Related
I came across this product and had to order one for my tomtom kit, it is the loudest speaker moutn I have ever heard, and the XDA 2 fits in the mount perfectly:
http://www.pdamods.com/products.asp?cat=78
I used to have a ipaq 1910 and the speaker on that was rubbish, then upgraded to an XDA 2 and thought it was better than the 1910 but could not hear the voice directions if the radio was loud, however this mount is seriously amazing, it has its own built in amplifier with full volume control.
I have got this holder for the car, unfortunately the TomTom GPS receiver has a RJ11 connector and the holder has a mini USB port, so therefore i can not use it.
It came with a PS2 to mini USB connector and thats it.
Very sad if you ask me
I'm now waiting for a lead connector from TomTom RJ11 to Mini USB
Sorry to hear that they may have made a mistake cos I chose tomtom cable and they sent me the RJ11 cable - believe me when you get the right cable you will love this device !!
On ebay is sold a little rechargeable device called car baby, it clips over the speaker and then you get the audio from the xda or any other device through your car speakers.
Arkon PDA Mount
Hi guys,
I'll let you know my experience with the Arkon car mount kit.
First what I have?
1) O2 XDAII
2) Arkon car mount kit for Vent and Windshield mount.
3) Arkon cables for XDAII
4) Emtac CRUXII/BTGPS
What you gain?
1) A complete car kit that charge both devices (XDA and BT Gps)
2) A handsfree car kit with a good speaker
3) A handsfree Navigation system
Hope this helps a choice.
All these powered mounts are great (i've got the Arkon PDA Mount) except that they all pick up the background radio signels that the phone transmits when it is active or syncing with the network and that's really annoying if you're driving along trying to listen to anything else.
I've had the same problem as you jashry but I've found a little S.P. (Service pack) to that.
Just turn the 3,5 mm cable so that it touches the Arkon device on the backside. And you'll hear less noise due to GSM signal.
Hope it helps!
Arkon 700 car mount for XDA2
I called a well known supplier of kit based in Manchester and asked for a car mount for the XDA2, to run with (and charge) a Bluetooth Tom Tom headset.
The first set came without an audio lead - so rendered the XDA2 useless for receiving calls.
I called and was rudely told of the company's arcane returns policy which made me see red (working in the legal profession) as the kit was clearly defective. To save time, I bought another one subject to some concessions re postage and return of the original etc.
The second kit arrived - complete with a 3.5mm audio lead. The XDA2, which I specified, has a (standard for mobile phones) 2.5mm audio socket. So, it is still useless.
Tried it with a jack adapter (3.5 to 2.5mm) - sound is barely audible, even with everything turned up and "loud' selected on the Ultra Profiler. So, both are now going back with a terse note regarding the Sale of Goods Act.
Can anyone recommend a good car kit (and where to get one from, ideally quickly). Basically, I need something loud and reliable, that will charge a TomTom bluetooth GPS. Ideally, I would like something that can be vent mounted (neater, less 'shake') tha can be hard wired (neater).
I am afraid that finding a jack adapter was at the limit of my technical abilities - suggesting that I splice this and patch in that is akin to suggesting that I learn to fly or communicate by ESP. I wish...
Thanks
PDAMOD Speaker mount for Qtek
Bought one of these mounts that Jashry recommended, but I'm having all kinds of problems with it!
To use the amplifierfacility I have to use the audiosocket in the corner of the Qtek, and they do indeed supply a small cable for that.
But when this cable is mounted, the Qtek barely touches the bottomsocket of the mount, and the connection is lousy!
Actually I HAVE heard the voice, because I can "rock" the Qtek to the side a little, and then I can test the TOMTOM voice, and it sounds great, problem is this prohibits the connection to the GPS, so at the moment it is useless.
On their homepage I can find pics of a Qtek in the mount, but without the little cable in the corner....!
Wonder if anyone uses this device, and if they have had the same problems and maybe somehow solved them?
/HM
angusmcintyre said:
All these powered mounts are great (i've got the Arkon PDA Mount) except that they all pick up the background radio signels that the phone transmits when it is active or syncing with the network and that's really annoying if you're driving along trying to listen to anything else.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry I'm a bit late on this thread, but have you tried using an external antenna lead on your device? This should direct all of that radiation where it belongs.
I have to add that I haven't chosen my amplifier cradle yet because of this issue, but I am eager to know whether the antenna theory does work.
I too tried the mount recommended (after the Arkons which went back) and the loudest sound I have ever heard is interference from the radio signal of the 'phone.
