iOS 4.2 Affects Camera Kit Usage on iPad Due to Lower USB Power

The long anticipated iOS 4.2 has finally reached consumer space and there are mixed comments among users that have already upgraded it. While it seems to provide much more features besides bugs fixing like Line2 VOIP and iPad WiFi bugs, some iPad users do experience new issues and one of them is the lower current drawn from USB interface that makes some of the USB peripherals such as Camera connection kit unusable.

The root cause has been identified to be due to the current limitation that been restricted by the new firmware and instead of emitting 100mA from its USB port, the current drawn has been reduced to 20mA which is barely sufficient to supply to its external camera connection kit for proper operation. When such devices are connected, users will get the following alert message stating that “The connected USB device requires too much power” that have not been observed in previous iOS version. Other than the camera kit, some other USB based peripherals such as USB keyboard and flash drives are also impacted as those are the devices that require more than 20mA to work correctly.

As of now, the Cupertino-based company has not acknowledged if it is a new bug in iOS 4.2 and how they are going to address it, but obviously this is quite an important feature to be able to utilize external peripherals or otherwise it will be lacking behind as compared to other competitor’s products such as Samsung Galaxy Tab with built-in camera module especially before the iPad 2 arrival.