How should the perfect Vehicle Dock for Note II look like? From iBOLT...

Which type of microUSB charging connection should the new Car Dock have?

  • Fixed microUSB position (does not work with cases)

    Votes: 6 20.7%
  • Flexible microUSB "arm" (works with all cases)

    Votes: 23 79.3%

  • Total voters
    29
  • Poll closed .
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Keanen

Senior Member
Mar 27, 2008
224
50
Great! Any ETA?

Also, do you have thoughts on this mount working on future Samsung devices?

Sent from my Galaxy Note 2 on Verizon Wireless
 

LunarSoul

Member
Jul 15, 2008
20
1
So yeah, iBolt fixed the UNS arm thing and they're sending me a new one. Awesome customer support.

As for the dock, it's been rock solid so far. The only issue I have is the rubber grips in the front. They don't (or at least mine didn't) take well to trying to place the phone in the dock quickly and accidentally brushing up against them.

This is what happened:

tvQdCAf.jpg

vrhqCye.jpg


Not a big deal for me, the dock still does it's job.
 

KEYofR

Senior Member
Jun 14, 2010
595
221
Then what happens when you dock your phone on an actual smart dock on your nightstand or your desk at work? It launches your car mode app?

Sent from my SPH-L900 using xda premium
 

JonBryant

Senior Member
Jun 6, 2010
50
3
Seacoast, NH
They are sending me out the SAM charging cable as well. I received the UNS one by accident. Was told that the UNS arm is what you are going to use with the fancy cable that they are shipping out mid March.

After a few weeks of use, my dock is holding up pretty well. 2 things i would like to see changed would be the little feet that hold the bottom of the phone, they pull out way to easy, but have this really awkward tab on the bottom to push them back in. I wish that the feet were locked into place, only able to move with the push of a small button, or a pull of the tab. Another thing is the ball joint. Too loose. I've tried electrical tape, scotch tape, duck tape and rubber washers. Still can't get it to tighten up and hold it in 1 place when removing/inserting the phone.

I think the spring tention is perfect. I used the dock in a bobcat for 3 days during this big snow storm we had in New England. Stuck it to the window next to me in portrait, and it NEVER even slipped. I hit some nasty curbs that hurt pretty bad, but the mount held strong. Pretty damn good for a big phone like the note 2.
 

MikaelPe

Senior Member
Jun 8, 2012
213
151
Stony Brook
Then what happens when you dock your phone on an actual smart dock on your nightstand or your desk at work? It launches your car mode app?

Sent from my SPH-L900 using xda premium

Yes, there's only one "Smartdock mode" going forward. However, I am confident you will see the typical car-mode apps with boxes for shortcuts, apps etc. morph into dual functionality so they have a "home docking" screen too.
 

osiedacz

Senior Member
Sep 17, 2008
611
246
Wisconsin
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra
Yes, there's only one "Smartdock mode" going forward. However, I am confident you will see the typical car-mode apps with boxes for shortcuts, apps etc. morph into dual functionality so they have a "home docking" screen too.

Hi MikaelPe,

Since you seem to have the Dev's ear, it would be great if you could persuade them to add the ability to toggle Samsung's Driving Mode with their app too. Driving Mode is the feature where the phone will read your messages and alerts to you.
 

JimSmith94

Senior Member
Jul 21, 2007
2,808
550
Midlothian, TX
Smart Watches
Android Wear
Yes, there's only one "Smartdock mode" going forward. However, I am confident you will see the typical car-mode apps with boxes for shortcuts, apps etc. morph into dual functionality so they have a "home docking" screen too.

Well that sucks and doesn't make sense to me. On my Galaxy S2 I used desk dock mode in my desk dock at home and car dock mode in the car dock in my car. Each dock had its own wiring to determine which mode to open.
 

KEYofR

Senior Member
Jun 14, 2010
595
221
I guess they expect everyone to use nfc tags. Nevermind there isn't always any good place to physically put one. Never mind it may be ugly. Samsung really are pretty annoying even while they may make a sweet piece of hardware.

I had no idea before buying just how retarded proprietary the mhl jack was. I already have standard 5 pin mhl adapters that I was using xwith my ltevo. They worked fine. Why in the world does samsung have to make a bizarro incompatible plug to do the same job? Oh yeah it had sensible car mode and desktop mode too. Who knew it was some exotic use case to have both a car AND a desk? And allsare?? Don't even get me started... the least actual sharing protocol I ever saw...

Sent from my SPH-L900 using xda premium
 

finalhit

Senior Member
Jan 12, 2009
1,187
217
Technically... we still have car dock mode. It just needs to be triggered differently. I do it via tasker and my phone connecting to my car via bluetooth.

I guess another alternative is if you dont have bt enabled car is no wifi + charging. There are many ways to do it.

Then with this, trigger car dock mode, then you'll be given the option of your car dock app.

This way you'll have an option to use a different app for smart dock mode.

Of course, you can't use ibolts arm because it would trigger smart dock mode. Maybe theyll sell their UNS arm separately.

swyped all these spelling errors from my galaxy note 2
 

KEYofR

Senior Member
Jun 14, 2010
595
221
In my hacked htc hd2 dock lately I just use nova lancher which rotates automatically, and no dedicated car mode. Bigger icons would be nice and alternate home screen layouts and icon & widget choices would be nice, but just rotating to landscape is good enough for now. As it happens this dock I'm using does have a flat surface that might be just close enough to the nfc antenna. Just annoyed at Samsung.