Anyone want one? At the moment it is just an overpriced charging cradle.
I now have a 'Silver Shield' mount, and yes it does sqawk when the phone transitter is operative. However, it also does that when I hold it near my nokia, but not when the nokia is in its car-kit. I should be receiving an external antenna tomorrow, so I'll let you know whether the theory works in practise. In the meantime Dr. Fresh, I'll take any unwanted goods!
I tried the Arkon mount, it landed somewhere near the service station at Bristol on the M5 when I launched it out the window, interference was so loud, it should have been returned to the designer and inserted up his ass....sideways.
It works!!!!
Just got my external antenna and adaptor; plugged it into the XDAII, inserted this into the amplified mount and hey-presto, you can hardly hear the interference, whilst the audio signal is strong enough that you could leave the whole lot at home and hear it on a trip to France! (Well, almost!)
My only problem now is that the Antenna adaptor is a bit bulky, sticking out of the back (about 11mm or so), which makes it a little lop-sided in the holder. I now have to take a look at modifying the mount to fit the connector in. Will let you know how I get on
Inspecta. I am interested to know if using an external antenna fixed the problem. I think it will probably make it worse, it is direct rf breakthrough from the phones radio causing the problem and I think the antenna lead is just another place for it to splash its unwanted interference over.
Interference
Hiya Cruisin,
absolutely, it is the external antenna which rectifies the problem.
When using the internal antenna, all of the r.f. energy is in close proximity to the speaker and amplifier. By using an external antenna, you have the same amount of energy, but it is radiated from the antenna located on (in this case) the windscreen. Energy is radiated in all 3 planes, so the interference reduces by the CUBE of the distance, therefore, by doubling the distance from the speaker/amplifier, the amount of interference reduces by eight times. You can verify this effect by placing any mobile up to your car radio; it will eventually pick up the noise, no matter how good the radio.
........ sorry about going off on one! Yes it does work; I removed the external antenna, and the set-up went back to its bad old ways, replaced it and everything is great!
(Now got to get some shares in external antennas!)
And now I will admit my stupidity by telling you I was pretty stoned when I wrote that reply and for some reason i thought you were referring to an external gps antenna, now I cant blame the dope so i will accept all responsibility, thanks for the lowdown on the rf.
or you couyld get a holux like received this morning just tried it and its great amplified speaker and built in gps receiver worked with my xda2 no problem
Must have missed something here.
I've got an arkon powered mount CM532 with built in speaker and gps connection but the voice prompts from the nav software only come thru the internal speaker on my XDA2. I can't get them thru the mounts speaker.
Any suggestions?
ROM 1.60.00WWE
ExtROM 1.60.50
Radio 1.10.00
Did you get a cable to plug into the handsfree socket and into the amplified mount? You need this for all of the mounts that I looked at. If you ordered the mount specifically for the XDA, you should have received a cable to go with it.
For all of my last phones (SPV E200, C500) I've used the Brodit "Proclip" mounting system. I also used a Brodit base for my Ipaq, onto which I attached my Seidio holder.
I intend to use the MDA Pro for Sat Nav in the car, therefore I need (ideally) an active holder for it, with power input from the bottom, so I can sit the MDA Pro in landscape, with the screen facing out, so I can see my TomTom.
At the moment, by swivelling the screen, I can rest the base between the gear lever and aircon knobs of my S4, but it is way too low.
Brodit aren't showing anything on their website yet.
I don't favour "universal" style mounts which grip the device using ratchet arms - I like to be able to slot the phone / PDA straight in like a cradle.
I don't need the cradle to offer anything else (GPS, power to GPS, speakers or anything like that) simply need it to hold (and possibly power) the MDA Pro. If it doesn't power, I'll simply wire a charging cable into my electrics and leave it terminating close by, so when I slot into passive cradle, I just connect the power manually. Active solution preferred tho!
I contacted Akron about a Jas Jar car mount and received this resonse:
The JasJar and Kjam will be hugely popular PDA's. At this time, we are working on solutions for these. Unfortunately, creation time can be longer than 6-8 weeks. We have to create PDA specific cables/modules for these units.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think there should be many options soon, just need to give the accessory developers a little bit of time.
timetex said:
For all of my last phones (SPV E200, C500) I've used the Brodit "Proclip" mounting system. I also used a Brodit base for my Ipaq, onto which I attached my Seidio holder.
I intend to use the MDA Pro for Sat Nav in the car, therefore I need (ideally) an active holder for it, with power input from the bottom, so I can sit the MDA Pro in landscape, with the screen facing out, so I can see my TomTom.
