Just wanted to tell everyone I "solved" the problem of the official Samsung Car Dock not playing music and phone calls through the headset.
Well, sort of. I removed the entire "USB slider" mechanism, and just hook up the power cord and headset directly to the phone.
If you pry apart the back of the slider, there a just some small screws holding to the dock. It comes apart easily.
Not quite the software solution I would have wanted, but the official dock is pretty cheap right now compared to alternatives, so I went with it.
I dont have a car dock I just run a soldered in audible cable out of the headphone jack. Perfect audio in, but thats also because I drive a VW that I had to do that.
I'm running SC2.9.2 - car dock works just fine with the USB slider and headphone out the back. Use the Car Cradle app and hit the Speaker icon. That turns on the USB sound. Been working for several of the previous versions of Froyo also.
I'm having a lot of trouble believing that none of you guys ever pop into the Dev section.
OTB'd CM6 FTW
Wouldn't an easier solution have been to just turn dock the phone upside down then flip the dock around? No need to pull of the slider mechanism.
Related
I amazed I'm the first one to notice this, so I'm probably not. I took apart my car dock and found the PCB inside is almost identical to the desktop dock (see photos). The upshot here is that I would strongly guess that you could easily solder on parts to either one and add things like:
- An audio out jack to the car dock (!)
- Volume up/down switches to the desktop dock
- Speakers (small ones!) to the desktop dock
- An external mic to the desktop dock
Most of that doesn't seem so great, but adding an audio jack to the car dock would be fantastic.
Pictures 1 & 2 are the desktop dock, 3 & 4 are the car dock.
Notice the unused pads on the car dock PCB (pic #4) for a headphone jack at bottom left.
Notice the pads for the speakers in pic #2 (desktop dock) at the top.
Also in in pic #2 you can see where the volume rocker would connect at bottom left and mic at bottom center.
Finally the tiny circle near my thumb in pic #4 looks to be a micro antenna jack, hard to tell for sure.
JB
That's incredibly lame of google to not put the audio out when it's the same pcb.
James Bell said:
I amazed I'm the first one to notice this, so I'm probably not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good find.
Along a vaguely similar vain, I suggested over here a method of using a Desk Dock as Car AUX input. It has certain benefits over non OEM accessories that do similar. I am in the process if fitting a USB power supply to my car. Once that is done I will fit the Desk Dock semi permanent out of site as a BT AUX in feed.
Of course getting an AUX jack in the Car Dock would be much better.
next thing would be prying off the metal cover and see if they have the same circuitry inside. Then if yes all you have to do is solder a 3.5 female jack on it and voila'...
fan or heatsink?
cool beans!
i wonder if you could install a copper backing plate connected to a heatsink (like ones you can buy for ram) instead of the plastic piece to help with the high heat issues some are having...hmm...
seems like there's enough room
Dude, love how you tore the desktop dock apart on your desk and the car dock in your car.
Since the pcb's are the same size, couldn't you swap them out, cut a hole in the case and then you'd have audio out on the car dock?
=D
@muncheese
Yah I think so. Problem is it'd recognize it as the desktop dock...errr and you'd lose the speakers and volume rocker from the car dock.
My motivation to solder on an old headphone jack is low - my '01 325 doesn't have an aux in to plug into it! Maybe I'll do it anyway if I can find the right jack.
@SPAS79
I started to pry off the metal top but ran out of time to fool with it. I want to look up the chips and see if any of their outputs can be used to trigger the mute line on my stereo.
Well the speaker wouldnt matter since it'll be going through the car audio system, same for the volume, just control the car stereo volume. =)
I took off the metal cover on the desktop dock, picture below.
There's a daughtercard called an NF2301. Made by nFore and (poorly) described here:
http://www.nforetek.com/products.htm
Adding an Aux out on the Car Dock will place it on the Dock itself.
Ideally for neatness, it would be on the base near the suction cup. I suppose you could run a short cable along the chrome arm and situate the jack on the base near the USB outlet.
Chrome arm should be hollow as it already has power running through it. Might be enough room to run a small cable through it.
This is very exciting
Keep us updated on what happens with you!
