docking for android phone - General Accessories

is there any docking for android phones (just like those numerous one for iphone) which i can use it as speakers and charger and sync, etc.
a staff in an electronic shop told far that so far only Phillips has it, and that it use bluetooth (not the connector just in iPhone's case) to connect the phone to the docking to use as speaker.

I just got two docks for my Skyrocket in (bought off of ebay).
They're intent is to just hold/charge the phone though.
I haven't seen any docks that have built in speakers like you're talking about (and I'd been looking for docks for my phone for quite some time).
Not that I would have any use for such a thing, but it sounds like a great idea that would benefit many people.
Gook luck on your search!

The one i am referring to is this one : http://www.usa.philips.com/c/audio-system/fidelio-for-android-as111_37/prd/en/
however, i hope i could find one which could connect to the speakers by usb instead of bluetooth.

Related

Evo to Ipod Dock Adapter DIY

I would like to be able to connect my Evo to my car so that I can listen to Pandora using the car stereo. Unfortunately my car only has an Ipod dock connector.
Would it be possible to create an adapter that will allow you to connect an HTC Evo to an Ipod dock and output audio?
I have seen something similar being done with a T-Mobile G1.
webnetta.com/2008/12/27/hack-connects-t-mobile-g1-to-ipod-dock/
Is it just as simple as getting a Ipod dock extender cable like this one:
monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=108&cp_id=10831&cs_id=1083101&p_id=6828
and cutting off the male and of this cable and soldering it to a male end of microusb cable?
Any help would be appreciated.
this is a huge area where android needs improvement.
There's no audio through the Evo USB port. I was searching for the same thing last night. I have a logitech ipod speaker: (can't post links)
I also have this ipod bluetooth adapter:
What I'm thinking about doing is to hardwire the bluetooth adapter to the inside of the speaker. Then get the 5v from the dock and make a cable or adapter to go to the Evo's mini usb port. It's not the best solution, but I do have all of the parts already. If I didn't, headphones would suffice.
find the schematic for the ipod dock and solder a headphone jack to the audio inputs on the connector and you're done. I have done the same thing and it worked just fine for my friend that I did it for.
the thing that sucks about that is you will need an extra cable to charge the phone.
speedracerbubba said:
find the schematic for the ipod dock and solder a headphone jack to the audio inputs on the connector and you're done. I have done the same thing and it worked just fine for my friend that I did it for.
the thing that sucks about that is you will need an extra cable to charge the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hence my bluetooth idea.
I did some digging around a couple weeks ago and came across this
talkandroid.com/guides/ipod-dock-adapter-for-motorola-droidmilestone/
It sucks you need the 3.5 adapter, but better than letting letting a perfectly good dock sit and collect dust.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
I just ordered a couple of these last week. My car has an ipod adapter, and this should let me connect to that and connect the 3mm to my EVO.
It's coming from Hong Kong so may be a bit longer before it's delivered. I'll report back when I get it.
I can't post links yet - go to bestofferbuy.com and search
"3.5mm Male to iPod/iPhone 2G/3G/3GS Female Adapter Cable - Black (95CM-Length)"
It's $2.60 shipped so I bought two. Can't go wrong for 5bucks
oooo ^ good find. picked up two myself.
I've been using one of these in my car for about 6 months now, originally it was to have audio from netbook. It has now been doing me good on the evo.
*correct the link and bingo... Cant post the real link because of my noobness
w w w.cablejive.com/products/Dock-Input-Cable.html
I had the same problem, I think the best solution is to go Bluetooth. This will future proof you for phone changes down the line as well. Long story short, here is the best solution I've found and it works great! Just connect it to your ipod cable and stream over Bluetooth. So far it has worked with everything ipod, iPhone and iPad that I own, especially my custom installed iPhone stereo connector.
Just look up item number 190402178083 on eBay.
Sent from my EVO 4G using XDA App
Step 1: Buy some Sugru or ShapeLock
Step 2: Buy Cheapie $1 headphones
Step 3: Buy iPod female Dock connector and MicroUSB Male end
Step 4: Use Pinout.ru to connect the points appropriately (iPod dock connector pins are pretty small and you must work quickly or your will melt the plastic, do not forget the internal resistors if needed for your application)
Step 5: Wrap it up in Sugru or Shapelock (use hairdryer to smooth it out with your hands)
Step 6: Paint and Enjoy!
Creating custom cables and docks and such is really not that difficult, just need some decent soldering skill and patience.
You could also just buy this:
http://www.cablejive.com/universal-dock-converter
FIPO Bluetooth
I use this in my BMW for streaming over the bluetooth to the stereo. Works great and convient to just start the car and the Evo start playing music/podcast/etc.
FIPO Amazon Sprint search will turn up the 20 dollar adapter.
Childofthehorn said:
Creating custom cables and docks and such is really not that difficult, just need some decent soldering skill and patience.
