Dear NG,
may be someone from you has an idea, if such a car holder is available? I would like to install a car holder which allows two may be even three things.
First it should be active and allow charging via USB. This would be hooked up to the car power.
Second, either an additional audio plug or may be audio can also be acquired through USB?!? I could hook up this to the car stereo with the appropriate adapter and have Navigation or Media Player available through car stereo. A separate loudspeaker just makes the holder bulky or gives me a big black box, which I have to place in the car.
Third, hopefully not impossible, a separate mic that can be placed somewhere else in the car to allow true handsfree calling!
A dream, sitting down in the car and having all this available by only sliding the wizard in the car holder! I haven't made up my mind, if I would like horizontal or vertical installation of the unit, but I guess I would go for the first available option. Only have to check, if Navi TomTom 5 works in horizental mode...
Am I asking too much?
Any help or recommendations are welcome!
Lars
Third, hopefully not impossible, a separate mic that can be placed somewhere else in the car to allow true handsfree calling!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm an owner of a JAM and have been working on making my own car kit. I have everything ready to have an active powered audio device- with hopefully a separate mic of sorts.
This is what I am using for the mic/audio setup:
http://www.expansys-usa.com/product.asp?code=PPCPADPT02
This way I could buy an external mic with a 2.5mm plug and connect it to the above device (and route it anywhere in the car) and also have the audio connected directly behind my car stereo.
I tried out a dry run yesterday and all seems to working well.
@sh500 : could you please detail your setup?
I saw the cable that you use and it seems exactly what we need ...
I just want to understand a little bit more: it has an 2.5mm jack which we plug into the qtek's headset plug.
Then we have two 3.5mm plugs. In these we can plug a 3.5 mm mic (not 2.5 ) and a 3.5mm stereo out cable which you connect directly to your car stereo ?
Does it act like a car kit? I.e.: does it turns the cdplayer/radio volume lower whenever there's an incoming/outgoing call? and back when the call is over?
Thanks
TrickyHH:
Wo ist Luenburg? Ich hat gewohnen auf Deutschland in siegelsbach (nach Heilbronn), Moerfelden, Ruesselsheim, und Mannheim. 'Tut me leid, aber mein Duetsch ist sehr schlecht! Ich habe vergessen so viel.
Oh, well. :O)
I have a Parrot CK3100 handsfree. It has a dispaly and connects to your car stereo speakers to allow for auto mute and volume control. It features voice activation and uses bluetooth. (www.parrot.biz)
I just ordered a Brodit wizard holder and dash mount for my wizard. They are available in either portrait or landscape mounting positions with the device either open or closed. They offer passive, active, and ps2 hard wired holders. They have dash and console mounts for over 800 cars and trucks, all without even drilling a hole. (www.dsldevelopments.co.uk or www.brodit.com)
Viel glueck und viel spass!! Tschuess...
itsmewhoelse
How well does the 3100 Display work with the Wizard? I am considering this option only thing holding me back is I don't know if the display works or not with the Wizard.
Thanks!
It works just as advertised, which is very good. I only wish I could have had the color display (ck3200) instead. I wear glasses, but not always while I'm driving. The color display shows picture contacts also, so I wouldn't need my glasses on to see if the caller is someone I want to talk to. Also, the 3200 can be upgraqed (flashed) via bluetooth, the 3100 needs to be removed and attached with an optional cable. Other than that, it's pretty great, seeing how the wizard speakerphone is useless!
This may be close!
http://www.gpsforless.co.uk/product_details.php?id=3090&PHPSESSID=18e575902cf018ceda84c8695d526b3f
I've just recieved mine, and yet to test it, but it seems to have a DC jack for power (on/off switch), an RJ11 connector for 5v2a power out to charge a gps, on the right side, an audio out jack and a connector which seems to put audio in (although opening it up, the built in twinpole 2.5mm plug in the holder (which the KJAM sits on) is just directly wired to the audio out on the side, so to use the inbuilt amplified speaker, you plug the supplied cable into the side connectors looping back the audio through the amp.
