iBOLT Vehicle Dock for S III

[camiller]

the two ends of the cable was is aux and the other usb. does that mean it charges slowly because its usb and not a powered supply?

I contend that it charges slowly because the phone can't know it is connected to a high power USB without the data lines shorted together, and since the data lines are used for the audio out in this dock they probably can't be shorted together.

If the phone doesn't know it can draw >500mA, is simply won't draw > 500mA.

 

[JD Racer Dad]

Camiller, I think your right, the audio uses the data lines and the .5 Amp is to protect the supply side when the data lines are connected.

By the way I have a dual USB charger a "GTMax Metalic 2-Port USB Car Charger Adapter" with one side for non-iPhones at 1 Amp and the other 2 Amps for iPhones.
I took a 45 minute car ride with the iPhone side (2 Amps) hooked up and my S3 Navigating, calling and a radio app, maybe a couple other background things. It showed Charging AC and discharged the whole time.
On the way back I did the same thing on the 1 Amp non-iPhone side and it charged while it use.

And yesterday I took a 7 1/2 hour trip with everything on including the screen lit the whole time and it charged and stayed charged. I was using a different non-iPhone 1 Amp USB charger.

I have put my iPhone generic USB chargers away .

I contend that it charges slowly because the phone can't know it is connected to a high power USB without the data lines shorted together, and since the data lines are used for the audio out in this dock they probably can't be shorted together.

If the phone doesn't know it can draw >500mA, is simply won't draw > 500mA.

 

[hakoreh]

I contend that it charges slowly because the phone can't know it is connected to a high power USB without the data lines shorted together, and since the data lines are used for the audio out in this dock they probably can't be shorted together.

If the phone doesn't know it can draw >500mA, is simply won't draw > 500mA.

so then it makes it worthless.

 

[camiller]

so then it makes it worthless.

Only if your using navigation a lot for your lengthy daily commute. After the second year I had the route down

Realistically I rarely use navigation. I am still considering this dock, maybe as a Christmas present to myself.

So No, I don't think it is useless, it just has certain characteristics that the user needs to be aware of.

 

[ansextra]

I use navigation quite often and the S3 charges fully while I use it. The longer I'm on the road the more it charges the phone. I don't use the phone audio but I do have bluetooth on the whole time. Maybe that's an anomaly but I don't think so. To me, this dock is great and I don't regret the purchase at all.

 

[MikaelPe]

All, here's a run down on different options how to connect the Galaxy S3 Dock to car-stereo speakers for playing music and sound from all Apps.

First, the Bluetooth options. Please note that when using any Bluetooth hands-free device (headset, portable, built-in from car-manufacturer etc) with the Galaxy S3 you can choose if the connected device is to be used for phone calls only, for audio streaming or both. This depending on which Bluetooth profile your device is using. See attached screen shot for an example from a Bluetooth U-connect system used in Chrysler cars.

Cars with A2DP Bluetooth systems:
If your car is equipped with a Bluetooth hands-free system it may allow you to to stream audio, in addition to hands-free functionality but only if the system has an embedded A2DP (Advance Audio Distribution Profile) profile in the BT chipset. If it does have A2DP profile you will have the option during the pairing process to select the "Media Audio", in addition to the "Call Audio" button. If this is the case, the Aux-cable that's included with the Dock will not be used as Audio Streaming over Bluetooth is the preferred choice if your system is set up for it. In this scenario, simply hide the aux-out cable end or tuck in under the car seat or center console.

Cars with hands-free only systems (very common):
If your car-stereo does NOT allow you to choose the "Media Audio" this means that your system is designed with the so called "Hands-free Profile", thus it is only able to be used for hands-free calling. For this scenario the aux-out cable from the iBOLT Dock should be plugged in to the 3.5 mm aux-in on the car-stereo, center console or in-between the front seats (wherever located). When you play music (or GPS Navigation sound) from your Dock to the car-stereo speakers and a phone call is made the Aux sound will automatically mute and start again once the phone call has ended.

Cars with no BT system but cassette player:
If your car does NOT have a 3.5 mm aux-in jack but features a cassette player there's plenty of "cassette-to-3.5 aux" options to buy. Search at your preferred electronic retailer for the solution that is right for you. Once inserted the iBOLT Dock can be used for playing music through the car stereo as if played through the cassette player.

Cars with no BT system and CD only:
For cars that has neither 3.5 mm Aux-in, nor a cassette player there's some FM transmitters that features a 3.5 mm aux-in, allowing a way of connecting the Dock to the car stereo. We have very limited knowledge of this option as it has not been tested by us but theoretically it should work.