At the moment, by swivelling the screen, I can rest the base between the gear lever and aircon knobs of my S4, but it is way too low.
Brodit aren't showing anything on their website yet.
I don't favour "universal" style mounts which grip the device using ratchet arms - I like to be able to slot the phone / PDA straight in like a cradle.
I don't need the cradle to offer anything else (GPS, power to GPS, speakers or anything like that) simply need it to hold (and possibly power) the MDA Pro. If it doesn't power, I'll simply wire a charging cable into my electrics and leave it terminating close by, so when I slot into passive cradle, I just connect the power manually. Active solution preferred tho!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I contacted Brodit earlier this month and received a prompt response saying they should have an active holder available at the end of this month
The toyota echo has an almost perfect little cubby for the Universal to rest in.
skearon said:
timetex said:
For all of my last phones (SPV E200, C500) I've used the Brodit "Proclip" mounting system. I also used a Brodit base for my Ipaq, onto which I attached my Seidio holder.
I intend to use the MDA Pro for Sat Nav in the car, therefore I need (ideally) an active holder for it, with power input from the bottom, so I can sit the MDA Pro in landscape, with the screen facing out, so I can see my TomTom.
At the moment, by swivelling the screen, I can rest the base between the gear lever and aircon knobs of my S4, but it is way too low.
Brodit aren't showing anything on their website yet.
I don't favour "universal" style mounts which grip the device using ratchet arms - I like to be able to slot the phone / PDA straight in like a cradle.
I don't need the cradle to offer anything else (GPS, power to GPS, speakers or anything like that) simply need it to hold (and possibly power) the MDA Pro. If it doesn't power, I'll simply wire a charging cable into my electrics and leave it terminating close by, so when I slot into passive cradle, I just connect the power manually. Active solution preferred tho!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I contacted Brodit earlier this month and received a prompt response saying they should have an active holder available at the end of this month
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's excellent news. I always found the Arkon stuff slightly "plastic"...
galt said:
The toyota echo has an almost perfect little cubby for the Universal to rest in.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Such a big phone for such a small car lol.
I'd almost consider carving out a whole in my dash like that. Only problem is how to activate voice command???
Bluetooth headset I guess?
check out my car cradle below
http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=29351&highlight=
I have been liaising in quite some depth with Brodit about this. The current state of affairs is:
1. A holder won't be available for 2-4 weeks
2. It will be passive, not active (i.e. just a lump of plastic, no charger)
3. It will hold the device vertical, not horizontal
What a waste of time! :roll: All good SatNav systems have a horizontal screen. Of course in-car we want it held horizontally, with a charger. Presumably the guys at Brodit all drive cars with vertically oriented windscreens! :lol:
Any other 'active' car kits anyone knows about coming soon?
CJSnet said:
I have been liaising in quite some depth with Brodit about this. The current state of affairs is:
1. A holder won't be available for 2-4 weeks
2. It will be passive, not active (i.e. just a lump of plastic, no charger)
3. It will hold the device vertical, not horizontal
What a waste of time! :roll: All good SatNav systems have a horizontal screen. Of course in-car we want it held horizontally, with a charger. Presumably the guys at Brodit all drive cars with vertically oriented windscreens! :lol:
Any other 'active' car kits anyone knows about coming soon?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats a BIG disappointment!
Do you know if the passive holder will have the space to allow a charging cable to be plugged in ?
Yes, just got this response:
“ The holder will be with a tilt swivel and You should be able to both have it horizontal and vertical. You should also be able to have it both with the screen flipped in both ways. The only thing is that You have to put the charging cable manually each time.
Brodit has a carholder for the 9000/MDAPro/Jasjar etc
http://www.brodit.com/news.jsp?path=static/news/int/051101.html
Re: Brodit has a carholder for the 9000/MDAPro/Jasjar etc
sammylvb said:
http://www.brodit.com/news.jsp?path=static/news/int/051101.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's a nice neat holder (thanks for the link ) but sadly not powered. I was really hoping for an all-in-one holder/charger/audio interface.
Maybe O2 will launch one..... before 2008.
Any UK stockists yet? This is a must have for me. Not bothered about power yet, as I've got my own curly cable...
I ordered mine from www.incardiscount.co.uk . Ask for Martin Wright and tell them Christian sent you, as I'd been liaising with him to get the info for this thread for quite a while. I ordered mine a few days ago.
