Branded isn’t always best

9 July 2010 by Shaun 2 Comments

I have always been told to buy branded accessories if possible to ensure they work properly with specific smartphones, especially Apples ones. I can (sort of) understand this view when it comes to chargers, but still ignore the advice. There is no way on Earth I am paying £25 for a UK plug USB adaptor from Apple when I can buy one for £5 elsewhere.

One item which has always deeply annoyed me is the official Composite AV Cable which currently retails for £39. I bought one a while back and it has never worked on my iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 or my son’s iPod Touch. No matter what I tried it just did not work and had the worst design in the world. It looked nice, but the shiny exterior on the plugs made it extremely difficult to pull out of the TV without breaking it.

Imagine my surprise when I saw an iPhone compatible Composite Cable for £12.99 in my local Tesco store. I took a risk and bought one, not expecting it to work, and it works perfectly on my TV with my iPhone 4 and 3GS. Now my family can watch rented films, YouTube and view photos whenever we like on our TV, with not a hint of branding in sight.

2 Comments »

Sidthebad said:

Glad to hear this Shaun. I bought a composite cable on eBay and was delighted.

A few weeks later ( I might have updated the os in the meantime?) I started getting a “this is not designed for this device” error and so have been disillusioned about composite cables ever since.

I might try this Tesco one for £13.

Sid

# 9 July 2010 at 10:44 am

Martin clark said:

Me too works great with the iPad and the iPhone 4′ however my local Tesco are selling them at £19.99, anyone found out a cheaper one yet which works with all up to date apple devices?

# 20 July 2010 at 1:11 pm