Personally I wont be using the inbuilt speaker, and attempting to get stereo audio output from the side connector to my car stereo.. not sure of the correct wiring pinout yet, if I plug my 2.5-3.5 convertor and my headphones into the side jack I get output on the left only) so will need to rewire the jack or output cable accordingly....
Anyone else got one of these?
Related
I'm sick of trying to find a car cradle that has audio out, ps2 and 12v for charging!
Why is it that no manufacturers of xda cradles ever realise that some of us want to listen to mp3's in the car and have tom-tom voice prompts coming through our stereos!
Being right handed, I want my PDA on the right of the steering wheel, so I can operate Tom-Tom before setting off, or change tracks on media player. I did look at the Brodit pro-clip solutions, but they all seem to be for the centre console for my car (a citroen AX)
I've discovered that the driver's side vent mount has a removable panel, which means I can easily mount a small piece of wood (effectively a small flat shelf) for mounting a cradle, this also brings the device out of the reflective glare zone in the windscreen during night driving. It also means all I need is a standard xda iis cradle to do this mod.
So with much careful thought I've decided to do the following:
Buy a spare cradle:
http://www.my-xda.com/xda2s_other.html
Which leads me to the next question....
Has anyone got any modding experience with the xda2/xdaiis cradle?
similar to this old posting for the Wallaby...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=256&highlight=cradle
(although I couldnt see any of the images on this old posting!)
In theory, this project has 3 key issues to resolve...
1) Powering the cradle and Bluetooth GPS
Three options seem to be available...
a) The hobbyist approach...I've seen various "car-kit diagrams" like this one,
http://forum.xda-developers.com/files/xda_car_kit_circuit.jpg
but to be honest I have no pcb making experience.
b) 12V to 5dc cigarette socket transformer adapter to provide power to the cradle, and perhaps to the bluetooth gps for charging. This should be easier to achieve!
Anyone have any links for low cost solutions for this, obviously it would need to convert 12VDC to 5DC at 2-3Amps
c) As the xdaiis usb cradle charges directly from a USB power source, this seems an Ideal solution!
http://www.expansys.com/product.asp?code=EXP_USB-CLA
2) Audio out: THE MAIN PROBLEM!
Ideally I just want to get in the car and cradle the device, no other connections being required.
Therefore I need to modify the xdaiis cradle for audio output...
Ideally, the feed for the audio should come from the bottom connector, when the xdaiis is cradled.
With this in mind, I found this article about dismantling an xdaii cradle...
http://en.pdamobiz.com/en/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=42&PN=1
If you look at the images on this web-page, you can see that - at the back of the cradle on the opposite side of the usb cable from the 5volt dc input is what looks like a pcb pinout for a headphone connector...
is this right? Can anyone confirm this.
Would it be possible to solder a connector onto here (assuming the solder pads connect to the 22pin connector!)
As this would be far easier than mucking about trying to solder onto the miniscule pins on the bottom of the 22pin connector on the cradle as it goes into the pcb!
If it works of course!
b) modify a headset
I did consider modifying an old wallaby headset to wire it into my car amp
http://wiki.xda-developers.com/wiki/Connectors , does anyone have any info on the pinout for the himalaya/blue angel headphone socket? I have also tried a friend's xda II headset on the IIs and yet again they have changed the pinout! The audio connections are once again totally different, resulting in the "echoing" effect when one headset is plugged in from the other device. This means that the audio ground pin has changed since the xdaII headphone socket schematic! This difference is also confirmed by looking at the handsfree "pod" on both headsets... The IIs has one button for answering a call, where the II has two buttons, wether it is the same as the XDA1 (Wallaby) remains to be seen....
c) buy a PDA2k 3.5mm headphone adapter...
http://www.expansys.com/product.asp?code=118289&sbadd=118289
Then use a standard lead to connect it to the hi-fi amp in the car.