Sent from my SPH-L900 using xda premium
 

JonBryant

Senior Member
Jun 6, 2010
50
3
Seacoast, NH
Anyone know how to get Carhome ultra to be the default program to launch when i plug in the dock connector? It launches the clock app. I don't remember setting anything as the default before hand.
 

JonBryant

Senior Member
Jun 6, 2010
50
3
Seacoast, NH
Check out my post for my setup.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using xda app-developers app

Thanks. That worked. I was just hoping that it would work like MikaelPe had shown in the video. Just plug in the cable, select carhome ultra, and boom, it launches carhome ultra when the dock connecter is plugged in without having to use a different app to launch carhome. I had it carhome setup to launch when BT connected but it just defeats the purpose of having a car dock.
 

finalhit

Senior Member
Jan 12, 2009
1,187
217
Thanks. That worked. I was just hoping that it would work like MikaelPe had shown in the video. Just plug in the cable, select carhome ultra, and boom, it launches carhome ultra when the dock connecter is plugged in without having to use a different app to launch carhome. I had it carhome setup to launch when BT connected but it just defeats the purpose of having a car dock.
We at iBOLT are a main "driver" in this process. First out will be the popular application CarHome Ultra which will be updated to support Smartdock mode within the next week.

Reading is fundamental ;)

swyped all these spelling errors from my galaxy note 2
 
Last edited:

MikaelPe

Senior Member
Jun 8, 2012
213
151
Stony Brook
Ulysse Speedometer becoming xProDock compatible..

We just received the updated app today for the popular application Ulysse Speedometer so within not too many days this app too will be formally updated on Google Play with the note that it works as "Dock app" with the xProDock and Samsung's Smartdock mode. Greetings!
 
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ChrisEmerson

Senior Member
Feb 7, 2012
95
16
Nottingham, UK
Am I right in thinking that flashing the Perseus kernel enables you to have car mode as well as smart dock mode? I'm trying to decide which route to go down when making my own cable, and I don't want (for example) my car apps to open when I plug it into a smart dock so it would be good to be able to tell the difference between the two.
 

LunarSoul

Member
Jul 15, 2008
20
1
Got the new cable and I'm using Tasker to do a whole bunch of stuff when the cable is plugged in including launching CarHome. Works incredibly well.

Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk 2
 
In my hacked htc hd2 dock lately I just use nova lancher which rotates automatically, and no dedicated car mode. Bigger icons would be nice and alternate home screen layouts and icon & widget choices would be nice, but just rotating to landscape is good enough for now. As it happens this dock I'm using does have a flat surface that might be just close enough to the nfc antenna. Just annoyed at Samsung.

Sent from my SPH-L900 using xda premium

I found This, it is made for driving and it also has big icons! Someone also mentioned in the thread that it works on the note 2.
 

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  • 7
    Hello everyone, we at iBOLT (www.ibolt.co) are working on a "real" car dock for the Note II. As we are finalizing the details it would be great to have feedback and input from this knowledgeable user community. Here's some of the questions where it would be great to have some feedback on: which type of microUSB charging is optimal (fixed position or flexible so it works with cases), car mode (good or not?), wireless charging (does anyone care?), aux-out through microUSB with 9ft cord (too long?). Well, sound off and let us know and we'll read every comment:) Thanks!
    5
    I'm afraid that video confirms to me that you haven't managed to create a dock with one handed operation - you have to use 2 hands tu plug the usb cable in!

    There seem to be a lot of one-arm persons in this thread. Don't see what's the big deal of using 2 hands to plug in a cable.

    Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda app-developers app
    4
    nice, i was hoping you guys would make one for the note ii.

    please have a stiff-necked cup holder version. i find them much more stable and secure. i personally have a mini cooper, and the cup holders are right in front of the console. the usb cable/aux are right behind them, so it's perfect. 9ft is definitely too long, and would just clutter up the car.

    as per the connection, consider the samsung infuse route...where it snaps into the bottom of the phone. wireless charging is nice, but i wouldn't pay more than +20 bux for it.

    speaking of which, please do portrait mode, not landscape. portrait is way better for navigation.

    last and the least, consider changing your company name.

    Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk 2
    3
    So being ever curious I wanted to see the mechanism that they designed this with so I popped it apart. If you want to do this also just slide the bottom mounting points upward off the main back that houses the spring loaded top clamp, Once you get that off remove the four screws and you can open the main housing up which is pretty simple really...

    While I had it apart I played around with stretching the springs out a bit to loosen things up since I knew I could replace them after seeing them. I started by just removing one spring but that was to loose so I then hyper stretched just one to see how that changed things up but it was still a bit tight... So I finally stretched the other to around the same amount and reassembled and I like the feel much better... The mount still flexes just a bit under the pressure but not near as much as it did before to the extent of causing the ball joint to move.

    If you do this be careful as you can easily over stretch the springs... I stretched mine to the point that they still had light tension when closed all the way. Also, be aware that doing this would probably void any warranty this has.
    3
    xProDock for Galaxy Note II ready soon

    All, we are overwhelmed here at iBOLT by the level of interest for the new car-dock. Today we received the first production units and we are shipping by the end of December. We will post images and spec by Monday and also a link to where to purchase. It works with all cases and extended batteries. Stay tuned and thank you all for excellent comments and great discussions!