Hello all, we've sold a large amount of the S3 iBOLT Dock and less then 1% have reported back any problems. However, a lot of people (tons!) have asked for a design that can work with the Otterbox Defender or Ballistic style case, that's why we redesigned it so it's open on the sides instead of having a phone specific shape. With this "Generation II" development we also made the insertion point for the microUSB (still triggers car-mode and aux-out) on the right side so the video is not showing upside down when plugged in. With the Note II becoming popular we also wanted to make sure that the opening would accommodate this phone too, even when using an Otterbox on it, see attached "unedited" pics we took on Friday. The Note II compatibility requirement is why we are doing a dual-spring loaded latch with pretty strong retention force instead of the "fold down" type latch.
The only thing that we are not 100% sure that we've solved entirely is the buzzing issue on AUX-out (primarily reported on LTE equipped phones) reported by a limited number of users. In a lot of cars, like my personal Honda 2012 it works as intended with no background noise when playing music. It mutes correctly when a call is coming in. We've redesigned the aux-out cable and added a ton of shielding in all areas and we are now in testing. For some users the problem was "solved" by simply making sure the volume output on the phone itself was set to maximum when plugged into the aux-in on the car-stereo. The alternative to an aux-out cable is to have a 3.5 mm Bluetooth "streamer adapter", which generally works great except that when stepping into the car the user must press a "wake up & connect" button, which for some people is no issue and others find it very annoying. The Bluetooth "dongles" (as they are also referred to) are available for $29 and up.
Another issue discussed in many Forums is the fact that you can not route phone calls to the car-stereo speakers using the 3.5 mm input on Samsung phones, essentially using the car-dock as a "hands-free station". Users that are migrating from a Motorola phone using their OEM car-dock have been spoiled as this functionality is part of the deal... The reason why this does not work is that the Samsung firmware is not designed to offer the option of call routing to external speaker when in dock mode, and at the same time change the microphone to a "handsfree setting" that triggers a "Digital Signal Processor (DSP). The DSP based software works to cancel/minimize background noise and it also takes care of echo suppression. Every quality hands-free product features a good DSP type solution. This is why Samsung users must have a Bluetooth hands-free solution for their phone calls if they want to keep the phone in a cradle while driving. Even if you, the driver, can hear the other party fine using the speaker phone (or forcing the sound to car-speakers using a "sound redirect" type app) the other party will not be able to hear you clear, especially when driving at highway speeds. With no DSP solution active the driver will sound like he is a tunnel or "in the bathtub", this as the Samsung phones do not have a DSP solution that goes to work... Sorry about lengthy explanation. I hope the above makes sense?
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