http://www.cablejive.com/universal-dock-converter
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some of us do have the necessary skills, but do not want a ugly wire staring us in the face. Also the components themselves tend to get expensive when ripping apart 3 different cords for parts... not to mention when someone tries this and melts something, then you have to go through the hassle of ordering more components. That is the main reason we come here, because someone may already be on the job.
Now..... if your offering to do it, and you have a pricetag and are willing to offer support in case it doesn't work or kills our phones or car stereos, then I am all ears. But definitely thanks for the link.
As far as BT goes, the one poster is kind of right, I think the phone industry is betting on bluetooth, although its been 15 years, and BT performance is still at best Mediocre.
00-Photon said:
I had the same problem, I think the best solution is to go Bluetooth. This will future proof you for phone changes down the line as well. Long story short, here is the best solution I've found and it works great! Just connect it to your ipod cable and stream over Bluetooth. So far it has worked with everything ipod, iPhone and iPad that I own, especially my custom installed iPhone stereo connector.
Just look up item number 190402178083 on eBay.
Sent from my EVO 4G using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
now that is sweet! best solution yet!
What if we took audio out from the HDMI port?
Brutal-Force said:
Also the components themselves tend to get expensive when ripping apart 3 different cords for parts... not to mention when someone tries this and melts something, then you have to go through the hassle of ordering more components.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True, But there are those of us with drive to do something unique and have something that fits our needs exactly. DealExtreme.com is a great place to buy the cables to be ripped up and dollar stores can be a real treasure trove. Craft/ART stores also have a lot of things which can be easily repurposed.
Brutal-Force said:
Now..... if your offering to do it, and you have a pricetag and are willing to offer support in case it doesn't work or kills our phones or car stereos, then I am all ears.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used to be a person who did his kind of work in college, but it is time consuming and repetitive. Plus, this is likely a market of people who are not willing to spend great amounts of money on handmade products. Even if someone charged $30 each it would not be worth the average techies time, but a worthwhile effort for a high school or college student with the drive to learn and perfect.
Brutal-Force said:
As far as BT goes, the one poster is kind of right, I think the phone industry is betting on bluetooth, although its been 15 years, and BT performance is still at best Mediocre.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are correct in MOST scenarios!
It is more of an issue not with the BT technology itself rather the way it is popularly implemented. BT does have the ability to send out very high quality audio streams and many of which are nearly lossless in quality. The issues are with the device that streams and the device that receives. The chosen connection type between the two devices must be mutual. Problem is that most BT devices streaming A2DP use only SBC coding of varied bit rate and quality.
Now if you have a really well done setup that is very thought out you can have your EVO sending out a pure 320kbps MP3 or AAC or other compatible stream direct with no conversion being done in real time to a BT receiver which is MP3, etc. stream compatible and has an excellent, typically non-chip integrated, DAC with a nice buffered output. Problem is that many BT receiver chips are made to be as cheap as possible, have crappy dacs, and push out very little power (or simply have no buffer at all) to even crappier speakers. When you combine that with real time conversion of MP3 and other formats to SBC at an even lower bit rate, you have an even worse experience.
IMO, the headphone output on the EVO does not sound that good and if you have a car that does accept MP3 320k BT streams and you use an alternative media player like meridian that allows that kind of behavior, then it should be fine for even above average car audio.
Have a Great Listening Experience!
JoeBass said:
I just ordered a couple of these last week. My car has an ipod adapter, and this should let me connect to that and connect the 3mm to my EVO.
It's coming from Hong Kong so may be a bit longer before it's delivered. I'll report back when I get it.
I can't post links yet - go to bestofferbuy.com and search
"3.5mm Male to iPod/iPhone 2G/3G/3GS Female Adapter Cable - Black (95CM-Length)"
It's $2.60 shipped so I bought two. Can't go wrong for 5bucks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great find! Just ordered one for myself
Childofthehorn said:
True, But there are those of us with drive to do something unique and have something that fits our needs exactly. DealExtreme.com is a great place to buy the cables to be ripped up and dollar stores can be a real treasure trove. Craft/ART stores also have a lot of things which can be easily repurposed.
I used to be a person who did his kind of work in college, but it is time consuming and repetitive. Plus, this is likely a market of people who are not willing to spend great amounts of money on handmade products. Even if someone charged $30 each it would not be worth the average techies time, but a worthwhile effort for a high school or college student with the drive to learn and perfect.
