iPod Docks

[YCH]

I bought a Pure-Fi Anywhere 2 which works great with an old iPod (4th generation 40GB). However it doesn't work with my iPhone 3GS. Is it supposed to be compatible ? On the box, it says it's compatible with iPhone 3G, but no mention to 3GS.

[Mike_M]

Hi,

There is not that much different between the 3G and the 3Gs. The Pure-Fi Anywhere works fine with both.

What does "doesn't work" mean?\

[YCH]

No sound comes out the speakers on the Pure-Fi Anywhere. I can only hear the music through the iPhone speaker... which is not really useful. I tried also with an iPod mini and everything works fine.

[sowgnar]

So... "Logitech Mike" has the time to chime back @Logi Nu with a half-baked retort (I wouldn't exactly call it 'support') -- but then just leaves it hanging with no solution? 

Where's the effing resolution here?

My 3GS doesn't play music either.

Let's get some help around here.

[enidwent]

I'm sitting here with my Pure-Fi wanting to know what the deal is too. My iphone 3GS does not work with this device? Is there a fix?

[ringostar]

I just bought a new iPod touch 4G and it only charges but does not play music. I have reset my iPod and the PFA2 but still no success. Mike ?

[OldTechie]

As far as I can determine, this is the Logitech Pure-Fi Anywhere 2 support area. As a customer, I expect that I shall get support from a  knowledgeable employee of Logitech, if the product I bought does not perform as advertised.

This thread is started by someone who is a dissatisfied owner of  a Logitech product. This person may not have given the most technically detailed description of the problem, but then why should the think they need to give the software version number or anything else? The site has given them absolutely no help in defining the technical aspects of the problem that they might want to have presented, as far as I can see. However, they do seem to think the product works fine with one of its supported Apple products, and yet it is reported as not working with another. Logi Nu asks a very precise question; the I-phone 3G is supported, but is the 3GS also supported?

Mike_M seems to be the only person who cares, but what seems strange is that Mike_M is a retired Logitech employee. Does he reply as an individual or as an official  Logitech technical support person? If he replies as an individual, then we should be grateful, because he might be able to help, and Logitech do not seem to be all that bothered about these problems which seem to have been recurring with this product line for about six months at least. If he is an official Logitech  employee, then it seems strange that this is not more clearly shown, and his answer is rather less easy to understand.

The product has had these types of problem since at least the middle of last year, five minutes with Google will demonstrate that, and yet no solution is offered. Furthermore, it seems spurious to suggest that it is at all difficult to understand what “doesn’t work” means in the context posited. The Logitech box “works”, with the old i-Pod, but “didn’t work”  with the I-phone 3GS. Surely it is not too much to ask that someone in technical support of a device that has a primary function of amplifying the sound from an i-pod/i-phone, should deduce that it makes an amplified sound when it “works”, and is thought, when it does not produce amplified sound, to be “not working”?

As for my own Anywhere 2, and i-phone combinations, mine do not produce any amplified sound. I used to be in technical support myself, and I have tried every suggestion in the Logitech Anywhere Troubleshooting Guide to no avail. It still fails to produce any amplified sound.

What needs to happen here is someone at Logitech needs to understand that we as consumers want to have made the right decision by buying the Logitech product, We have not simply found it doesn’t work, and taken it back, bought someone else’s product, and told our friends of the very negative experience we have had with Logitech. On the contrary, we want to be right in our judgement, and in asking a question here, give Logitech the chance to make things good. If they do not, they only have themselves to blame for the returned products and the poor opinions.

[OldTechie]

I have just had this reply from Logitech Technical support......

Dear David,

Thank you for contacting Logitech's Customer Care. We do apologize for the inconvenience that you've had with the product. I'll be more than happy to assist you regarding your concern. 

From your email, I understand that both of your Iphone3 and 4 are not working on your PureFi Anywhere 2. 

With regards to your concern, I would like to inform you that once you upgrade the firmware version of your Iphone, It will no longer work on your device since the PureFi Anywhere 2 supports the early version only. Also, I would like you to know that Iphone 4 is totally not compatible to the device since it uses the latest firmware version. 

