Vibration causing lock up?

[cecil61]

Ok here it goes, my wife has been using her droid in the car to listen to music (pandora). We took the motorycycle to the beach for the easter weekend and hence the problem. I felt that since it worked so well in the car I would modify the car mount to mount using my RAM mount on the bike. While listening to Pandora radio it would lock up at high RPM, vibration. The screen would also go from horizontal to vertical mode back and forth. Sometimes it would unlock itself but most of the time I would have to go back to the home screen and restart pandora. Would really like to get rid of the ipod and use internet radio.

The wife drove from pa. to NJ monday listening to Pandora with no problems. Is there anything I can do other than not use it on the bike?

Thanks in advance.

 

[cecil61]

Come on, no ideas?

 

[SpreadTheNight]

I am also a motorcyclist and have suffered the same troubles you have. You are correct in assuming that the constant orientation changes created by excessive vibration are causing the phone to lock up or force-close aps.

Solutions:
Before I realized there was a software solution, I moved the vehicle mount to a location that allowed the phone to rest against the bike's gas tank, thereby lessening vibrations.

Then it occurred to me that the Motorola Droid forces a landscape orientation when the keyboard is partially slid-out. If your mount will allow you to the slide up the screen slightly, the problem should be solved. (The Motorola Car mount does allow for the screen to move)

Finally, I purchased a nifty little ap called "Lock Orientation" that forces orientation lock in a portrait mode after long pressing the search key. This is handy for reading in bed, and also useful in solving your problem, if you don't mind having your map in portrait orientation. I have emailed the author about adding a feature to lock in landscape as well.

 

[SpreadTheNight]

A final and more creative option that I successfully tried today...
Dismantle the car mount, and flip over the tiny round magnet in the base that tells the Droid what kind of dock it's in. The polarity of the magnet determines "car" or "media station." When in media station (nightstand) mode, the device never deviates from landscape orientation.
Accessing the magnet is very easy on the Motorola car dock. There are two plastic clips on the back side that can be pushed with a screwdriver to remove the decorative "Motorola" cover on the phone-side of the car dock surface. Once off, the magnet is clearly visible and easily removed for flipping. I don't believe it is even glued down.