CarDock questions

[WorldOfJohnboy]

All easily seen from the car behind me when the X is in the car dock.

Most of the people that I would use this on are in their 80's and can't read a regular sized billboard, let alone a 4.3" screen from 20 feet away moving at 30 MPH... just sayin'

 

[stargazin]

I have the car dock and bought it as a bundle pack with the phone, it came with the anti glare screen protectors, car charger and dock. I had a Blackberry visor mount BT speakerphone, that has the FM transmitter built in to listen to over the radio. Motorola has one as well for 50.00, you might be able to find cheaper. The back of the dock has a 3.5mm jack for plugging in the supplied W/cardock cable into a stereo with a 3.5 AUX in jack. I can easily switch between calls, mp3, Dogcatcher Podcast app, GPS/Nav app with no trouble.

Personally I think the cardock is one of the best Accessories I could have bought for this Awesome New Phone. The huge screen makes button pushes easy, and Reading the screen even easier. IF I could only figure out how to make the Maping/Nav fonts larger I would be completely happy with the whole setup.

Jeff

 

[rydizzle]

For the car dock, is there an aux port on the dock itself, or do you have to use the headphone jack? i ask cause the desk dock has a spot for the mini-HDMI as well, so didnt know if the car dock did too.

 

[landon]

Case in point, I was listening to MP3s (on my SD Card) and navigating somewhere. My sister called me, so I picked up the phone and it paused the music. I was able to hear my sister on my car speakers, and the microphones are strong enough that she can hear me clearly without the need for bluetooth or speakerphone activated. During the phone conversation, the GPS was still telling me what turns to take even though I was talking on the phone. After the call was over, my MP3 started playing again and I was able to see the GPS Nav map on my phone.

How are you getting the music from phone to car (ie. separate cords, BT etc..)? What player app are you using?

Sounds ideal, if it doesn't take too much to get to this stage.

I have the car dock and bought it as a bundle pack with the phone, it came with the anti glare screen protectors, car charger and dock. I had a Blackberry visor mount BT speakerphone, that has the FM transmitter built in to listen to over the radio. Motorola has one as well for 50.00, you might be able to find cheaper. The back of the dock has a 3.5mm jack for plugging in the supplied W/cardock cable into a stereo with a 3.5 AUX in jack. I can easily switch between calls, mp3, Dogcatcher Podcast app, GPS/Nav app with no trouble.

Personally I think the cardock is one of the best Accessories I could have bought for this Awesome New Phone. The huge screen makes button pushes easy, and Reading the screen even easier. IF I could only figure out how to make the Maping/Nav fonts larger I would be completely happy with the whole setup.

Jeff

I guess this is what I'm looking for (highlighted portion), but I'm a tad confused. Does the dock come with a cable?

If I can just plug the phone in, and it will start charging and allow me to play music without any additional attachments than I will be happy. If I were to have to plug the audio plug in every time, it wouldn't be any different than plugging in the charger, and I would just skip the dock.

A question though, the audio jack on the phone will not plug into the dock correct? I guess the sound just comes trough the USB port into the dock, then out of the audio port into the car stereo....I'll be by the local store to check on this further today.....

For the car dock, is there an aux port on the dock itself, or do you have to use the headphone jack? i ask cause the desk dock has a spot for the mini-HDMI as well, so didnt know if the car dock did too.

The quote I sited above yours says there is an aux jack on the dock, so in the very least, you wont have to plug it in separately each time, just leave it plugged into the dock. It's a little confusing though, as you can see I asked some follow up questions

I looked the display car mount over pretty good at the store. I missed the aux jack on the back of it, but it most definitely only has the USB connection in the dock. I think only the home unit has the HDMI cable.

 

[rydizzle]

Case in point, I was listening to MP3s (on my SD Card) and navigating somewhere. My sister called me, so I picked up the phone and it paused the music. I was able to hear my sister on my car speakers, and the microphones are strong enough that she can hear me clearly without the need for bluetooth or speakerphone activated. During the phone conversation, the GPS was still telling me what turns to take even though I was talking on the phone. After the call was over, my MP3 started playing again and I was able to see the GPS Nav map on my phone.

How are you getting the music from phone to car (ie. separate cords, BT etc..)? What player app are you using?

Sounds ideal, if it doesn't take too much to get to this stage.