Kindly check the firmware version of your Iphone 3G as you might update it to the latest version. 

I look forward to your response. Thank you.

Regards,

Jay-R
Logitech Inc.
Customer Care - America

My rather lengthy reply is here....

Dear Jay

Thank-you for your prompt response. I am bound to say that it is very disappointing. You, and presumably others at Logitech know that the problem exists, but it does not seem to be prominent in any part of the Support web-site that I encountered. Why is such a situation not documented in Frequently Asked Questions? Why, if there is a risk of compatibility issues, are users not presented with a matrix of what products and configurations can be expected to work with the Logitech product.

I would also add that from a consumer perspective, if the way you have dealt with this issue in my own case is typical, then Logitech clearly have little understanding of how it feels to be one of their customers, and how that might reflect on Logitech. I will illustrate this, and hope you have the good sense to pass this upwards to your management, since I believe you will find little to dispute in my arguments.

Start from where I am, and work backwards into Logitech.

I bought a Logitech product that I believed would work with my i-Phones. No-one disabused me of this at the time, and no evidence that I had made this purchase erroneously was readily apparent from your web-site.

The first thing that you should understand from this is that the Logitech device is of secondary importance to me to the i-Phones. I want to Logitech device to support the i-Phone, not vice-versa.

So the solution you suggest is bound to be unacceptable. Why should I want to effectively downgrade the i-Phone software, to support the Logitech? Maybe no-one there understands the way things really work with the i-Phone, but Apple make it really easy for an i-Phone user to simply plug their phone into the charger that happens to be the USB port on their computer and then any software updates are downloaded as soon as they become available. This means that any fixes get to the user immediately they are available. Does Logitech technical management seriously consider that at least some of the i-phone users will not want to do this? Does it not seem likely that any non-technical user will simply not want to be bothered with any problems and that they will just let the experts at Apple sort that stuff out for them, and use the best software currently available? I have a reasonable grasp of technical matters, but I default to downloading new software for my phone as soon as it becomes available, so I will be on the latest version at all times. If the management do not think this to commonly be the case, then it would explain a lot to me, though I am bound to say that I find their suppositions more at fault than my own.

However, it seems from Google searches that this software incompatibility issue might have been a reported problem as long as eight months ago. Now that is admittedly not long in product lifecycle terms, but that makes the lack of detailing this as a FAQ problem less forgivable, too. It seems to me that here is where failing to understand that your product is secondary to the i-Pod or i-Phone  really causes problems. Logitech seem to have designed a device that mechanically fits the i_phone connector , without anticipating that they need to accommodate software revisions too. Logitech are at fault here, not Apple.

So where does that all leave me? Well, I should have to say that the product will be returned, a different, compatible product, from another company will replace it, and my opinion of Logitech will be severely diminished. I shall endeavour to avoid Logitech products wherever possible, so you don't just loose this sale, you loose every other sale that customer satisfaction might have engendered from me.

I think you should pass this to you senior management, because if your response is one they would find acceptable, then I believe they are not seeing the real impact of their actions.

Best regards

Hopefully others will now get a swifter understanding of the problem than we seem to have been able to glean!

[galloverde11]

Dear OldTechie,

I'm very puzzled after I've read the reply you got from logitech and what I've read on this page http://store.apple.com/fr/product/TR142ZM/A

where it's clearly stated that it's compatible even with iphone 4gs...

I'm now a little undecided whether to buy it or not, I've a 3gs now, but hopefully upgrading it to a 4gs

Matteo

[Cintech]

Hello,

If we are still discussing the Logitech Pure-Fi Anywhere 2, it does support the iPhone (4, 3GS, 3G,) Use Tray B for charging and playing. You can view the compatibility list by going to this link http://www.logitech.com/en-us/speakers-audio/ipod-mp3-speakers/devices/4320 and hovering over the features tab and choosing iPod/iPhone compatibility list. You will probably need to remove the protective case, if you have one, from the iProduct as the pin connector may not be able make a perfect contact with it on.

Some older models of docks may require the Universal Dock Adapter.

http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC598ZM/A

I hope this has been helpful

Best Regards,