3) charging the TOM TOM BLUETOOTH GPS
I'm wary of putting anything other than the recommended voltage (5VDC) into this device, so the best option is to supply power using (1b) or (1c) above, perhaps cutting into the supplied RJ cable to minijack psu to hook it up from the same supply.
While I'm on the subject of the bluetooth gps.... Does anyone knopw how long does the tom tom bluetooth gps work with a full charge?
Does it vary based on an active connection, or is it the same as on standby?
Do I need to power it in the car at all? Can I not just charge it as required at home? There doesnt seem to be much literature about the Bluetooth GPS reciever's battery life in the box!
Anyone care to comment on these ideas?
:lol: :lol:
I think the fact that no-one makes a cradle which provides audio-out through the bottom connector of the XDA2 is because the XDA2 doesn't provide this possibility. It's not the car-kit manufacturers' fault. Blame HTC.
However, I could be wrong... :roll:
My solution: I bought one of these XDA2 mounts ( http://www.pdamods.com/proddetail.asp?prod=A11XDA2MNT&cat=23 ) which works really well. It charges the phone and my TomTom BT GPS. To achieve audio-out I plan (eventually) to use the XDA2's headphone socket by drilling a hole through the mount's base in the right spot and using a 2.5mm jack adapted to play through the car stereo. Not an ideal solution, but surely must be simpler for you than trying to build a reliable (and safe!) 12V -> 5V convertor and butchering a spare XDA2 desktop cradle?
Just a suggestion... 8) Let us know how you get on. Good luck!
QUOTE 12V to 5dc cigarette socket transformer adapter to provide power to the cradle, and perhaps to the bluetooth gps for charging. This should be easier to achieve!
Anyone have any links for low cost solutions for this, obviously it would need to convert 12VDC to 5DC at 2-3Amps
Just about any mobile phone car charger will do.
Silicon s, you must be wrong :lol:
I have found someone that makes a DSP handsfree set with Audio on your car speakers, separate mic and all with the bottom connector. It even delivers laptopconnection for Dialup and GPS.
The overview
http://www.thb.de/showpage.php?lang=en&mode=show_product&cat=1&pid=2
Car Talk DSP
http://www.thb.de/showpage.php?lang=en&mode=show_product&cat=1&pid=2
The Cradles
http://www.thb.de/showpage.php?lang=en&mode=show_product&cat=1&pid=2
XDA docked
http://www.thb.de/bilder/take_talk/mda2_gps_big.jpg
http://www.thb.de/bilder/take_talk/mdaIII_large.jpg
MDA III - Important Information:
Replace file "Wavedev.dll" on your MDA III and restart the system. Audio response now can be listen via loudspeaker.
http://www.thb-service.de/download/MDAIII/Wavedev.dll
FYI, It appears that the replacement WaveDev.dll file offered by the car Kit company causes bluetooth headsets to stop working at all (not just in the car).
tfletch said:
FYI, It appears that the replacement WaveDev.dll file offered by the car Kit company causes bluetooth headsets to stop working at all (not just in the car).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's what I'm looking for. Have you found anywhere to actually buy them? I looked over the whole site.
How about this alternative cradle. I bought one for my XDAIIs and it works perfectly. Got one for the birds XDA2 and that work great too.
It provides power to either a wired GPS or charges a bluetooth GPS, it has a built in speaker and a cables provided to run from the XDA's headphone socket to the cradle. THIS THING IS LOUD!
One word of caution, the speakers in my car are shielded so I don't get that warning noise from them that I am about to get a call or text. The speaker on the cradle is NOT shielded and so you do get interference when you are about to get a call or switch cells.