Bump!
this is fantastic news. I actually have an audio socket left over from my desk dock audio switch project. If someone wants to buy me another car dock or can prove that soldering on a jack will work then i'd be willing to rip it apart and do what google SHOULD have done in the first place!
I cant wait for some chinese company to make this for the nexus:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.19747
I have one currently that I used with my iphone and while it felt cheap.. It did everything:
held my iphone in place in the car
charged and did audio out with single sync cable
audio out can be routed either to the 3.5mm aux line AND the built in FM transmitter
remote (which stopped working after 1 week)
Mostly I like the fact that it mounted/charged/audio-out my iphone all at once with 1 cable and was only $12 shipped.. I would love something similar for my nexus
If all the talk about the 2.2 update enabling the FM transmitter is true. It would explain why the car dock has no audio out.
And if Google keeps the Nexus One updates on the same track it should be arriving next Tuesday.
First Tuesday of every month has had a blog update and the second of update of each month has been on or around the last Wednesday.
sweltzin said:
If all the talk about the 2.2 update enabling the FM transmitter is true. It would explain why the car dock has no audio out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have seen no talk of enabling an FM TRANSMITTER. Just rumours of them enabling an FM receiver, which would be no solution for the car dock.
Even if it did have an FM transmitter, I would prefer the audio out on the dock. Less hassle, better sound.
logger said:
I have seen no talk of enabling an FM TRANSMITTER. Just rumours of them enabling an FM receiver, which would be no solution for the car dock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's both.
muncheese said:
It's both.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats a fairly vague comment.
Yeah the radio is a transceiver. Thats fairly obvious. It is after all a cellphone.
But are you saying Google will be activating the FM transmitter in such a way as it will transmit audio to a car FM radio? Or are you just saying the FM radio fitted to the phone is a transceiver.
So i read a while back somewhere that some guy somehow got his Droid to work with his iPod dock could someone post a link please thanks
1. you have an android phone, you should know who "google" is and what they do
2. what I THINK you are referring to is that people will just set they're droid into an ihome dock of some sort, and the multimedia screen with come up
the motorola droid has magnetic sensors in the back. when a northern magnetic pull happens on it, it goes into the multimedia dock home. when it's southern, it goes into the navigation dock home (or visa versa, can't remember)
most of the ihome's these days use magnets in the dock to help keep the ipod or whatever you plug into it stable. the magnet apparently triggers the multimedia home, which is actually quite neat and handy.
3. if that isn't what you're talking about, your probably asking if there is a way to hook an android phone up to an ihome dock. well, most ihome docks actually have aux ports, or just a built in wire that will plug into any standard headphone jack. if it doesn't, there's really only a few ways to mod an ihome like that to play from a headphone jack, all which would require soldering skills and for you to actually open up the ihome.
I am sure there is a setting for this just cannot find in on the phone or in the hidden menus.
Problem: When the Fascinate is placed in the Verizon Car Dock and phone call is place via the bluetooth connection the call is distorted (over amplified sounds like). The sound quality of the call is simply not intelligible.
Troubleshooting the problem I narrowed the issue down to the actual car dock mount. Sound quality is GREAT when connected via bluetooth and/or connected to the car charger. Place it in the dock and whammo - crappy sound.
I understand there are small magnets that the Fascinate senses and cause the phone to go into Car Dock Mode. Anyway of turning this off?
Thanks All.
If you are referring to the verizon car dock I have the same issue. I tore the dock apart but found no magnets so I believe the issue lies in the electronics in the little black box that slides down and plugs into your phone. My work around is dial a number, when it goes to bluetooth, switch it to handsfree then back to bluetooth. Or slide the charging plug up make the call then push it back down. Yes it sucks...
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
thanks, I'll try it out.
I will try it out
I will try it out and let you know how I make out.
Because our captivate has the power and headphone jacks on the top it would be great to be able to have it rotate all the way around.
Weird, yes. But it would make it easier on the plugs and cables if it could go upside down into a phone/gps holder for in car navigation.
Is there any reason our phone does not do this? worth while suggestion to some devs?
LOL. I could do that on my old Moto Backflip with Android 2.1, so it's possible. It was pretty useful at those odd moments.
Another thing I'd like is the ability to have the video player rotate 180deg, so that it can be held with the headphone jack on the right side while playing video.
