Motorola Droid 2 Car Dock Review

[sandqwert]

I've 2 questions...

1) Can you rotate the phone once mounted?... All pics i've seen about this car-mount, the phone ends up horizontal... Is it a fixed arm?.

2) I've noticied the camera lens is in the open... If you record a video while the phone is mounted, is the picture clear?, or some parts of the holder is seen?.

Thanks!

[JLai1969]

Is there a USB plug on the mount to plug in a car charger? Or will you have to take the phone off the mount to charge?

[bigbill25]

@JLai1969 There is a plug in the dock. When you slide the phone in, it connects automatically. There is a micro-USB port on the back of the dock, so you can plug in a car charger and leave it there. This means you just slide your phone in and it starts charging. When leaving the car just slide the phone out. No cables to mess with. Works great.

[JLai1969]

@bigbill25 - Ah ok that answers my 2nd question too. It doesn't come with a car charger haha.

Thanks!

[ilaizamantilla]

wirefly.com is offering droid 2 global for free whenever you sign up for a verizon plan, together with that is a free windshield and dashboard suction mount and multimedia station. just so you know :)

[gmyaya57]

I bought the Droid X in Jan. and then bought the Car & Home mounts (kit) in March. The car mount lacks in quality and design. It comes apart easily when trying to unmount the phone plus after some use it stops charging the phone.

This may be due to the short coiled cort which pulls the plug and probably caused the connector to bend.

I am really dissapointed in Motorola. They should copy Garmin's GPS car mounts which never fail & are user friendly. I hope they do some QC quick!

[espeyswims]

I really wish that they would have mentioned that the Motorola case will not fit in the original Droid car dock, because now I have around 100 dollars in products that I can only use half of the time.

[ThereIsNoDSoTM]

you spoke and presented very well, if you do future videos though, be aware that your hand motions appear nervous and can be distracting to your presentation

[JoeK20A3]

Hi! Thanks for the vid! One quick question: I cannot for the life of me get the original insert out. You seem to do it effortlessly in the video. Did you do anything in particular to get it to come out?  I'm trying to use this mount with a case... Thanks!

[JoeK20A3]

@JoeK20A3 Nm! Pressed to lower corners and it popper right out. 

[spilledinsilence86]

looks like I might be able to hook it on to my Magellan vent or bike mount, awesome.

phone's in the mail, looking at accessories now. thanks

[silentkillzr]

Does the camera have an open view when in dock... :)

[bigbill25]

@silentkillzr It does. Sorry I didn't get a shot of that in the video...

[xXRequiremXx]

can you just connect a double ended 3.5mm jack to the phone and to the car's Auxillary port to play music?

[bigbill25]

@xXRequiremXx - Yes. 

[blukara7]

does this dock fit with droid 1

[bigbill25]

@blukara7 - Yes, it will fit the original Droid. It comes with a "sleeve" specifically to fit it.

[sethcorn]

Will the car dock work with a body glove installed? (ive removed the rivet)

[bigbill25]

@sethcorn - If you remove the sleeve from the dock, it might work, but I don't have a case so can't tell you for sure.

[TheNbryant1]

thanks this helps

[traysonharmon]

Did you test the droid 2 in the Droid 1's car dock to verify that it for sure doesn't work? Also, the droid 1 in the car dock still allowed you to slide open and use the hard keyboard. with the clip on the top of the phone in landscape mode on the droid 2, can you still use the keyboard while the phone is in the dock???

[bigbill25]

@traysonharmon - The Droid2 does NOT work in the old original Droid dock.

You can slide the keyboard out using the new Droid 2 dock with both the original Droid and the Droid 2.

[danjessberger]

the usb plug integrated into the dock is EXACTLY why i hesitated buying the older dock. i bought it anyway because there were no other options, but man is it annoying to have to plug in the charger manually every time i dock the thing.

[confusionmike]

One thing to notice with the Droid2 dock is that it does not obstruct the camera, as the original Droid dock does. This is useful if you want to use the dock as a camera mount for taking photo or video from in car.

[datterboy]

The original Droid 1 dock had a ball joint that was compatible with my Garmin bean bag. Does this one have that ball joint as well?

[bigbill25]

@datterboy The new dock uses the exact same suction-cup and ball that the original dock had, so if it worked with the first, it will work with this.

[spleebie]

Thanks for the video, I was wondering about the changes. Wish they had integrated the audio out into the USB or via bluetooth though.

[bigbill25]

@spleebie Integrated audio would be nice, but is difficult. The correct way to do it is, I hate to say, like the iPod/iPhone. They have two advantages; 1) a single dock that does everything (power, USB, audio), and 2) ability to "stream" audio over USB. Many car radios are coming out that have a USB port that can not only charge an iPhone (or even a Droid), but control and play audio from the iPhone. It would be great if Android came out with a competing, open standard to this USB functionality.

[spleebie]

@bigbill25 I know the Nexus One car dock has some bluetooth integration, I think it has its own speaker. Not the greatest option, but what would be nice is bluetooth integration like that, that outputs via 3.5mm jack like the cable that came with the Droid 2 car dock. That way you wouldn't have to plug in power OR audio.

Wishful thinking however... Guess I might just have to get a car stereo that connects bluetooth audio someday.