http://www.pdamods.com/proddetail.asp?prod=A1SSSPKMNT&cat=23
i thought about using my 6601 as an MP3 player in my car as well. but since my eclipse cdplayer does mp3, i abandoned the idea
option 1: cut up a 2.5mm headset and plug it into the top of the device
pros: cheap and effective
cons: have to plug it in every time (and unplug it to take a call)
option 2: pair a bluetooth headset with the device, crack it open and wire the speaker to a preamp
pros: wireless
cons: ruin an otherwise good bt headset, music would be in mono
option 3:
http://motorola.digitalriver.com/se...e&SiteID=motostor&productID=36065700&Env=BASE
"transfer audio to hands-free"
pros: wireless
cons: EXPENSIVE, pretty vague description
option 4:
http://www.itechdynamic.com/html/border22.htm
http://xprnnews.xfn.info/itech/nightingaleBSH338/en.htm
pros: wireless, stereo, routes incoming cails through car
cons: i cant find it anywhere
its called the "nightingale BSH338" or the "Bluetooth Stereo Clip Headset"
if anyone finds one, please reply with a link
ok i did some more reading on the subject and i found this (page 2 of the forum)
http://www.seidioonline.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=CK8AG21MXDA3
http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=17149
After thb introduced their first 'real' blueangel carkit, could this be the second ? I prefer this one because you don't have to connect a wire, but have a real cradle. The gps is also a plus.
http://www.expansys.com/product.asp?code=122685
Ciaos,
Kristof
I have it installed now and it worx good. Only problem is that it keeps muted VERY long (about 10 - 12 secs) when the BA produces a sound. Have to find somthing to fix this. I know this is a problem of the carkit because when the mute wire is grounded it switches directly on & off.
Just purchased this, and it looks pretty good, but the instructions are a bit naff.
Do i gather that the car kit's control box in effect gets placed in circuit "between" the car's head unit and the Front Right (or left) speaker. The cables are labelled radio FR + and - and FR speaker + and -. Do I just cut the iso cables for the front right speaker and connect the two ends to the ends of the car kit cables? I'm fine with car audio so this shouldn't be a problem
Does the car kit mute the radio for *every* noise or just phone, tom-tom etc? I guess I could just stick a switch in the middle of the mute circuit if i wanted to stop this (like WMA playing through aux in on head unit)
Hoping to have a play tonight...
It depends on the car you have. I have an Opel Omega with Bose Sound System fully integrated. At the passenger side under the glove compartemant was a plug that had al connections. The BSS has a phone audio input that outputs the pda sound to all speakers including Tomtom, and yes, all system sounds come over the speakers too. If this bothers you you could turn the sounds off in the Sound & Notifications menu. Check your car, maybe it has such a same plug (for factory fitted Carkits). First i wired it directly to the radio but it produced a horrible sound when the phone was cradled. It sounded like if 10 cats where fighting on the backseat. But that is over now. Could you let me know how long it takes for the mute signal to UNmute it after a sound is played. It takes about 12 secs here and that is WAY to long for every damn sound.
GaMeR64
Oh ok. I have a vauxhall vectra with the same mobile pre-wiring so I wonder if that might work for me as well.
Did the car kit cables just clicp straight in or did you 'butcher' them?
I'll let you know about the delay to turn mute back off again once i've fitted it (probably at the weekend )
What i did not to kill the originall plug is that i soldered off a connector from a broken VGA card. It should be the same one as that where you plug in your IDE HDD at the back off the HDD (male plug strip). I soldered all the carkit wires to that. It almost looks factory fitted. Pay special attention when connecting the audio wires to your plug. At first i fixed tham at the back of my radio but that made a sound of 10 fighting horny cats on the backseat. Be sure to connect it to the plug because there is some filter between it. At least that`s with my carstereo (Philips CCR800 /w Bose Sound System.
If anyone could help me with modifying teh Tomtom 5 sounds the help will be appreciated. I unpacked all the voice files but i can`t seem to find the RIGHT editor to open these .ogg files. I tried SoundForge and Audicity but no luck. They can`t open them.
Installation
Well, installed it on Saturday - a professional looking, wires-hidden install took less than an hour - quite impressed as i'm not a 'Pro'
The kit comes with everything needed to install it, so as long as you know which wire is which in your car audio harness, you should be ok.