I have the car dock and bought it as a bundle pack with the phone, it came with the anti glare screen protectors, car charger and dock. I had a Blackberry visor mount BT speakerphone, that has the FM transmitter built in to listen to over the radio. Motorola has one as well for 50.00, you might be able to find cheaper. The back of the dock has a 3.5mm jack for plugging in the supplied W/cardock cable into a stereo with a 3.5 AUX in jack. I can easily switch between calls, mp3, Dogcatcher Podcast app, GPS/Nav app with no trouble.

Personally I think the cardock is one of the best Accessories I could have bought for this Awesome New Phone. The huge screen makes button pushes easy, and Reading the screen even easier. IF I could only figure out how to make the Maping/Nav fonts larger I would be completely happy with the whole setup.

Jeff

I guess this is what I'm looking for (highlighted portion), but I'm a tad confused. Does the dock come with a cable?

If I can just plug the phone in, and it will start charging and allow me to play music without any additional attachments than I will be happy. If I were to have to plug the audio plug in every time, it wouldn't be any different than plugging in the charger, and I would just skip the dock.

A question though, the audio jack on the phone will not plug into the dock correct? I guess the sound just comes trough the USB port into the dock, then out of the audio port into the car stereo....I'll be by the local store to check on this further today.....

For the car dock, is there an aux port on the dock itself, or do you have to use the headphone jack? i ask cause the desk dock has a spot for the mini-HDMI as well, so didnt know if the car dock did too.

The quote I sited above yours says there is an aux jack on the dock, so in the very least, you wont have to plug it in separately each time, just leave it plugged into the dock. It's a little confusing though, as you can see I asked some follow up questions

I looked the display car mount over pretty good at the store. I missed the aux jack on the back of it, but it most definitely only has the USB connection in the dock. I think only the home unit has the HDMI cable.

Yeah, my post was a little confusing. I figured HDMI wouldnt be on the car dock. What I meant to say was that since HDMI was included on the home dock, maybe AUX was included on the car dock. I hope it is, I don't particularly want to have to plug it in the headphone jack and have the cord wrapped everywhere.

 

[stargazin]

There is no audio jack on the back of the car dock sadly. But I use the bluetooth fm speakerphone. This really did need the audio jack though it would have made the dock much more efficient.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

 

[rydizzle]

There is no audio jack on the back of the car dock sadly. But I use the bluetooth fm speakerphone. This really did need the audio jack though it would have made the dock much more efficient.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

that sucks, but at least answers my question. hopefully some company will make a dock that includes it.

 

[landon]

There is no audio jack on the back of the car dock sadly. But I use the bluetooth fm speakerphone. This really did need the audio jack though it would have made the dock much more efficient.

I'm not going to drop the cash on the BT FM device right now. I went by the store and confirmed what you've said though....there is no jack

that sucks, but at least answers my question. hopefully some company will make a dock that includes it.

My sentiments exactly


On a positive note though, I did go ahead and order the droid X dancedroid Hopefully around 8/3 Ill have a little more to contribute back to this forum

 

[Eolly]

I have a pioneer deh 7100bt h/u in my dakota. I figured out lastnight that I can plug the phone into the usb inputs of my h/u and it will recognize my sd card in the phone. So I grabbed the spare usb cable I had from my blackberry and plugged it into my car dock. So I can either bluetooth the music or can play it directly off the sd card.

Landon I have a truck and I initially was going to wait for a third party car dock. But the fact that the first day I had the phone it jumped out of the cup holder and ran across my floorboard changed my mind. I would consider saving and buying it shorty after you get the phone.

 

[WorldOfJohnboy]

There is no audio jack on the back of the car dock sadly. But I use the bluetooth fm speakerphone. This really did need the audio jack though it would have made the dock much more efficient.

I need to "qualify" this statement. Though there is no audio jack on the back of the dock, it comes with a 1/8" stereo male-to-male cable. One end is a "straight" plug and the other is a right-angled plug. On the back of the car dock, there is a little clip that will hold the plug at a location that makes is EXTREMELY easy to plug it into the port on the phone once you put it in the car dock.

If you think about it, they can't really put one on the dock itself when you dock the phone as not everyone will use the port (for various reasons... don't have an AUX port, want to use speakerphone or bluetooth, etc.) Since the headphone jack is on the left (when you put the phone in the dock) and the Micro USB charging plug is on the bottom of the phone, it would also make it nearly impossible to put the phone in the car dock if you had both plugs "built-in" to the dock.