You are correct in MOST scenarios!
It is more of an issue not with the BT technology itself rather the way it is popularly implemented. BT does have the ability to send out very high quality audio streams and many of which are nearly lossless in quality. The issues are with the device that streams and the device that receives. The chosen connection type between the two devices must be mutual. Problem is that most BT devices streaming A2DP use only SBC coding of varied bit rate and quality.
Now if you have a really well done setup that is very thought out you can have your EVO sending out a pure 320kbps MP3 or AAC or other compatible stream direct with no conversion being done in real time to a BT receiver which is MP3, etc. stream compatible and has an excellent, typically non-chip integrated, DAC with a nice buffered output. Problem is that many BT receiver chips are made to be as cheap as possible, have crappy dacs, and push out very little power (or simply have no buffer at all) to even crappier speakers. When you combine that with real time conversion of MP3 and other formats to SBC at an even lower bit rate, you have an even worse experience.
IMO, the headphone output on the EVO does not sound that good and if you have a car that does accept MP3 320k BT streams and you use an alternative media player like meridian that allows that kind of behavior, then it should be fine for even above average car audio.
Have a Great Listening Experience!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, that was a mouthfull. Thanks though, it helps a little. I did spend quite a while researching different Bluetooth headsets. But alas, as you have pointed out, although most of what is considered to be high end headsets, still only use bluetooth 2.0. The EVO also doesn't do a very good job at streaming bluetooth. Pandora and Music Player skip horribly. I was not aware that Meridian did a better job. I guess, that might have been another option.
As far as the bluetooth headsets go though, if your looking for A2DP, the selection is still limited, unless you want a dongle type headset, which IMO, you might as well use a wire. The Motorola, Rocketfish and Jabra headsets of top end just don't do as good a job as seating properly, unless you spend 50+ dollars on a custom ear piece.
There really are a lot of trade-offs in audio performance, but a good set high quality ear buds or headphones are hard to beat. Then comes the Car audio as well as home audio into play. I use mine as a MP3 player both on the go and in the car. My car has a Audio In jack, so I am happy with that.
I ordered a E5 Amplifier to go with mine, it should be here in a week or two. While my headset has finally broken in, I could do with about 10-20% more volume, but I am hoping for a little improved base since it will have the power to push my Vmoda Remix.
Brutal-Force said:
Well, that was a mouthful....
The Motorola, Rocketfish and Jabra headsets of top end just don't do as good a job as seating properly, unless you spend 50+ dollars on a custom ear piece.
There really are a lot of trade-offs in audio performance, but a good set high quality ear buds or headphones are hard to beat.
I ordered a E5 Amplifier to go with mine, it should be here in a week or two. While my headset has finally broken in, I could do with about 10-20% more volume, but I am hoping for a little improved base since it will have the power to push my Vmoda Remix.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, The E5 is a decent beginner set. You may want to look at building a CMoy at some point, make sure to use slightly larger electrolytic caps and good film caps (resistors don't matter as much). If you make one with good parts and socketed chip, you can roll in to your flavor and it will take portable amps that are $100 or more to beat it. As far as kit amps go, its hard to beat a Mini3 for $100 to put together yourself.
I only say this as a person who actually owns a $450 Portable Amp and $575 Custom triple driver In-ear's. Don't even get me started about the stuff that is at home (I have way too much audio crap!)
BTW - you can make your own custom silicone ear pieces by using some Sugru or if you know an audiologist, you can get some of the Westone two part silicone that they normally use for getting impressions. As with everything, be careful and YMMV.
I wish i had the time to work on getting a USB host for the EVO so that we could use external USB DAC's (like the very small alien and grub).
00-Photon said:
I had the same problem, I think the best solution is to go Bluetooth. This will future proof you for phone changes down the line as well. Long story short, here is the best solution I've found and it works great! Just connect it to your ipod cable and stream over Bluetooth. So far it has worked with everything ipod, iPhone and iPad that I own, especially my custom installed iPhone stereo connector.
Just look up item number 190402178083 on eBay.
Sent from my EVO 4G using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just ordered this too. The cable I ordered from Bestofferbuy . c o m was backordered, so I canceled. I agree with you, this should do the trick, saw it on another forum and looks like it will also allow some steering wheel functionality.
I ordered two through amazon, also found it on geek . com. Searching either with "Sprint Anycom Bluetooth A2DP Reciever" will get you there.