I purchased a spare ISO harness (£10) and chopped into that sitting inside, rather than cramped into my car. It also means if i change cars it's easy to move the car kit without taking wires from the car. The instructions aren't really much cop... But there is a chart detailing which wire on the wiring loom should be connected to which on your car audio leads.
It uses your ignition switched ACC circuit to turn on and off the power to your device, so you won't discharge your car battery if you leave your XDA in the charger. If you don't have an ignition controlled ACC circuit or you don't want it controlled like that, just connect both the 12v and ignition sense leads to your BATT lead on your car audio (put a switch in the ignition sense lead on the car kit if you want to control it yourself.
The kit uses your drivers side car speaker (or which ever one you want). You simply split the pair of cables between your head unit and speakers and the control box sits 'between' them. An external speaker is available but not included (despite what expansys' site said for ages) They can sell you the speaker but they don't stock it.
The microphone has a fairly stiff wire so it's easy to pass it through the headlining in your car to hide it. It's not as 'discrete' a microphone as the "bump" ones that come with Nokia car kits - think Tie-Clip mic and you're on the right track. It more than makes up for it's looks in pick up and echo reduction though.
I hide the fairly chunky control box behind the glovebox in my VX Vectra. It's about 2 foot from there to the back of the head unit and there is cable on the loom to spare. There's about a yard of cable from box to cradle as well. Watch out - the box gets quite warm when powered up, so be careful where you place it.
The cradle itself comes with backing plate connected to the cradle by a ball and socket connector that doesn't budge when tightened. however the backing plate can only move through fairly small angles, so for certain cars you'll need right angle brackets or custom made mounting points to put it on.
Sound Quality
The Sound quality on this is excellent. . There's no echo, no hiss, and the tones are natural unlike the usual tinny or dead car kit speakers. There is a car kit speaker for it seperately if you don't want to use your existing car speakers.
The kit doesn't have any problems powering my aftermarket 70W front speakers either - full volume is TOO loud (no distortion though).
The microphone is excellent. there's no need for the usual 'shouting' down the mic so the caller can hear you. On the motorway at '70' mph (!) i can talk softly and the caller hears me perfectly.
No echo or feedback and there wasn't any Dut-Dutde-Dut-Dutde-Dut pickup either (you know what I mean - the interference the phone signal makes)
GPS
The system provides a female PS2 port for GPS connection & external powering. Be warned! The PS2 port is the 'wrong way round' for Rikaline, Holux, Fortuna etc PS2 GPS mice. Expansys list the adaptor cable (female to female PS2 lead) as one of the accessories for the device, but don't regularly stock it.
I bought a Fortuna U2 PS2 GPS mouse - cheapest one they stock - and it's excellent. TomTom 5 accepts it as a TomTom branded wired GPS and cold start to readings on 7 Satellites was about 35 seconds. Perhaps it comes preloaded with some Epheremis data? I dunno. If i drive from home to work (50 miles) with everything switched off and then plug it in, tom tom takes maybe 5 seconds to notice the change. So far it seems spot on. MPH is out by 2 MPH compared to my speedo, but think that's my speedo
Audio Out & Telemute
The car kit has a telemute cord that you attach to the telemute wire on your head unit or car loom. In my case the head unit mutes the sound to the speakers completely and the car kit 'takes over' the front speaker.
As far as I can see the car kit notices the sound coming out of the XDA and mutes the radio then - theres no telemute signal coming from the XDA. The mute lasts for about 10 seconds AFTER the sound has finished. So when you first press TALK on the phone, the car kit mutes, but if the call hasn't connected and given you a ringing tone 10 seconds later, the kit 'demutes' the stereo. As soon as the car kit starts playing the ringing tone the stereo mutes again. A bit annoying when connection takes a while. The ten second pause in my stereo just because i've recieved a text message gets irritating, but not too much.
The downside for me is that the device plays everything the XDA2s outputs. TomTom, phone, WMA, notifications, the lot, and therefore mutes the stereo while this is going on, so i can't use the headphone socket to play MP3 into the Aux In on my stereo. I'm sure, however that i can figure out some way to 'switch' the wires into a WMA mode where telemute and speaker leads are disconnected. I'd have to switch it back for calls though...