There's more options and more variables but the above should provide a basic run-down. As there's so many very knowledgeable users on this forum, clarifications or comments are appreciated. Connecting the phone's music to the car-stereo is something of high interest to a lot of people. It almost requires a dedicated thread...

Finally, we strongly recommend connecting the Galaxy S3 phone to a Bluetooth device for hands-free calling, regardless which option (if any) is used to connect to the car-stereo for listening to music. To use the S III phone as a "speaker phone" while in the Dock works fine with regards to the driver hearing the other party. However, the party on the other end often hear an echo, a lot of background noise, the driver sound "faint-far away" or they sound like "in a tunnel". This is because virtually no Smartphone features a dedicated DSP (Digital Signal Processor) chip for cancelling background noise and echo. Smartphone do not have full duplex either when in speaker mode, which essentially means the microphone is at least partially shut down while the other party speaks. The conversation is therefore similar to "walkie-talkie", where only one party speaks at a time. Summary: connect your S III phone to a Bluetooth device from a respected brand manufacturer unless you're holding the phone to the ear...

 

[Neotravy]

Are you guys still looking into the shorter length cable? I like that you included the long one, but I don't need it as long as it is.

Any idea when/if it'll be available and how much?

 

[604xt]

Hello MikaelPe,

I am planning to purchase the PureGear DualTek extreme case for my Galaxy S3 . I have contacted the manufacture and they will not provide me with the specs. I have found some specs from daydealsondisplay.com review: Samsung Galaxy S3 PureGear DualTek Review @DayDeal_com - YouTube.

The dimensions they measured are:
Length: 142mm
Width: 76mm
Depth: 14.5mm

Will this fit in my Ibolt dock?

Thank you,

Aaron

 

[ansextra]

From the ibolt.co website:

The iBOLT Dock is designed to be compatible with most cases up to 2.5 mm thick, including Otterbox Commuter type. With an open back, the camera can be used for recording HD video while driving.

 

[Alfa Spider]

I received my iBolt for my AT&T Samsung Galaxy S3 a couple of days ago (bought it at a Verizon Wireless store). I bought it, if for nothing else, for the y cable that splits power from audio. I couldn't find that sort of y cable anywhere except a DIY solution on XDA.

As I think a number of us have determined you can't output using the Aux out (for car speakers/Pandora) and have a working mic (for Google maps).

I was pleasantly surprised that the phone, even with the 4200mah QCell extended battery, will fit (snugly). If you know of a superthin case that will work with the QCell or Hyperion backs and still fit that would be good to know.

So, nice results except for a few points. The 1st is relevant to the iBolt, the 2nd may or may not be, the 3rd isn't (but maybe someone knows about it).

1. I cleaned off my car dash with the alcohol pad, applied the sticky disk and waited a full 24 hours. Nevertheless, the whole thing, holder, phone, disk came off within 20 minutes of being used for the 1st time. I'd like to use the dash mount since in CA windshield mounts are illegal, but the mount won't work on the dash without the disk. I compare this with my wife's Exomount dash mount that sticks amazingly well (no sticky disk).

2. Getting pops intermittently from the car speaker during music playing. Similar to the noise I get when I go from aux out to aux in while having a separate usb to power in the car. When I unplug the power the noise disappears. However, in the case of the y cable from iBolt, removing the power component doesn't resolve the noise.

Is this the cable? Is there a filtering solution before the stereo aux that can resolve this? This is a 2007 Toyota Camry and didn't have the same problem with my Samsung Captivate.

3. When I plug the phone in it goes to Driving Mode, as expected. Interestingly enough, it goes into Night mode, regardless of the time of day when I start navigating in Google Maps. Not that this is related to the iBolt but if anyone knows how to impact the Night Mode/Day Mode/Automated switch in the AT&T iteration of the Samsung Galaxy S3 I would really appreciate it (there is no Car Mode app and I don't find any configuration switches under Settings in ICS).

Thanks.

 

[SMD]

Got my iBolt installed today. Hope I don't have the above issue with the dash disk coming undone. I didn't realize the laws until you told me so my back up plan of having it on the left on the windshield is shot.

MY REAL QUESTION:

So far, so good with the dock. But I knew getting into this after reading posts that the power button would be inaccessible, however two things:

1) How do I turn my screen off if say I wanted to on a long trip where I have navigation running? Is there a manual or settings way of turning the screen off?

2) I remember iBolt responding to inquiries about not having the power button accessible by saying "we felt the volume rocker was more important to be accessible". That's nice, but when you put the top lever down to secure the phone in place (with or without a case) you can only access the volume UP part of the rocker. The volume down part is basically covered...or at the very least is very difficult to access. This bothered me. Now I know I can just hit volume up and then manually adjust the volume on the screen, but by then, I've taken my eyes off the road for another few seconds which doesn't seem like the safest thing in the world.