You can in CyanogenMod. I think Samsung took it out for some reason, and that's why none of the custom roms have the option.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-GT-I9000 using XDA App
Old location of Charging port
I have always wondered - why would Samsung put the power connector at the top? What's the benefit compared to putting it at the bottom or side? Connecting a car charger is a pain because of that.
hkk said:
I have always wondered - why would Samsung put the power connector at the top? What's the benefit compared to putting it at the bottom or side? Connecting a car charger is a pain because of that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Probably because their dock has the connector on the left, so when you lay the phone on its side you slide it in.
It is all relative - I hated the iphone port on the bottom - your phone is "upside down" when resting on the seat, or in a cup holder.
So I'm in the planning stages to dash mount a Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus (still haven't bought the tablet yet), and wanted to know where I could find an accessory similar to the Galaxy Tab Multimedia Dock. My goal is to have one connection that will give me both power and audio out to my stereo. The desktop dock can accomplish this for me, but its very bulky and wont be easy to fit in my dash. I could take the dock apart and make it work, but would prefer not to waste 35 dollars like that.
So far the only other item I found that may work is this RCA Composite Cable with USB, but it says only for the original and some of the reviews mention the cable not having the usb attachment as pictured.
Does anyone else have any suggestions?
Finally found it on Amazon after a few days of looking. 30 Pin to USB Charging and 3.5mm Audio Out
Just ordered it and will post pics of my finished car installation and let anyone else who's interested know if it works or not.
isolated_epidemic said:
Finally found it on Amazon after a few days of looking. 30 Pin to USB Charging and 3.5mm Audio Out
Just ordered it and will post pics of my finished car installation and let anyone else who's interested know if it works or not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Let us know how you make out with this. I'd be curious to see if it's compatible with the 6210.
Both of the cables I listed work great. The only issue I have noticed is that at when the stereo is turned up you can hear interference from the power cable. When the music is playing you can't hear it at all.
As I mentioned, here is a picture of the final product. It's hinged on the bottom and clips into place with the standard mounting hardware. FYI it's inside a 2000 Nissan Xterra XE. The volume knob is where the second lighter adapter was. I just hooked in an inline volume knob to adjust the output from the tablet to the stereo. I replaced the included knob with one I ripped off an old stereo. You can barely see that I also installed an auxiliary input jack that somehow miraculously reduces the volume of the tablet when another device is hooked in. All of the "guts are stored inside the dash where all of the other wires are located. If anyone is interested I can post more pictures.
Thanks for the follow up. The final product looks very good. Nice work!
Nice install. Thanks for sharing.
Man, that cable would have come in useful when i was still direct-connecting my tablet. I'll have to keep that in mind.
Put a PAC SN1 inline with your audio to reduce your ground loop interference - that's what i used when i was direct connecting the audio.
Also have this set up on my dash, but I've jumped to the 7.7 and gave the 7 Plus to my wife. I actually prefer to use bluetooth to connect the audio because i can use the car's steering control to control advance/reverse of media.
I'm putting up pics soon of my setup in the 7.7 forum.
rEVOLVE said:
Man, that cable would have come in useful when i was still direct-connecting my tablet. I'll have to keep that in mind.
Put a PAC SN1 inline with your audio to reduce your ground loop interference - that's what i used when i was direct connecting the audio.
Also have this set up on my dash, but I've jumped to the 7.7 and gave the 7 Plus to my wife. I actually prefer to use bluetooth to connect the audio because i can use the car's steering control to control advance/reverse of media.
I'm putting up pics soon of my setup in the 7.7 forum.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the heads up. I was prepared to live with the interference because I didn't know I had a choice. I found a PAC SNI-1 ground loop noise isolator for 14 bucks on eBay. Can't wait to install it and get back to clear audio.
On a side note; after about a month with this tablet in my car, I have to say I'm in love. With the power plugged in and screen on while charging activated, the tablet turns on when I start the car, just like any stereo would. Also when I take it out at night it makes my car look already-broken-into and deters the motherlovin thieves that have been breaking into neighborhood cars.
By the way, does anyone know how to remove the annoying 100% charged sound? It can get especially irritating when I have plenty of stops to make and the tablet loses a percent and gains it back everytime I turn the car off and on again.