Summary
Excellent car kit , let down slightly by the telemute and audio out function, but fantastic sound quality and nice connections. 8/10. Considering the opposition, there's no contest.
Fortuna U2 GPS seems an excellent receiver, made all the better by the £50 price tag...
Pics later in the week
Links (on Expansys)
Car Kit: http://www.expansys.com/product.asp?code=122685
Extra Speaker: http://www.expansys.com/product.asp?code=124130
Fortuna U2 GPS: http://www.expansys.com/product.asp?code=108897
PS2 Adapter cable: http://www.expansys.com/product.asp?code=122674
Guys,
I bought a cradle from ebay (leeonline) because I cannot get a 4 in 1 adaptor from HTC. I tried using the vga-out (17 inch CRT Monitor), rca video out (our Television Set), Brandless USB hub, Generic/standard USB Keyboard and Generic/standard USB Mouse on it all at the same time. Everything works.
Now, I really no longer bring my laptop to work. My athena is all I need for Word Processing, Spreadsheets etc. There are quirks though. Sometimes, the mouse stops working or the athena hangs. (It may be the amount of programs installed.) Then again, It is still faster to boot than my laptop. The other downside is that even with the cradle plugged to the adaptor, It will still consume energy from the battery of the unit.
What I have done to my athena may not be new to most people but I would like to hear from other people what attachments or modifications they have done to make their athena more useful and powerful. In this way, we can all benefit from these ideas. Thanks!
Thanks!
yetdy said:
Guys,
I bought a cradle from ebay (leeonline) because I cannot get a 4 in 1 adaptor from HTC. I tried using the vga-out (17 inch CRT Monitor), rca video out (our Television Set), Brandless USB hub, Generic/standard USB Keyboard and Generic/standard USB Mouse on it all at the same time. Everything works.
Now, I really no longer bring my laptop to work. My athena is all I need for Word Processing, Spreadsheets etc. There are quirks though. Sometimes, the mouse stops working or the athena hangs. (It may be the amount of programs installed.) Then again, It is still faster to boot than my laptop. The other downside is that even with the cradle plugged to the adaptor, It will still consume energy from the battery of the unit.
What I have done to my athena may not be new to most people but I would like to hear from other people what attachments or modifications they have done to make their athena more useful and powerful. In this way, we can all benefit from these ideas. Thanks!
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used to do that, but the novelty wore off eventually. Now i just bring in a mini notebook. It's easier than carrying loads of bits about and connecting things to monitors (though that option is still there if necessary).
Pretty cool though if you like your gadgets.
Leoni is correct, however he can always leave the other stuff connected to the cradle and use it sorta like a docking station, but you would need a second cradle for the home TV. I'm glad this thread started because I myself was considering getting one for my TV. However, what should I do about the audio coming from my device (will I still be able to connect audio to my AV receiver)? As far as the 4 in 1 cable I would be able to get to the audio jack on the Athena however the down side is that not all USB flash drives would be supported with the 4 in 1 cable. Yetdy can you tell me how you work around getting audio streamed?
I think there are a few ways to stream audio.
#1 S-Video if I'm not mistaken is supposed to stream audio to your TV.
#2 Audio Jack to RCA Audio converters connected directly to the TV or amplifier would also help assumming you are using the 4-in 1 adaptor. Cradle cannot help you out with this option.
#3 Of course there is bluetooth connection which is what I am going to use. Got a bluetooth transmitter and receiver from ebay but is currently busted (bad seller). Another is to get a BT that has a changeable earphone/buds. Change the earphone to an audio jack to RCA Audio jack and follow #2.
Hope this helps.
yes and no
yetdy said:
I think there are a few ways to stream audio.
#1 S-Video if I'm not mistaken is supposed to stream audio to your TV.
