way, in the above picture, my iPhone is upside down (but it also works right side up because there is a notch for the cord) inside of a Griffin iSqueez, a product that is unfortunately now discontinued. If you can still find one, it does a nice job of holding an iPod or iPhone in place in a car's cup holder as long as you don't use a case. (With a case, the iPhone is too big for the iSqueez.)
Here are some additional details that might be of interest to you. The wireless remote uses the 2.4GHz spectrum. When your car power turns off, the device goes off as well so that it doesn't drain your car battery. Unlike some car chargers, this one won't pop up the warning every time you connect it that "This accessory is not made to work with iPhone" which is nice. When your car power turns on, the device turns on, and then you can press the play button on the remote to resume playback. It works with the original iPhone, iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS, and because the cord plugs into the iPhone dock connector port, it works with most cases (assuming that your case has an opening for the dock connector). [UPDATE 7/5/10: I've been using the Kensington LiquidAUX Auxiliary Car Kit with my iPhone 4 and it works fine.] The plug has a short cord to go to your audio auxiliary port, but the unit comes with a four foot audio extension cable in case your car's cigarette lighter / power port is far away from your audio auxiliary port.
I have a slight concern about the iPhone dock connection because you can easily pull the cord out of your iPhone. For now, the connection is snug enough that this isn't a problem, but I do wonder whether in the future a slight pull on the cord might result in the cord popping out of my iPhone. I'll just have to see how it holds up.
Kensington makes some other models in the LiquidAUX line that I did not try. a "Deluxe" model costs $20 more than the version I bought and has a sturdy arm that comes out of the power plug with the dock on the top that your iPhone fits into. There were some mixed reviews on Amazon about how well the arm works. There is also a Bluetooth model for $40 more than the model I purchased which doesn't need a physical connection to the iPhone at all — music streams from your iPhone to the LiquidAUX using Bluetooth A2DP — but that model doesn't charge the iPhone while in the car.
I've used the Kensington LiquidAUX both on short trips around town and on long road trips while using MotionX GPS Drive and listening to an Audible audio book and all of my experiences with this product have been positive. The remote works great and is so convenient to have at my fingertips. The price (at Amazon) was right, the device powers my iPhone, the sound quality is good through my car stereo, and the remote works great. If you are in the market for an auxiliary car kit for your iPhone, this one is worth a look.
Click here for the Kensington LiquidAUX Auxiliary Car Kit with Remote from Amazon ($45.84).
