In a bit of a conundrum...

[cjbritton]

Ok, I did search the forums, but couldn't find just this situation. My sister & I just ordered 2 new Sprint Galaxy Nexus phones. We're upgrading from the Pre-. The problem I'm having is, my sister likes to listen to Pandora during the day at work through headphones. Obviously, streaming that much you run the risk of running out of battery before running out of day.

We've been spoiled with the touchstone chargers, but my sister would prefer buying a new dock, rather than having me do the mod I read about. The conundrum lies in the fact that she can't plug in headphones to the phone & still rest the phone in the charging docks I've seen so far. She needs the ability to just pick up & go as well, as she doesn't sit at her desk the whole time. The touchstone was perfect for this. Drop the phone on the puck, charge while listening to Pandora & no blocking the headphone jack. Need to get up? Just grab & go. No worrying about cords, damaging the charging port, etc...

Do any of you know of a charging dock that doesn't block the headphone jack? Is modding the GNex battery door really the only option??

Please help!!

Thanks!!!

 

[TechFitGJ]

The best thing to do in my opinion is get an extended battery. You don't always need a new or modded battery door either. Another option is purchase a battery that plugs into the micro USB port on the phone so you can still access the 3.5 mm headphone jack.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums

 

[jean15paul]

I have a kickstand case and just use a regular wall charger. It meets my needs well. I still have to plug and unplug, but you go to have to do that anyway unless you do the touchstone mod or get the 3800 mAH battery, which adds a lot of bulk. (The 2100 mAH battery adds almost no bulk, but it doesn't help a lot for a heavy user.)

I love having a kickstand case. It elliminates the need for a dock in my opinion.

 

[cjbritton]

Thanks for the ideas... I'll pass them onto my sister & see what will work best for her.

I'm still pondering the touchstone mod. I'm pretty handy, in spite of being female . I haven't done any soldering since high school & that was at a soldering station with a flame & not a soldering iron, but if I do some practice before I start the mod I should be able to get just the right amount of solder. The rest looks pretty straight forward. We'll see if I can convince her to let me try it with her phone. I mean, I really love the touchstones. We've become pretty spoiled with them. Can someone explain to me why others aren't working up inductive charging for their phones?? It really should be something standard at this point & time...IMHO.

Anyway...enough blather. First the phones have to get here (FedEx says Monday). Then I have to adjust to Android after being on WebOS all this time. I'm "tech support" in my family, so I need to learn the ins & outs of Android so I can answer everyone's questions (Dad recently got his first smartphone & it's Android, but I think it's still GB).

I guess I'm off to order Phantom Skinz screen protectors. My Pre still looks like new because of them, so will stick with them. Just wish they had protection for the back, too (would help the phone not slide on the touchstone puck if I do the mod).

Okokok...I really am done blathering now.....promise!!

 

[Gekko]

why is a dock so necessary? just plug the phone in.

 

[cjbritton]

It's not necessary in terms of oxygen, shelter & nutrition; but while at work & listening to Pandora my sister wants to be able to get up & just go without stopping to carefully unplug the charging cord.

Is it life or death? No. It's about convenience, protecting the phone & one less thing my sister has to think about while working for a pharmaceutical testing company & dealing with setting up, monitoring & processing final data into a report. Wouldn't you want one less thing to think about if you were doing work with highly technical & advanced chemistry type work?

 

[VDub2174]

I don't think any docks allow for easy access to the headphone jack. On the E4GT, the headphone jack is on top and the charging port in on the bottom of the phone which would be great for your sister.

 

[cjbritton]

Well, in terms of getting the most for the money, the GNex was the best deal. We found it for $30 for an upgrade, the EvoLTE is $100 more.

I wish the headphone jack was on top, would simplify things a great deal. It's not & it's not worth $100 per phone to return the 2 GNex's that are coming.

I just knew that if there was a dock that would work, one of y'all would be the most likely to know about it. It doesn't hurt to ask, get ideas & if there's no answer...we'll live. It's not life or death it's just going to be hard to adjust to no touchstone (for both of us). Either we'll do the mod or adjust.

Thanks again!!

 

[jean15paul]

I can't believe this slipped my mind, but you could look into getting a dock that uses the pogo pins on the side of the GNex. I know the play store sells the one for the GSM GNex. https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...e&feature=accessories&hl=en-US&token=deCtUdLX.

It says that it only work with the GSM GNex, and the LTE one is a little thicker, but I'm betting it could pretty easily be modded to work the the LTE version. There may be an LTE version already. I'd search for Sprint, Verizon, and LTE. But even if they don't have one, I'm sure that someone had made the GSM one work.

 

[cjbritton]

I can't believe this slipped my mind, but you could look into getting a dock that uses the pogo pins on the side of the GNex. I know the play store sells the one for the GSM GNex. https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...e&feature=accessories&hl=en-US&token=Df7bx3Uj.

It says that it only work with the GSM GNex, and the LTE one is a little thicker, but I'm betting it could pretty easily be modded to work the the LTE version. There may be an LTE version already. I'd search for Sprint, Verizon, and LTE. But even if they don't have one, I'm sure that someone had made the GSM one work.

Thank you for the thought. I thought the horizontal pogo pin one would work at first, too. The problem is that the pogo pins & the headphone jacks are on the same half of the phone, so that dock still blocks the headphone jack, as well.

I'm sure she'll get by or she'll get so annoyed, she'll let me do the mod. I just thought if there was a dock out there already that didn't block the headphone jack, y'all might know where to find it. If there isn't, there isn't. Life will go on.

On a brighter note, the phones are here & the good outweighs the bad. Still kinda miss WebOS, but overall the phones are great!