****You are mistaken, S-video is video only (the pins are luminance, chroma, ground and something else I can't remember off the top of my head) ****
#2 Audio Jack to RCA Audio converters connected directly to the TV or amplifier would also help assumming you are using the 4-in 1 adaptor. Cradle cannot help you out with this option.
****if it is anything like the one I got from ebay then no, as it covers up the headphones out port from the athena but does not replicate it on the back ! the athena also carries audio out from the same USB connector that you charge it from (this is why the socket on the athena is an unusual/different shape compared to your plug on USB charger) if they had replicated this port propely on the dock then you could have got audio out that way, but the dock connector for that is also wrong (standard USB shaped socket, not the odd one from the athena) ****
#3 Of course there is bluetooth connection which is what I am going to use. Got a bluetooth transmitter and receiver from ebay but is currently busted (bad seller). Another is to get a BT that has a changeable earphone/buds. Change the earphone to an audio jack to RCA Audio jack and follow #2.
****it is feasible to have the athena transmit stereo bluetooth to a nearby device !****
Hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
just my 2 pence worth
If you want to play audio on your home theatre speaker, you could also consider the option of plugging an FM transmitterinto the headphone jack, then use your FM receiver to play through your theatre speaker.
That was how I used to play my music in the car, through the car's srereo speakers.
eaglesteve said:
If you want to play audio on your home theatre speaker, you could also consider the option of plugging an FM transmitterinto the headphone jack, then use your FM receiver to play through your theatre speaker.
That was how I used to play my music in the car, through the car's srereo speakers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
wont work if the Athena is in the ebay dock/cradle, as it covers up the audio out port, but does not replicate it.
Ice coffee,
Maybe you can share some other options here. You may have other ideas that may be useful to us. I just got my athena last month and cradle last week so I cannot really say with authority what it can and what it cannot do. If you can help us out in maximizing the athena with its cradle, many will appreciate it.
None of the video outputs from the 4-in-1 carry audio, the only options are BT a2dp or the headphones jack. Seems a bit long-winded to me though - I'm sure there are less fiddly mods out there. I just used to use the magnetic keyboard as a stand, slipped a BT keyboard over the top of it and the 4-in-1 for usb hub etc. This left a free audio jack to use as I wished. Seems like the docking station is more of a hindrance than a help.
HTC Advantage
Docking station
Keyboard
Mouse
Hifi Bluetooth A2DP adaptor
USB Hub....
I think my EEE pc is a more convenient device on the whole than the above setup would've been if i'd carried all that with me I wouldn't have had any space to fit my work stuff!
I came accross another docking station for $119.00 USD that has the audio option on the side along with 2 standard USB ports instead of 1. I think it's a bit too pricey, due to the fact that on flebay they do have a2dp stereo bluetooth adapters for like $50 USD. Besides with that and your bluetooth headsets it might still be possible to answer a incoming phone call on your bt headset without having to hear the audio coming from your A/V receiver (considering you left the phone on). Leoni, both options have their own drawback (no powering source with the 4 in 1 cable for all USB storage devices and the inaccessable headphone jack when using the docking station). But anyway I'm going to order the 4 in 1 cable too and see which one works best for me on a day to day use.
as I said the only simple option is to use bluetooth and as tootalk2000 pointed out you can get adaptors on ebay for £25 ish, I suppose the other more complicated option would be to, take your cradle apart and replace the USB connector into the phone with this,
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2in1-Audio-US...oryZ3728QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
and then take the other end of this apart and make it fit in your cradle, it would actually be quite easy to do as there is a lot of space in the cradle.
ice_coffee said:
as I said the only simple option is to use bluetooth and as tootalk2000 pointed out you can get adaptors on ebay for £25 ish, I suppose the other more complicated option would be to, take your cradle apart and replace the USB connector into the phone with this,
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2in1-Audio-US...oryZ3728QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
and then take the other end of this apart and make it fit in your cradle, it would actually be quite easy to do as there is a lot of space in the cradle.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awwwww shux, someone just gave me some experimenting to go do. I'm ordering one of those jacks today, and hopefully it will come around the same time as cradle. I'll just super glue it to the back portion of the cradle and plug it in externally. Due to the fact that the USB port is still on there you would still be able to sync even when the ear phone jack is still in use.
tootallk2000 said:
Awwwww shux, someone just gave me some experimenting to go do. I'm ordering one of those jacks today, and hopefully it will come around the same time as cradle. I'll just super glue it to the back portion of the cradle and plug it in externally. Due to the fact that the USB port is still on there you would still be able to sync even when the ear phone jack is still in use.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol my thoughts exactly.