CJSnet said:
I ordered mine from www.incardiscount.co.uk . Ask for Martin Wright and tell them Christian sent you, as I'd been liaising with him to get the info for this thread for quite a while. I ordered mine a few days ago.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Price?
£19.99, quoted 2 weeks delivery.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=32352
New, Active holder !
geovass said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=32352
New, Active holder !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which is exactly like the passive holder! 8)
Not quite, it has the charger included and attached to the holder, with a short cable that is loose for connection manually to the device after inserting into the cradle. The passive holder doesn't come with a charger, or a holder for the cable.
However I have literally just received the passive holder, and using my existing car charger and a small self-adhesive black cable-clip stuck to the back of the passive holder, it is essentially just the same, only £19.99 instead of £34.99, and available now instead of in 2-3 weeks
Warning: There is a major design flaw with both the Brodit holders. Part of the bracket unnecessarily covers the left speaker. When using SatNav this means that 50% of the speakers are covered, so effectively 50% of the volume is lost. A BIG problem when driving on a noisy motorway. I'm sending mine back.
Anyone know of an alternative out there?
currently have an ipaq4150 tomtom mount in car, does the job perfectly, it feeds the tomtom bt gps with power, is very steady on the windshield, and powers the ipaq (via cigarette lighter), slotting it and out with ease.
I am about to recieve an xda exec, and I am wanting a similarly neat solution.
I want it powered, off the windshield, and able to power the bt. I dont want a generic one size fits all, they are messy, and dont hold the phones very well.....
Is there a holder that will do this for me?
If not, is there a one that can be clipped into the air vents (mk2 mondeo) to do the same thing?
thanx
I know it would become cable central, but why not invest in a splitter for your 12v supply - one feeds the receiver and the other feeds the mount.
I just bought a gooseneck brodit cradle from bryson (www.dsldevelopments.co.uk) and i'm really happy with it.
I dont need the bluetooth power as I've got a parrot gps bluetooth carkit.
Suggest that you consider the Brodit mount, it comes in 2 parts, 1 that fits the specific car & 1 that fits the specific PDA, you can also get a suction mount.
Looks neet & PDA very secure.
I purchased mine on e-bay along with a Y cable to power my Jasjar & BT GPS unit.
Mike
I got this one, simply perfetct
http://www.pdamods.com/proddetail.asp?prod=A111U2CRIJASMNT
I just wanted to share my car install experience. Notice that I only used the holder portion of the mount, and I cannot swivel to landscape mode. This works for me since I already have built in Acura navigation, and I mainly use my Tbolt for streaming MOG radio which is portrait mode only. This install location works perfectly for lack of glare, cable placement, accessibility, and allows me to keep my focus on the road.
** note: I used an agressive mounting tape capable of holding up to 5lbs and dealing with high temperatures. This is available at Home Depot in the paint department for $4. I mounted the car holder directly to the fake black wood panel that has a glass finish gloss surface. PLEASE do-not blame me if you ruin the $95 panel should removal cause the fake wood to crack, etc.
1- The car mount is at Verizon stores & online part # HTC6400MNT for $29.
2- The micro USB port on the mount has two metal dimples that are evil and require WAY too much force to install & remove the Thunderbolt. I recommend using a single edge flat xacto blade to remove as much of the dimples as possible. Once removed the Thunderbolt slides on and off the mount properly.
3- ******* Before mounting!!! Attach the micro USB power cable & route the audio cable and choose a location that allows the mount to remain flat against the surface & gives the audio cable enough play to be connected & removed.
4- Prep both surfaces with alcohol to remove any surface contaminants.
5- Remove the double side adhesive mounting tape covering and carefully align and lightly press the mount on ONE tiny leading edge only... allowing you to slightly adjust alignment prior to fully pressing the mount into place. **It's strong adhesive and you only get one shot so be careful.
This process has worked perfectly for my needs, and the mount is rock solid. I have a full view of the screen from my seating position, easy reach to the display, and as much as I wish the micro USB port on the mount passed audio.. it's really not a big deal dealing with the audio plug.
I hope this helps and streaming 320Kbs from MOG's 10 million database of music over 4G is such a thrill. They currently have a major Android player bug but an update will release soon.
Wow.. looks good!
Dude MOG on Android has sucked since day 1. Hopefully they will get it straightened out one of these days, I gave up.
Nice job - looks very similar to mine except I went horizontal down by the AC controls (Explorer) and switched to the Google Car Home - it is sweet. I like the 90 degree cable - where is it from?
