By Through a posting via the official Nexus One Twitter google unveiled a rather substantial new accessory for their once accessory-lacking phone. The Nexus One Car Dock is now available through Google’s web store for the pretty hefty fee of $55. The dock features connectivity for charging and also sports a set of speakers for listening to your music on the go.
Now, I don’t quite see the point in attaching speakers to a car dock other than driving up the price, while at the same time I question the sound quality and volume of a pair installed in a $55 device. If you ask me, Google may want to look into producing accesories that directly mate the Nexus One media library to a car stereo. Google Car, anyone?
Similar to the Droid dock, the N1 dock will auto-launch Car Home, and other than the speakers, you can expect about the same features you would find in any other cell phone car dock. So, Nexus One owners, is this the type of thing you’d spring for? I have my reservations, but an option to bundle the dock with a new Nexus One purchase may sway some consumers.
Definitely worth it for me. I was looking for something like this just today to allow me to use the N1 in my vehicle as a GPS unit. If it also charges it, that’s great. Also has built in speaker and bluetooth for hands-free calling while driving (which is the only legal way to use a phone now where I live).
I think the primary use for the speakers would be for phone communication not music. If someone calls you press for the call and you can readily hear your caller better than using the built in speakers of the phone.
Don’t you think?
I’m Gonna buy
It is a let down for me. The one thing I was counting on was a proper audio output for use with my car’s aux jack. Using headphone jack on the N1 causes huge skipping problems rending it useless.
Add to that loosing bluetooth headset support makes this a questionable buy for me.
i heard that it is illegal in california to stick anything to your windshield…
Just bought one, bye bye garmin
Cadred,
I can’t really tell for sure, but I think the car dock functions the same way as the desktop dock. When you mount your phone, it connects over bluetooth to the dock while charging it. It then uses the headset profile to use the dock as a speaker phone, and uses the Audio Profile (A2DP) to send your music to your car speakers via audio jack. This would/should eliminate any static since the audio will be digital rather than analog.
It is illegal in California to have something attached to your windshield. Most docks (including this one) come with with an adhesive disk so you can stick it on the dashboard or somewhere where it would be convenient and not illegal.
Brenton
If there is an audio out jack (either rca or 3.5mm) I will buy this immediately. However the official pdf makes no mention of one.
This was going to be my first purchase once I got a new phone.
http://www.wilsonelectronics.com/ProductReviews-sleek.php
Its $127 Retail and it charges the phone and boost signals. I think i could handle switching it to NAV mode manually. Or maybe there would be a setting in my phone to tell it to go to that mode when I put it in the booster.
$55 seems reasonable. but just a little more to have a solid signal…
Just bought mine. Wanted a powered dock and brodit is too expensive for an unofficial dock. I have a car stereo that has bleutooth audio with controls and handsfree so the speaker is a moo point.
.
Price seem OK for official. Consider that a 12v charger runs $20, plastic mount runs $15 and add volume controls and speakers add a $20 benifit. Its official not an eBay item from Hong Kong. Oh and it has free shipping.
Be nice if it would send the audio to an FM radio frequency. That way you could listen over your car stereo even if you have an old car like me.
Can someone who bought this, who has been using their car’s stereo bluetooth capability (or a bluetooth headset) say for sure whether they can still use the car stereo’s bluetooth or headset, while using the dock (to charge and for navigation)?
thanks!
THIS is what I was waiting for. CA laws will make the mounting tricky, but that goes for any kind of mount here except the vent mounted type.
Finally! I’ve been waiting for this for over two months. I don’t quite understand why it’s taken them so long to get it out, seeing how it was featured in their promotional videos early on, but I can’t wait to get one.
Cadred
the headphone jack is a buggy creature on this thing. ive noticed not all plugs act like this. try some different adapters/cables. i had the same problem with my desktop speakers and messed around with different female to male adapters and eventually ended up mauling my waterproof case as the female to male adapter fixed the skipping problem. i believe the issue lies in how far the connectors are recessed in the jack just try a few different cables. pain in the ass i know but just hop on eBay and order a few 99 cent china specials.
heres an example of what im talking about straight from the phandroid store.
http://store.phandroid.com/mobi-products-headphone-extension-cable-35mm-to-35mm/11A75A3165.htm
john turner
dont hock that garmin just yet. keep it in your glove box just in case as google nav requires data to retrieve maps for the app. or get a 3rd party app that allows you to download the map packs to your sd card like co pilot. i travel between OR and WA quite often and if theres no data theres no google nav.