FM transmitter

Would it be possible for our phones to have a FM transmitter so we can wirelessly play music through our car without a cord/attachment? Or does our phone simply not have the software to be able to?
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA
I think it's more an issue with hardware, not software.
Luckily, if you search Amazon, there are a lot of cheaper ones you can find that work pretty well. I unfortunately have a car deck that does not have the AUX input (it does allow me to plug my ipod in through the glove compartment though) so I know what you're going through.
Ummmm... Ok?
I also do not have an AUX input, but today I just installed this into my car (the itrips, etc. just didn't do the job) and I am loving it. It wasn't as smooth a install as I would have liked, but the quality is far superior to the wireless ones.
http://www.amazon.com/PAC-IS32-Modulator-Charging-Audio/dp/B004613FCE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344913514&sr=8-1&keywords=is32
There are many 'Headphone jack' FM transmitters out there.. Most by Belkin, Scosche, Koss, etc will be along the same quality and roughly the same $40ish bucks. There are actually a couple Bluetooth visor-clip handsfree adapters now that have the Bluetooth music profiles and an FM transmitter built in if you dont want an extra dongle hanging out of the phone. I have a Jabra laying around that does that and it worked pretty well.. I used it before I bought a built-in speakerphone kit.
--- Umm seriously, why do I have to wait 5 minutes to edit my own post? That's just stupid.
I bought a belkin for my sister for her birthday and had to return it because the sound is terrible but then I found one at walmart for about $30 in the automotive department and it sounds as crisp as if is connected in an auxiliary jack, it also as a usb port to charge your phone and if I am not mistaken it can mount your phone giving it control, and if you have a well placed light or charging position it would be convenient, it also has slot to mount a regular sd card directly... it has a display with controls and remote control included.
world wide web dot walmart dot com /ip/Scosche-FM-Transmitter/16652629
I bought an install kit like the one posted from amazon. It puts a little ground noise in the speaker, especially if I use the charger simultaneously. It's all strapped in, inside the console, and my six foot cord comes out of a small hole in the back the cd pocket under the radio.
The right way to do it would be to power the modulator directly from the battery, not the radio fuse. And maybe even a power-line filter depending on how the modulator acts. But who has time for that?

Aux and Mic challenge

I'm somewhat surprised more has not been made over the issue of having the mic turn off when I connect a cable from aux to my car stereo. My car doesn't have bluetooth connection for the radio (only has phone connectivity -- 3 year old Camry). So when I want to have Pandora playing in the car over the car speakers, it will appropriately turn on bluetooth when a call comes in, but I can't get voice search to function using Google Maps.
This wasn't an issue with my Samsung Captivate although I don't know if this is an issue with the hardware or the fact that I was running Gingerbread previously.
Additionally, when I connect headphones to the phone I don't have an issue (it appears the headphones have a rather poor mic connected to it which is picking up the voice search command).
Solutions in order of preference:
(a) Some configuration in ICS that I haven't found yet that works like my Samsung Captivate.
(b) A y cable with male microusb on one side / male usb [power] and a male aux [audio] on the other. this would combine with a female usb to car charger. Don't even know if this exists.
(c) An aux cable with a built-in, decent, mic. Don't know if this exists.
Am I missing something? Does anyone know of accessories that satisfy (b) or (c) above?
I've been through similar issues before and had to cobble together the solution through multiple accessories. I'm rather disappointed, given how happy I am with this phone, that I have to go backwards given that this wasn't a problem with the Captivate. Either that or with all my searches I've not found the easy solution here to being able to connect to the stereo AND use voice search on my phone without jumping through hoops.
EDIT: ok. Found this thread after using alternative search terms
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1787592
I found the iBolt for the Samsung Galaxy S3 does exactly what I need. It has a y cable that splits from microusb to both power [aux] and charging [usb]. I'm glad that I don't have to consider creating one as folks have in other threads using resistors and soldering irons.
Nicer yet is that the dock handles the 4200mah extended battery from Qcell which I didn't think would be the case (no protective case).
I got mine at a Verizon store for $40, which is less than I'm finding it on Amazon so it seems like a win all around.

