Car dock for Galaxy S3

[antonm]

Having looked at three docks (Samsung's own for SIII, iBolt's offering, and the Infuse 4G version), it seems that dock mode is activated by inserting the mini USB plug which we all use to charge our SIII devices. iBolt and Infuse versions look like they probably have some electronics in their docks as the USB plug is part of the dock structure, but Samsung's own version for the SIII seems to be the hardware that holds the device and what looks like a straightforward charger cable which is not integral to, or otherwise built into, the holder's structure.

Presumably Samsung's cable does contain something more than just a charger, otherwise my SIII would go into dock mode when I plug it in to charge it on my bedside table at night using my vanilla USB cable.

If this is so, then can one not simply get the right cable that does what Samsung's cable does? I've got an "el cheapo" device holder which, although not of the same build quality as the branded models, is not likely to come apart with my careful driving style (and, if it does, it was only a couple of quid). So, all I need is a cable that will put the device into docking mode when I plug it in -- right?

Has anyone seen or heard of any such cable?

Anton

 

[Donoghan]

I'm looking for the same thing. I bought a Motorola cable with the other end split into USB/audio cables so that I could charge and listen to music all from the USB port but I can't get it to work. This is my first Android device so I'm not sure how to get it to work. I have had two iPhone cables that split into USB/aux out in each car (one for me and one for the wife) but now I'm back to aux out of the headphone jack and charging from the bottom. Would love some advice on this as well.

Sent from my Paranoid Android Galaxy S3.

 

[antonm]

Some net research suggests that car dock makers are not dummies -- they want to sell you the (expensive) holder as well as the (cheap) electronics!

The electronics are the least of it, for any halfway competent cable-maker. Basically it seems to involve a resistor in one of the usb cable wires, which tells the S3 that it's in a car dock. Very simple, but very fiddly and messy if you have to take a standard usb cable apart, and you need to know your soldering. The xdadevelopers forum has some info, as does YouTube. A different resistor value tells the S3 that it's in a PC dock. In both cases the resistor values need to be very precise -- and they sound to me to be non-standard values, but then I haven't been in electronics for a long time, and things may have changed.

Any cablemaker should be able to put that together in a snap -- provided of course that they see a profit in tooling up to do it. Seems to me there's a heck of a lot more design work that would go into making the holder.

BTW -- if you don't have a USB OTG cable, get one! It lets you attach a USB flash drive to your S3, which the S3 simply sees as another "SD card". They're cheap as chips too -- have a look at this link, for 98p! I've got one and it works 100%. You can also attach your PC mouse to it -- it shows a tiny little pointer on the S3 display, and it works a treat! Seems you can attach a variety of USB devices to it, e.g., keyboard. Dunno about a printer though!

So -- the car dock cable is a definite possibility. I suspect, though, that if no-one's come up with one for previous models (i.e., just the cable, without the holder), then it's not likely to happen -- we can't be the first people to have wondered if it's possible.

Anton