Did I hear you say “Google Car, anyone?”?
Check this one out http://www.autolinq.de/ !
Lack of bluetooth support makes this a fail in my book. I find it curious they disable it, considering a lot of newer cars support hands free bluetooth through the stereo.
i believe the reason they did add the bluetooth support is due to the fact most cars dont support new bluetooth protocols. such as Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR A2DP stereo Bluetooth. easier to avoid then support. probably somthing that will be added in the future once in car tech catches up.
sorry the reason they didnt add bluetooth support.
Um, I’m pretty sure the speakers are so you can hear the driving directions nice and clear :)
Anyone got one of these and have the Invisible sheild fitted? I bought something similar off eBay and it was too snug and began to chew at the sheild. :(
It looks pretty good.
If they had one for the Desire then that would be sweet.
I am disappointed in this. At the least it needs some form of 3.5mm stereo audio out. I can’t understand why it doesn’t have that.
I drive 10 hours a day for work so a car dock is a necessity. I waited as long as I could, but they waited way too long to release this. I couldn’t wait any longer and I purchased a $15 charger. I don’t have any problem waiting longer for some reviews before deciding to buy this.
@chris, thx for the heads up man :) about to put it on ebay until I read your comment
$55 is a kind of OK, given that it charges the phone, can be mounted properly using the flexible ball joint, has a mic and a speaker. Not that I will be using the speaker.
I use the Coby CA745 Wireless FM transmitter (http://www.cobyusa.com/?p=prod&prod_num_id=192&pcat_id=4008) to blast my favorite Internet radio station to my car speakers. The good thing about this FM transmitter is that it allows you to plug in your GPS or now the car dock to the cigarette lighter and doesn’t ‘block’ the cigarette lighter for its use only.
With the car dock out, I can listen to music, use Google Maps Nav with traffic (audio off, drive with the map display) and charge at the same time.
Why Google waited 3-4 months for this dock defies any logic though.
I’m with those that are very happy for this to be released. All I was hoping for was the charging capability and the added speakers is a great idea food better clarity hearing the navigation. Those disappointed with the lack of features need to relook at OEM cradles for phones. This offers more than any other Android phone accessories. It sure beats the Droid car dock that’s only a holder with magnets. If it had BT and FM transmitter it would likely be closer to $150 as most decent car BT kits with FM transmitter capabilities are over $100 alone. I already plan to use this with the Motorola t505.
…and logic and guessing tell me this dock will very likely work with the Desire as well since they are both almost identical in hardware makeup.
Re: Bluetooth support
Can you not just use the bluetooth already in the phone, or am I missing something? Same goes for the 3.5mm connector.
It looks like you can still couple a bluetooth headset to the docked phone or the dock itself, hopefully it has A2DP support like my current setup with my custom dock or I’m not going to be happy. I’ve gotten used to listening to Pandora over A2DP in my car over the past few weeks.
FYI, you CAN use the dock and a bluetooth headset/car stereo bluetooth at the same time…here’s the answer I received from Google:
Thanks for your note. I would like to inform you that when you dock your phone for the first time, you’ll be prompted with a dialog box to select the dock’s audio settings. Just uncheck the “As speaker phone” option, and your phone will be able to pair with a Bluetooth headset. To change these settings later, go to Menu > Dock settings while Car Dock is running.
@mihaelb
Thanks for that. I didn’t even think about the lack of need for the speakers on the dock if that works as even the navigation voice “should” play through the car stereo if it’s hooked up via BT. However, I’m not sure how annoying that would be with cutting in and out the music if you’re using the phone for music via BT.
I will not buy this for one reason…no fm transmitter. I bought a Motorola t505 and it works perfectly with my Nexus. It plays music through stereo via bluetooth and automatically pauses when a call comes in or is made and then resumes play. Automatically finds the best station to use. I highly suggest going this route.
Been waiting for this release to decide whether to buy Nexus or not. It will replace my venerable G1 for which I built a makeshift car dock because all the commercial options suck.
Several people have commented on the lack of an FM transmitter. Not sure why you’d want that. If your car radio does not have an aux input buy an antenna adapter with with an earphone connector. Quality that way is at least 10 times better.