Suitable plugs for the headphone jack and USB port?

Call me crazy, but even though I have always used my phones to listen to music/watch video I have never plugged a pair of headphones directly into the phone ever since I bought stereo bluetooth adapters. (My favorites have been sony mw600, mw1, and the samsung hs3000)
Thanks to wireless charging, and the ability to sync data to/from my computer over wifi, even on an automated basis, the only time I have used the USB port on a phone in the last couple of years is when I was first unlocking them.
I mean...they are WIRELESS phones right?
Anyways, I'm not concerned about waterproof plugs or anything like that, I just think that if I'm not using the ports at all it would be nice to have them covered up. I've seen some plugs for these phone plugs, but they are usually REALLY huge.
If you've got some links on some suitable headphone/microusb plugs post them here! The slimmer profile they have, the better!
Thanks.
Cirkustanz said:
Call me crazy, but even though I have always used my phones to listen to music/watch video I have never plugged a pair of headphones directly into the phone ever since I bought stereo bluetooth adapters. (My favorites have been sony mw600, mw1, and the samsung hs3000)
Thanks to wireless charging, and the ability to sync data to/from my computer over wifi, even on an automated basis, the only time I have used the USB port on a phone in the last couple of years is when I was first unlocking them.
I mean...they are WIRELESS phones right?
Anyways, I'm not concerned about waterproof plugs or anything like that, I just think that if I'm not using the ports at all it would be nice to have them covered up. I've seen some plugs for these phone plugs, but they are usually REALLY huge.
If you've got some links on some suitable headphone/microusb plugs post them here! The slimmer profile they have, the better!
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I found THESE on eBay. They seem like they would do the job, and for the price, they're not a bad deal.
Hope this helps!
Have a look at Pressy
Liskrig said:
I found THESE on eBay. They seem like they would do the job, and for the price, they're not a bad deal.
Hope this helps!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Those are lovely, much slimmer than others I've seen. I'm going to order a few tomorrow.

usb-c to headphone adapter

After receiving my Mi Mix 2, I ordered an adapter to listen to music while charging.
https://m.banggood.com/Bakeey-2-in-...-Pro-Max-Xiaomi-6-p-1186682.html?rmmds=search
Seemed a perfect solution, but, when connection the adapter, my phone thinks there's an headphone connected, even when there is none present. That means that the alarm sound uses the music volume setting. Which is quite inconvenient.
When using the original adapter from Xoaomi, all is well. But it's either music or charge.
Does any of you have the same experience with cheap adapters?
There is no Android standard for that specific type of accessory so unless it's actually made by your device manufacturer you are pretty much guaranteed to have one problem or another with those. It's a big problem for a lot of people. Many Android phone manufacturers decided to ape Apple's decision to drop the headphone jack but Apple actually makes the kind of adapter you are describing for their phones. Most Android phone makers do not and third party accessories rarely work well.
jhs39 said:
There is no Android standard for that specific type of accessory so unless it's actually made by your device manufacturer you are pretty much guaranteed to have one problem or another with those. It's a big problem for a lot of people. Many Android phone manufacturers decided to ape Apple's decision to drop the headphone jack but Apple actually makes the kind of adapter you are describing for their phones. Most Android phone makers do not and third party accessories rarely work well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Guess I'll have to buy a couple of Xoaomi adaptors. I can still use the cheap ones in my car. Don't need alarms there lol
wim69 said:
Guess I'll have to buy a couple of Xoaomi adaptors. I can still use the cheap ones in my car. Don't need alarms there lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like a good idea. They really should throw in the adapter if the phone has no headphone jack.
jhs39 said:
Sounds like a good idea. They really should throw in the adapter if the phone has no headphone jack.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There actually is one adapter included, but that's not enough for my needs.

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