I found this Bluetooth car unit last weekend and would like to share with you all.
In my own experience, this is the best one I ever tried.
LiquidAUX™ Bluetooth® Car Kit
http://us.kensington.com/html/14484.html
I got it for total $75 in Comp USA. This unit plugs directly to car cigaratte power plug, and the 3.5 mm audio jack plugs to your car AUX port. Yes, its designed for car stereo that has an audio AUX plug. I know there are some products that also integrate FM transmitter for feeding the audio to the car stereo, and I have tried those, but this one is much better if your car has an AUX input and you simply need to add a bluetooth connection to your phone.
The microphone is very good, even though my power plug in deep buried, and I was thinking to extend the plug with an extension cord, but indeed it still works well.
It auto connect to my HD when I turn on the car, and it transmits both phone and music (A2DP) with a very good sound quality.
It comes with a remote control that you can tied to your steering wheel to make it even better. Our HD does not have a DPAD and controlling music playing has been a challenge in the car. With this remote, all those issue no longer there.
I used to use a direct cable connection to connect my HD to my car stereo, and sometimes when I simply forget or feel lazy and just want to go right away, I will not be able to accept call or play music from my HD. With this BT connection, when I walk in to my car and switch it on, it auto connects to the HD, and the remote works right away to start playing music or make a phone call.
The previous BT dongle I used to have, such as the itech BT dongle, or the Jabra BT dongle, I always have issue to swith them on, swith them off, and sometimes it does not connect, and then have to remember to charge them once in a while.
With this unit, I don't have all of those issues, and it simply merges together nicely with my car stereo as if it has BT integrated.
I highly recommend it, if you have a AUX port in your car stereo. If you have a casette player, it should work also, but you would like to use a coupler to connect the both 3.5 mm audio jack together.
I got one of these from for about £40 from Amazon, but I had the problem of the cig lighter always being on show, which was annoying.
I go this handsfree kit, http://www.parrot.com/uk/products/hands-free-car-kits, which is by far the best I have ever used. Has full iPod support, 3.5mm jack and usb support.
Full colour screen and phonebook storage / voice dial.
nicelad_uk said:
I got one of these from for about £40 from Amazon, but I had the problem of the cig lighter always being on show, which was annoying.
I go this handsfree kit, http://www.parrot.com/uk/products/hands-free-car-kits, which is by far the best I have ever used. Has full iPod support, 3.5mm jack and usb support.
Full colour screen and phonebook storage / voice dial.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
a parrot that works well with a smartphone?! really...? I'd heard nothing but bad about probs with the old touch dual i had - has this been fixed since & works with the HD then? if so i'm in...
Lord of the Badgers said:
a parrot that works well with a smartphone?! really...? I'd heard nothing but bad about probs with the old touch dual i had - has this been fixed since & works with the HD then? if so i'm in...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, parrot really works fine both with my HTC Touch Cruise(P3650) as the HTC Touch HD
I use the xcarlink USB/SD adaptor with bluetooth module. It plugs directly into the CD changer port of the stereo, allows me to charge my phone via the USB port whilst streaming audio through the bluetooth connection. Audio auto-pauses when I receive calls, which also use the stereo speaker system and music functionality is controlled via the normal stereo controls or the cars steering wheel controls. Track time, etc., is displayed on the normal car stereo display.
There are a few functionality niggles, but they are easily overcome with a dash mount for the phone and a skin for mobile media player that has large buttons. I designed a skin, just for use in the car, so everything is really easy now.