6 foot 3.5mm male to RCA male cable
I got very lucky and found this at Radio Shack... even the inept sales guy kept saying it didn't exist... then I located exactly what I needed on his rack It might be easier to find it online & get it shipped. If I can pull the package out of the trash I'll replay to this thread with the Radio Shack part number.
The clearance between the car mount plastic & the 3.5mm jack of the Thunderbolt is very tight. Fortunately this cable has a thinner section closer to the base of the metal jack allowing it to clear the plastic of the mount.
Re: MOG... yes I'm relaying email to their Android staff daily. Fingers crossed as the audio quality & features are much better than Pandora One.
boingboingbilly said:
Dude MOG on Android has sucked since day 1. Hopefully they will get it straightened out one of these days, I gave up.
Nice job - looks very similar to mine except I went horizontal down by the AC controls (Explorer) and switched to the Google Car Home - it is sweet. I like the 90 degree cable - where is it from?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Google car home, is this the same as car dock home? I searched androlib and couldn't find it. Thanks
looks cool
esoteric1311 said:
Google car home, is this the same as car dock home? I searched androlib and couldn't find it. Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's the one made by Google, it's the best - very customizable. You won't be able to find it via market on your phone since it is "incompatible" because of stupid sense. Just download the apk and side load via USB or dropbox. when you choose the car panel app it will prompt you for which app to use - choose the Google one and set to default. Then when you put the bolt in the dock, it will launch google car home.
hubba said:
I got very lucky and found this at Radio Shack... even the inept sales guy kept saying it didn't exist... then I located exactly what I needed on his rack It might be easier to find it online & get it shipped. If I can pull the package out of the trash I'll replay to this thread with the Radio Shack part number.
The clearance between the car mount plastic & the 3.5mm jack of the Thunderbolt is very tight. Fortunately this cable has a thinner section closer to the base of the metal jack allowing it to clear the plastic of the mount.
Re: MOG... yes I'm relaying email to their Android staff daily. Fingers crossed as the audio quality & features are much better than Pandora One.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks I'll track one down. I have a regular coil cord but want to hide the aux cable like I did with the power cable. Plus it sticks out just enough to hit my knee - the 90 degree will do the trick though.
Radio Shack 3.5mm to RCA Cable
Goto their website & search for 42-492 and it should come up.
No matter what phone dock I get, I always adapt it to a vehicle specific mount. I hate suction cups and vent mounts
I have my set up nearly the same only in the left bottom corner of my windsheild... I long ago hard wired a dual cigarette charge port to the inside of my dash and have routed power to a couple differnet devices and places using standard car chargers and makes the install seemless...
The next step in my install is to find a 4 conductor 3.5mm male to 2 female 3.5mm adapter or make one myself (one mono and one stereo on the female ends) and hardwire that to a mic element I have and the rear aux input of my car stereo... hopefully this setup will yeild much better speech recognition and usable docked speakerphone calls without buying an expensive bluetooth setup.
nice looking setup
I'm thinking about getting this mount.... What's your thoughts OP? Can you charge the phone? Looks like the bracing covers the USB input.
Kudos for a job well done!
Definitely saving this thread. That's a genius idea. I'll be doing the same with my car soon I'm sure.
Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk
!Warning-Paid Product Placement Ahead!
Hi Guys,
Excuse my brief hijacking of the thread, but I feel this relates to the discussion.
I have recently released a new media player for Android, and the focus is on easy browsing, huge album art and a "no-look" playing screen that let's you control the functions with gestures. There is even an option to keep the screen on if connected to power. Works great in the car.
It's called simplePLAY, and you can see it running on my Thunderbolt here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9V8wKmI4YI
Sorry for the interruption.
Josh
Anyone bought and have any reviews for this guy ?
Samsung ECS-K1F4BEGSTA T-Mobile SGH-T989 Vehicle Mount - Car Kit - Retail Packaging - Black
Listed for $33ish bucks on Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-ECS-K1F4BEGSTA-T-Mobile-SGH-T989-Vehicle/dp/B005LGUCRE
Looks like a good buy just wana know if anyone had bought this and liked it?
Looks like the one I bought from Best Buy. I like it, the only thing that I would warn about is that the phone can be a little difficult to take out. It doesn't want to just snap out like it should.
I have one. It holds the phone very well, but only without a case; absolutely no worries about the phone coming loose, and the phone doesn't bounce or vibrate, so the image is always quite readable. The only possible downside is that you might find the arm a bit short if you're driving a vehicle where the windshield is far forward, but then there's the adhesive disc, although I wouldn't want to go sticking some disk permanently to the dash of *my* car.