IMHO, the designed the dock really well and the lack of audio port on the back of the dock is not necessary. Sometimes, if I want to listen to XM radio, I won't plug my phone into my stereo on purpose so that I can use the phone's speaker instead.

 

[rydizzle]

There is no audio jack on the back of the car dock sadly. But I use the bluetooth fm speakerphone. This really did need the audio jack though it would have made the dock much more efficient.

I need to "qualify" this statement. Though there is no audio jack on the back of the dock, it comes with a 1/8" stereo male-to-male cable. One end is a "straight" plug and the other is a right-angled plug. On the back of the car dock, there is a little clip that will hold the plug at a location that makes is EXTREMELY easy to plug it into the port on the phone once you put it in the car dock.

If you think about it, they can't really put one on the dock itself when you dock the phone as not everyone will use the port (for various reasons... don't have an AUX port, want to use speakerphone or bluetooth, etc.) Since the headphone jack is on the left (when you put the phone in the dock) and the Micro USB charging plug is on the bottom of the phone, it would also make it nearly impossible to put the phone in the car dock if you had both plugs "built-in" to the dock.

IMHO, the designed the dock really well and the lack of audio port on the back of the dock is not necessary. Sometimes, if I want to listen to XM radio, I won't plug my phone into my stereo on purpose so that I can use the phone's speaker instead.

My whole thing was trying to keep wires neat and not all over the place. If there is a clip that helps to do that, it'll work. Thanks for the info.

 

[WorldOfJohnboy]

My whole thing was trying to keep wires neat and not all over the place. If there is a clip that helps to do that, it'll work. Thanks for the info.

Yes there is... the only word of caution on it is that the cable they give with it is pretty small in diameter, so if something happens to the "stock" cable, you will either have to purchase another "thin" cable, or you won't be able to use the clip.

Another way to make it a clean install would be to use zip-ties.

 

[landon]

I'm not so concerned with wires, I was just hoping for some functionality. It sounds like all this thing does is hold the phone. While that is convenient, if I have to plug the music jack in, I may as well plug the charger in, and use something different to hold the phone. I've already run several ideas through my head, and I think I can come up with something that will fit me better than this mount, and it should cost less than $10 if all goes right. Until I exhaust my ideas I will feel robbed by paying $40 for something a piece of velcro can do.

 

[WorldOfJohnboy]

I'm not so concerned with wires, I was just hoping for some functionality. It sounds like all this thing does is hold the phone. While that is convenient, if I have to plug the music jack in, I may as well plug the charger in, and use something different to hold the phone. I've already run several ideas through my head, and I think I can come up with something that will fit me better than this mount, and it should cost less than $10 if all goes right. Until I exhaust my ideas I will feel robbed by paying $40 for something a piece of velcro can do.

Uh... what sort of functionality are you looking for? If you want something just to hold your phone, then you are right, a piece of velcro or some other cheaper 3rd party holder would be your option.

I will state the pros of having the car dock as compared to a 3rd party holder:

• The phone auto-recognizes it is in the car dock and goes to landscape view and starts the Car Dock application.
• If installed, the "Drivesafe.ly" application also auto-starts(which I have and love).
• If the car charger is plugged into the dock, all you have to do is set the phone in the dock and it will charge, no need to plug in the car charger AND put in the dock.
• Clip will hold audio cable on the dock that makes it easy to connect to headphones, speaker, aux input, etc.
• Dock comes with dashboard 3M tape "Dashboard" plate that allows you to suction to the dash instead of the windshield. (Though some 3rd party holders have that as well.)
• Construction of the Dock itself is REALLY high quality... the dock itself feels like it's core is either metal or very high density plastic. The joints, adjustible elbows, suction cup, etc. are all waaaay better quality than what you will find in a cheaper 3rd party holder.

Bottom line is that this isn't for everyone, but I think it is one of the best phone accessories I have ever purchased for any of my Smartphones ever.

 

[futureroads]

T505 is great

I highly recommend the Motorola T505. It does a great job as a Bluetooth speaker phone AND to stream Pandora (phone calls or whatever) via FM to my car stereo. Its FM transmitter is strong and will auto search for a quite frequency. If you are driviing and start to hear noise from a strong radio station just press the FM transmitter button on the T505 to turn it off and back on to search for a new frequency. Works great even in metro areas like Tampa and Atlanta. That's what I'm using here ...

[video=youtube;IbLVX-cLffg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbLVX-cLffg]YouTube - Truckn Across the Skyway Bridge Over Tampa Bay[/video]