So we couldn’t stifle a groan when the Altec Lansing T612 landed on our desk, but on second glance, it did have one redeeming aspect that no other iPod speaker dock could claim: it’s the first one endorsed by Apple to work with the iPhone.

The iPhone has the same width as an iPod classic, so theoretically most speaker docks should fit the iPhone with no problem. But anyone that’s ever used a mobile phone next to a speaker will be familiar with the ugly interference sound it causes, and since the iPhone is also equipped with Wi-Fi, it’s doubly prone to this problem.

The T612’s release was strategically timed to a week before the announcement of the iPhone 3G, and while we’re still chomping at the bit to get our hands on this newest version, we had a first-gen iPhone to test it with. Surprisingly, when we stuck it into the docking cradle, a pop-up appeared saying ‘This accessory is not made to work with iPhone’, followed by a recommendation that we put it in airplane mode. However, just as advertised, we didn’t experience any interference or feedback while the phone was ringing.

If you’re playing music when a call comes in (as is likely if you’ve got it sitting in a speaker dock), the song fades and your ring tone comes through on the speaker. If you answer the phone without removing it from the dock, though, audio is then routed through the iPhone’s earpiece rather than the speaker. You could switch the call to speakerphone if you don’t want to remove it from the dock, but since the microphone on the bottom right-hand corner is muffled, callers find it difficult to hear what you’re saying clearly.