Leaving the charger and audio cables connected to the dock is very handy.
The phone recognizes that it's in a dock right away. There are a number of car dock launchers available (I like CarHome Ultra) as well as a car-specific voice mode.
The auto-plug charger that comes with the dock seems OK, but if you're using Navigator plus Pandora, your run-down battery won't get charged. I have yet to experiment with other high-amperage car chargers; seems like all the ones I have don't have USB conductors 2 and 3 shorted together, so they're pretty useless for this until I crack 'em open and solder.
I keep mine in a Toyota MR2 MK2 (little car) mounted at the bottom left of the windshield, and it's basically perfect there.
Oh -
Have it on my crv I can't live without it. Its easy to put in. Audio and charges are usable with one push. If you go caseless and are going to keep the phone for a while the price Is definetly worth it. Third party ones make you manually plug in charger and headphone Jack this makes it way more convienent.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using XDA App
It's pretty unfortunate that it doesn't work with any case though...too bad they didn't make a case combo that would fit that mount specifically.
for the price you can get other mounts that are so much better, look at Micro Center
For what it's worth, I have the Samsung OEM car dock as well and I absolutely love it. One thing I've found, though, is that the phone will occasionally go nuts thinking that I've pushed the button for voice recognition. It'll endless loop repeating "What would you like to do?" until I close out of the car launcher.
Not sure if this happens on the stock OS, I have Synergy+Bombardier loaded on it (rooted.)
I bought it. It's amazing, the dock mode syncs directly with my car stereo Bluetooth.
the only down side is you can not have a case on with it..
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium
does it fit the phone with the Tmo D3O case on?
I'm definitely in the friction mount camp for car mounts. This one works great for me:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0060B38SY/ref=oh_o04_s00_i00_details
Bonus: works for your future phones and works with cases
AllGamer said:
does it fit the phone with the Tmo D3O case on?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium
Are you guys able to get call audio through the car speakers with your docks?
If so, please post how. I cannot seem to get call audio to route through the car speakers. Media plays fine, but no call audio. Almost a deal breaker for me. Thats what I bought it for. ;-)
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
$2 on ebay :
item 251116471659
Slap it on you dash and put the phone on top.
Super Sticky.
Try "car mode" in the market...
How to disable car mode for T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S2 / SII T989 Hercules car dock
This is mostly useful if you use Bluetooth audio for your car stereo. This method renders your car dock's USB audio-out jack useless, and you would have to use the phone's headphone jack for an audio cable (untested, since I use Bluetooth audio). The only thing I want a dock to do is hold my phone and charge it. I automate the rest myself. Proceed at your own risk...
Car Mode Ultra is great for overriding your stock car mode, but I wanted to disable it entirely. I didn't like adding another layer of car modes and letting them wrestle for control.
Anyway, since I couldn't find a way to 100% disable the stock car mode software, I did it in the hardware (in the car dock itself).
On the back of the sliding part of the dock, take off the two small stickers and remove the screws under them. Carefully pry the slide apart at the seam to reveal the circuit board inside. Remove the tiny resistor between pads D- and ID. No more car mode!
Apparently, no more charging, either. Or at least not enough current to keep up. Maybe the car mode resistor tells the phone to charge at a higher rate, I'm not sure. Either way, the next step gets the charging to work again, but first, there's a warning:
If you don't want to burn your car down, make sure you have at least a 1 amp (1000ma) rated charger for this next part, otherwise, don't do it. This step increases you charge rate from 500ma to about 800ma (some people with custom ROMs go even higher). If you do this, and your charger isn't powerful enough, it could fry your charger. I have no idea what your charger will do if it fries. Maybe nothing, maybe light your car on fire. If you're not sure about it, don't do it.
On the side of the printed circuit board opposite the audio jack, there are two pads labeled A/R and AL/D. Shorting them to each other will put your phone into "AC charge mode", which means higher charge rate, no USB data, and no USB audio out. Now reassemble the dock.
With Car Mode Ultra and NFC task launcher installed, you can do all kinds of cool stuff. I set Car Mode Ultra to activate upon connecting to the stereo's Bluetooth. This starts the program without activating stock car mode. I stuck an NFC tag on the back of my dock for even more automation. Bluetooth turns on Car Mode Ultra, which unlocks the screen, which enables NFC, which reads the tag, which toggles more settings, starts Pandora, etc. Pretty cool. Full automation.