Looking for decent car dock

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spoidar

Senior Member
Aug 13, 2010
153
59
Sony's car dock is a joke - it's a generic dock for all their phones, may as well just buy some equally crappy thing off ebay for a pittance.

I'm looking for a proper dock with charging and audio-out built in. Having to plug and unplug USB and headphone jacks every time you dock and undock your phone is ridiculous. In fact, I don't know if I can commit to buying the Xperia Z without one.
 

Eddiemc

Senior Member
Mar 15, 2010
1,417
540
Wonder if you could take the desktop cradle, glue it onto your dash, then re solder some wires to get the car plug 12v... Seriously, it might be a way if Sony doesn't release one:)
 

spoidar

Senior Member
Aug 13, 2010
153
59
I've considered modding the desk dock, would also require adding some sort of clip to hold it through bumps/whatever. Far from ideal though, and a fair bit of effort I'd prefer not to go to... :-/
 

dark_and_WArr

Member
Jan 27, 2013
11
2
Sony's car dock is a joke - it's a generic dock for all their phones, may as well just buy some equally crappy thing off ebay for a pittance.

I'm looking for a proper dock with charging and audio-out built in. Having to plug and unplug USB and headphone jacks every time you dock and undock your phone is ridiculous. In fact, I don't know if I can commit to buying the Xperia Z without one.

me to
 

spoidar

Senior Member
Aug 13, 2010
153
59
Not cheap but very good car docks, only Xperia Z not yet available:

http://www.brodit.com
Yeah, they're better than nothing I guess, but they always seem to use power cords that are moulded into the unit, and none of their stuff supports audio out.

Take a look at Samsung's car docks for their flagship phones as an example of how to do it right - microUSB input for charging (means you can take your power from whatever source you like, useful for eliminating ground loops), and a 3.5mm phono socket in case you want to connect to an AUX port on your head unit (because BT sucks).

EDIT: Oh, and particularly for the Xperia Z, a car mount that uses the dock connector - rather than USB - is extremely useful, because otherwise you've got to fiddle around opening the USB socket cover to connect a charger.
 
Last edited:

dark_and_WArr

Member
Jan 27, 2013
11
2
Sony's car dock is a joke - it's a generic dock for all their phones, may as well just buy some equally crappy thing off ebay for a pittance.

I'm looking for a proper dock with charging and audio-out built in. Having to plug and unplug USB and headphone jacks every time you dock and undock your phone is ridiculous. In fact, I don't know if I can commit to buying the Xperia Z without one.

good
 

D3_

Senior Member
Mar 9, 2010
1,262
419
London
Take a look at Samsung's car docks for their flagship phones as an example of how to do it right - microUSB input for charging (means you can take your power from whatever source you like, useful for eliminating ground loops), and a 3.5mm phono socket in case you want to connect to an AUX port on your head unit (because BT sucks)..
They seem to be stopping their good work though, all they seem to have for the s3/note 2 is a universal passive dock. The way they did it for the galaxy s 2 (i9100 version at least) was how all manufacturers should, best car dock I've owned by far.
 

noxlord

Senior Member
Apr 4, 2011
220
31
Xperia XZ2
I have a Motorola Atrix and the official car dock. It work like a charm and you can even remove a bracket to fit a cased phone in it. Now my Atrix is dead so yeah ...

Wondering why manufacturers don't all just release official docks.
 

parapaul

Senior Member
Apr 27, 2008
141
18
West Midlands
From the pictures I've seen the desk dock takes a Micro USB input so wouldn't be that difficult to mod.

Brodit bracket to fix it to the car interior, NFC tag on the dock to toggle BT, screen brightness, volume up etc. Not sure quite how you'd get the phone to stay in the dock though, particularly portrait.

Hi-tech elastic band? :D
 

spoidar

Senior Member
Aug 13, 2010
153
59
As others have said though, it's a shame they use soldered/molded cables, rather than allowing microusb.
 

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  • 3
    "Hi
    I can gladly inform you that we are going to make holders for this Sony (XPERIA Z).
    We are waiting for the unit to arrive, then we probably need a couple of*weeks before launching.
    Best Regard
    Lars
    Brodit AB"

    Sent from my GT-P6800 using xda premium
    3
    Im guessing the swedish guys over at Brodit will come with one for the Xperia Z pretty soon, they got all the best car docks in my opinion.
    Normally they also release a bigger version for the people who got a plastic grip on their phone as well :)

    Check out brodit.se, they got mounts for most phones

    Today I was told by Brodit that cardholder will be ready within next two weeks. And it, or at least some models, will use holes at side for charging.
    2
    Not cheap but very good car docks, only Xperia Z not yet available:

    http://www.brodit.com
    2
    Looks like Brodit have an active charger on their site now "in development".

    http://www.brodit.com/product.html?id=513495&pn=prod&brand=Sony&model=Xperia Z

    Not sure if you can buy yet- anyone?
    2
    Sounds great. Would it be only for landscape.. or portrait as well?

    Every BRODIT holder (as other car docks usually) can be turned portrait or landscape. Mine for GTab was mounted onto a tilt swivel so you can also adjust the angle.
    They usually build either "passive" and "active" (with cig lighter plug) holders.
    You can mount it on a window suction cup system, or on a BRODIT Pro CLip that is the safest car fixation (different clips depending car model and position desired). if you change car you change the proclip and keep your cradle, if you change phone you keep your Proclip and change the cradle.