Droid 3 car dock

[wuwtk]

I just bought and received the car dock for the Droid 3 and just wanted to give everyone the details about it.

First of all all of the contents. It has the dock, the windshield mount, the dashboard mount, a combination usb micro/3.5mm cable, a separate 3.5mm cable. Sadly it does not have the dc to usb adapter... I had to go out an buy one for $10

The phone fits perfectly in the dock and the dock has a removable plate inside to allow cases to fit. Phone did not vibrate and was very sturdy in the dock. One thing I did notice is that you have to lightly push the phone down to make sure it is fully on the micro usb plug. If you just lets it slide in there it does not fully plug in, very minor inconvenience. And it uses the standard ball mount so you can swivel it wherever you want to.

The cable was one part I was not expecting, it is a combination usb/3.5mm cable. it plugs into the back of the dock, but unlike the droid 2 dock it goes in sideways and has kind of a cable feed built into the dock; which I find much better. At the end of the usb cable it's a standard usb port but there is an additional port immediately off of it which is a female 3.5mm adapter. I personally use bluetooth for the audio but the fact that it is there and they give you the audio cable to go with that is pretty nice. and the cable has a little piece of velcro off of it so you can organize loose extra cable.

Last thing is the motorola car navigation software is horrible... absolutely horrible. It was extremely slow, did not give me the options that I wanted, and refused to work with the new google music which has all my music streaming. I found you can download the standard google car dock apk, install it with no problem and set that as your default for the car dock. Was a huge upgrade compared to the motorola dock software, worked with everything and was extremely quick. here is the link in case anybody else wants it http://www.droid-life.com/2010/10/01/download-google-car-home-app/.

Overall, it is a really nice dock. My only complaint is that for a $40 car dock their is no car charger bundled with it.

 

[TouringBubble]

I've got the dock boxed up in the floorboard of my car currently ... waiting for the D3 to arrive.

So, I'm gathering that it's not possible to use the standard DC to Micro USB charger with the D3 dock? That's kind of a pain. I don't want to carry 2 car chargers. I still have the DC charger for my original Droid.

 

[wuwtk]

I've got the dock boxed up in the floorboard of my car currently ... waiting for the D3 to arrive.

So, I'm gathering that it's not possible to use the standard DC to Micro USB charger with the D3 dock? That's kind of a pain. I don't want to carry 2 car chargers. I still have the DC charger for my original Droid.

The dock just has a standard micro usb port going into and the manual said nothing about requiring to use the cable they gave you, so I'm assuming that a standard dc to micro usb will work. Or at least I cant think of any reason why it wouldn't. I believe the specialized cable is just to make it more convenient to plug in an audio cable.

 

[TouringBubble]

Okay, so the phone plugs in to the dock's micro USB, but the dock has it's own place to connect a DC charger to it. Got it. Is the Micro USB/3.5mm cable a "dongle" of sorts? What is on the other end? I guess I just need to go get mine out of the car and look it over to really understand.

 

[wuwtk]

Sorry if im being confusing at all. The dock has the micro usb going into the phone and has a micro usb port into the back of the dock. The only special thing is the cable which looks exactly like a standard usb to micro usb cable, except at the usb side their is and extra cable hanging off which it the female 3.5mm adapter.

 

[TouringBubble]

No, I'm following you, but I did go grab mine to get a better idea.

Basically, they assume that you have a standard USB port for power. That's why the bundled cable is set up as such. You could technically plug in your standard micro USB charger to the back, but there would be no audio connection with that setup. Many cars have a USB port these days, so they went that route. The included cable is plenty long enough if you happen to have a USB port in the car.

Sadly, I don't. But I do think I have a cheap DC to USB connector that I've never used.

What I do like is that the cable is not coiled. On my Droid, I have the standard Verizon cable that would pull on the device when in the mount. I never liked that. This new mount for the D3 should completely eliminate that, but requires the Dc to USB connector.

 

[cwscms]

stupid question... it says... "windhield dock"... does it have the dashboard part too, or am I looking at the wrong package...

 

[TyrantII]

Sounds good to me. I wired a USB mini cable behind the dash (even have a spliced 12V outlet and 1000mV DC to USB converter hidden back there) for my OG DROID, so it sounds like this new dock will work the same. Do you mind snapping a few pictures for us? How was the price on it?

Not sure how that audio jack is connected, hopefully it can be removed of pinned up. With BT it isn't needed for a lot of us.

 

[xxspark89xx]

stupid question... it says... "windhield dock"... does it have the dashboard part too, or am I looking at the wrong package...

It comes with the dashboard mounting equipment as well

 

[b00mb00mchuck]

I wouldn't try using any old micro usb to plug into the back of the dock... motorola has done some tricky wiring to make the dock work properly... and they warn not to use the cable that came with the dock on any other devices...

This cable showed up as "faulty" on the USB cable tester...

So it's wired specifically for the dock.... one thing you don't wana do... don't unplug from the back of the dock and stick directly into the phone... bad news... don't do it

And don't use a regular micro usb cable into the back of the dock...

 

[TyrantII]

And don't use a regular micro usb cable into the back of the dock...

You sure about that?

I understand the cable, but it doesn't make much sense otherwise. Unless they used a different micro USB form, a regular USB should work.

The phone uses a standard USB, so why would the dock be any different, plugging into the phones USB?

 

[b00mb00mchuck]

I dunno the details of the wiring... but its not a different form of usb tip... its a different wiring layout of the usb tip... and it was important enough for motorola to waste all kinds of money putting a sticker on the micro usb end of the wire warning not to plug directly into the phone or other device... and instructions in the book that the dock only works with included cable

Just tryin to save people the grief... i've made these mistakes before not listening to motorola when they give charger instructions can be very disappointing in the long run...

 

[TyrantII]

LOL, I hear ya. I totally get that the cable shouldn't be used for anything else, but I'm suspect that a normal USB cable & Converter can't be used with the dock.

I'm pretty sure that the data transfer pins of a cable are not used when a regular cable is used exclusively for charging devices, and bet that they used those pins for audio to provide a jack for those with FM tuners / aux in jacks

Using a normal USB cable and 12V to USB converter, the pins wouldn't be used, or would be shorted (disabled) depending on the charger and cable.

I guess well have to wait for someone who can verify it, but that's my guess at least.

At least I'm hoping so, as my car has a 6 foot USB wired behind the dash with a behind the dash 12V socket and charger. I'm not a fan of loose cables all over by car. If we can only use Motorola proprietary cable with it, fat chance I'll be able to find one long enough.

 

[b00mb00mchuck]

USB extension/male to female/

got mine at target

 

[xxspark89xx]

Funny thing is, the Car Dock that you can order from the official Motorola Store comes with the Rapid USB Charger in the package.

Shame on you Verizon...