Motorola Lapdock 500 works with Sprint Photon

KSmithInNY

#winning
Oct 7, 2009
3,538
1,441
0
Visit site
I spent hours unsuccessfully scouring the web looking for the answer to this question before finally taking the plunge to find out for myself. Despite Motorola only listing the RAZR as supported, the Photon works just fine with the Lapdock 500 pro.

I ordered it from the Verizon website, cost was $300 plus tax and included free 2 day shipping. Link below.

Set Your Location

P.S. This message was posted from the FF browser in webtop, on the Lapdock, 500 connected to Sprint 4G.
 

dorelse

Well-known member
Feb 9, 2011
162
5
0
Visit site
I'm copying this from a post by twospirits (I think you're on here as well ts) on the Moto Lapdock support forums...

KSmithInNY, can you confirm if the features listed as 'Only for RAZR' work or do not work on the Photon?

From twospirits:

"According to the FAQ (whicle search for anything related to lapdock 500) it states the following...

Q: What phones can be connected to Lapdock 500 Pro?

A:

DROID Bionic
Photon 4G
Atrix 2
DROID RAZR
Motorola RAZR
So far so good.

now it states the following after that...

Please note that at the time the Lapdock 500 launched, the following experiences will only work with the RAZR:

Ethernet connector
Webcam
VGA connector


If this is true, then am I correct to assume its not even worth getting the lapdock 500 for the Photon (or any other phone other than the Razr?"​
 

dorelse

Well-known member
Feb 9, 2011
162
5
0
Visit site
Answering my own questions:

Looks like Moto posted back that its correct...the other phones are being tested for Lapdock 500 support of those 'RAZR only' features. They'll let us know when they're supported.

I really do like that Moto is pretty active in their forums.
 

bonanzabucks

Well-known member
Sep 18, 2010
159
1
0
Visit site
You paid $300 for the dock?? I got it at the Verizon store for $200 and it wasn't on sale or anything. Is it usually more expensive ordering through their website?
 

dorelse

Well-known member
Feb 9, 2011
162
5
0
Visit site
You paid $300 for the dock?? I got it at the Verizon store for $200 and it wasn't on sale or anything. Is it usually more expensive ordering through their website?


Are you sure you're talking about paying $200 for the Lapdock 500 model? The Lapdock 100 has always been $200.

The Lapdock 500 is the much bigger, more powerful one.
 

VMdoug

Well-known member
May 13, 2010
192
1
0
Visit site
I picked up a Lapdock 500 for my Photon today. I'm looking forward to having the long weekend to "play" with it :p
 

KSmithInNY

#winning
Oct 7, 2009
3,538
1,441
0
Visit site
I picked up a Lapdock 500 for my Photon today. I'm looking forward to having the long weekend to "play" with it :p

Congrats on the new toy! Its pretty damn neat. In its current form webtop is more of a parlor trick IMHO (albeit a really cool one) but I could see the combo of ubuntop + web2sd + 32gb class 10 sd, being functional enough to let me use this as a complete laptop replacement.

When I get some free time I want to explore things like, if I put an sd card into the lapdock, can I partition swap space on that SD to act as virtual RAM or is that dock port only functional as a storage drive? Will our phone even recognize the port considering our webtop base is older than the RAZR? On and on and on .... the future for this is amazing.

I'd love to see moto get serious about webtop and start developing it more like a fully functional linux OS rather than the chrome OS-ish thing it currently resembles. I have multiple Google chrome laptops and the one that rarely gets used is the only one I didn't install Ubuntu on lol :confused:
 

VMdoug

Well-known member
May 13, 2010
192
1
0
Visit site
Yes, Moto can do a lot with Wetop and the Lapdock if they want to. So far my experience has been positive, the one thing that doesn't seem to work (and wasn't referenced above) is the sound...I can't get the lapdock speakers to play sounds from the Photon...I'll keep digging
 

ronald600

Well-known member
Jun 30, 2011
128
7
0
Visit site
Make sure you dont have the phone on vibrate before you put it in the dock. Also check to make sure to double check the F10 key. that disables the sound.
My beef with Motorola and the laptop docks is the lack of documentation.
When running full Linux the dock becomes something special.
 

coyoteclone

New member
Dec 31, 2011
2
0
0
Visit site
I bought the Lapdock 500 from Verizon for my Photon 3 days ago.

It does not work.

It seemed to "work" but it was a bit glitchy.

Then it really went buggy, with no mouse control.

I am assuming I need to wait for a software update.


EDIT 12/31/11


VMdoug suggested rebooting phone before every session and it is currently working
 
Last edited:

ronald600

Well-known member
Jun 30, 2011
128
7
0
Visit site
I bought the Lapdock 500 from Verizon for my Photon 3 days ago.

It does not work.

It seemed to "work" but it was a bit glitchy.

Then it really went buggy, with no mouse control.

I am assuming I need to wait for a software update.

You need to update the software on your phone.
You should be running
WebTop version 1.2.0-160
and Sprint Build
4.5.1A-1_SUN-198_6

The dirty little secret is your phone will only do the large updates if you are on wi-fi or have a 4G connection.
Depending on the actual wi-fi speed and the version you are upgrading from , it could actually take an hour for the phone to get the update and install it.
Make sure you have a fully charged battery or the phone on a charger
 

VMdoug

Well-known member
May 13, 2010
192
1
0
Visit site
I have found it's best to reboot the Photon before putting into the Lapdock 500. It's a pain but until we get an updated Webtop version from Sprint there's not much choice.

Anyone know how to check the battery level on the Lapdock 500?
 
  • Like
Reactions: coyoteclone

coyoteclone

New member
Dec 31, 2011
2
0
0
Visit site
That worked!

I have the latest version of sprints software, but by rebooting the phone before plugin

It works!

Thanks!
 
Last edited:

geauxlsutigers

Well-known member
Jun 8, 2010
108
20
0
Visit site
I just picked up the lapdock 500 for my Photon and everything is working fine except no audio. I checked F10 and it is not muted, phone is not on vibrate and volume is all the way up.

Any thoughts?