Other than that...it seems sturdy and fits my S3 with the Pop-Mate Case (with kickstand) case really well. The usb adapter is easy to quickly fit into the phone and it seems to stick well to my windshield. Too bad that's illegal in CA and I'll have to put it on my dash and hope it doesn't pop off like the above poster mentioned.

 

[BMIC50]

The iBolt car dock looks promising, but I was a little skeptical of the way it is mounted. But I use the CarHome Ultra and it rotates in whichever direction, so maybe I will get that (x2...one for my wife) if I grab the S III this weekend. I also plan on getting the Seidio ACTIVE case with kickstand, so I hope it can accommodate it like it claims to accommodate the Otterbox Commuter case.

One thing that the iBolt website mentions is the AMPS plate option, but I havent seen it available anywhere.

I have a ProClip setup and this would be great for me! Anyone know of where I could get one?

 

[BMIC50]

Follow up: I ended up getting one for my wife last week and she just used the windshield mount. It works well with her Seidio Active Case w/ Kickstand, but I went with the UAG Urban Armor case. That also fits well, so I ordered one for me and found on Amazon an AMPS mount for my Proclip mount. All of that should be installed soon.

On another note, when I used my wife's vehicle over the weekend, I thought that the charging was abysmal. So I am running a few tests to compare it to my current setup (Infuse 4g Car Dock, Scosche dual 2.1A charger, running CarHome Ultra, Waze with GPS enabled, and podcast via PocketCast in the background). I did some number crunching and found that I charged 273 milliamps in 50 Min (went from 78% to 91%). That breaks down to 5.46 milliamps per minute, which means it takes about 4 minutes to increase 1%. I am going to run the same test with the current setup on my way home to verify these findings. I am hoping that the iBolt will give me the same or better

 

[55willow]

None of the video apps I can find (stock videocam, DailyRoads Voyager, etc.) allow me to position the phone in this 'reverse landscape' orientation you use. The video comes out upside down when played back.

When recording video simply unplug the microUSB for perfect recording, OR turn the cradle 180 degrees and the video will not come out up side down. Hope this helps?

Is there any other way to get the camera to rotate into the correct orientation in this dock? Keeping the phone unplugged and turning the cradle upside down aren't really ideal options.

 

[604xt]

I just tried using the Pure Gear Dualtek with the Ibolt and does not fit!

 

[604xt]

Follow up: I ended up getting one for my wife last week and she just used the windshield mount. It works well with her Seidio Active Case w/ Kickstand, but I went with the UAG Urban Armor case. That also fits well, so I ordered one for me and found on Amazon an AMPS mount for my Proclip mount. All of that should be installed soon.

On another note, when I used my wife's vehicle over the weekend, I thought that the charging was abysmal. So I am running a few tests to compare it to my current setup (Infuse 4g Car Dock, Scosche dual 2.1A charger, running CarHome Ultra, Waze with GPS enabled, and podcast via PocketCast in the background). I did some number crunching and found that I charged 273 milliamps in 50 Min (went from 78% to 91%). That breaks down to 5.46 milliamps per minute, which means it takes about 4 minutes to increase 1%. I am going to run the same test with the current setup on my way home to verify these findings. I am hoping that the iBolt will give me the same or better

Hello djjr50,

The UAG Urban Armor Gear was my second choice for a case after the Pure Gear Dualtek. Now that I know that the Dualtek does not work with the iBolt since the latch will not close and horizontally it is a tad bit wide.

The question I have for you is how well does the UAG case fit in the iBolt?

Thanks!

 

[BMIC50]

Hello djjr50,

The UAG Urban Armor Gear was my second choice for a case after the Pure Gear Dualtek. Now that I know that the Dualtek does not work with the iBolt since the latch will not close and horizontally it is a tad bit wide.

The question I have for you is how well does the UAG case fit in the iBolt?

Thanks!

This case is awesome, and while it does fit in the ibolt dock, it's a tight fit. The reason is the small feet on the back and padded corners. I may take some sandpaper to the ibolt and loosen it up a little.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Android Central Forums

 

[604xt]

Thank you djjr50!

Does the latch close properly?

 

[BMIC50]

Thank you djjr50!

Does the latch close properly?

Yes it does but sometimes it can press on the volume down button.

 

[55willow]

Is there any other way to get the camera to rotate into the correct orientation in this dock? Keeping the phone unplugged and turning the cradle upside down aren't really ideal options.

Anyone?