[Eric335]

Hey all,

I havent posted in a while, but I did get “the one” I was looking for ill write up a post about the car later tonight, but for now….

I have a question. Im trying to hook up my Droid-X to my car via the AUX input (in console). I have this Droid-X car mount (in picture) that I love. Great for navigation, calling, music, etc. Im just not sure how to hook up the music to the car. The only way I can think of is via the AUX cable.

Is there another way? Bluetooth? If not, how can I hide this aux cable? My thoughts were through the air conditioning vents, and have the auxiliary cable protrude where I highlighted in red (two different areas I though of).

What are your thoughts? What have you all done? Should I just use my ipod, and ditch the phone mount? Radar detector is not in the budget, at the moment, so this area of the car is still open for gadgets


Thanks, i missed being on here while i was on the hunt, now that i have her, ill be on more


Eric335

[krnet2dboi]

You need to have AUX plugged into the phone no matter what.
But you probably can hardwire the dock to the dash with lots of modification, and somehow rig the dock so it covers the AUX cord on the top also.

In my opinion, not worth it because you will probably change your phone more often than you change your cars

[richster77]

I relied heavily on my droid for streaming music in my previous car. The blackberry stereo gateway which does a2dp bluetooth streaming was the cleanest method I found. The belkin low profile usb charger lets you keep everything tucked under the console. I also had laying around a usb cable and 3.5mm stereo cable that were both under 12 inches. For charging the phone I keep another belkin low profile tucked into the cig lighter next to the ash tray and plug in my usb cable whenever I need to.

A cool app I use is called 'tasker'. I have it setup to detect when it has been docked to turn on bluetooth, enable auto brightness, set the volume to optimum setting. It is also programmed to reverse everything when it has been removed from the dock.

I purchased a proclipusa mount but never installed it since I rarely use streaming nowadays and instead put everything on my usb stick.

The bluetooth pairing can be annoying sometimes. If you power on the phone BT before the BB stereo gateway it always works for me. If the BB stereo gateway is powered on before phone BT then it usually never works for me.

[Denny347]

I'm gonna get this for my Droid X so I can stop plugging it in every time. I'll use the Bluetooth to the AUX input to the car. I can leave it plugged into the armrest. No need to use the FM modulator that it comes with.

http://www.newpotatotech.com/TUNELIN...k_android.html

[fdriller9]

+1 on the BB stereo gateway.

[Eric335]

so for the gateway, how much does it cost? i just plug it into the lighter in the console, and my phone connects to it via bluetooth?
and for charging the phone, ill just use the docking station. i like it for the navigation and calling.

[PTinVT]

getting OT but I'm having a hard time searching the web with the generic terms... I have a droid 2 (I think, it's got the slider keyboard - way too heavy, going to get a slimmer/lighter phone next time) - is there a single cable that plugs into the droid and splits so that it receives power (USB which I can plug into my lighter adapter) and also has audio out? I'm not worried about a fancy mounting solution, I don't spend a lot of time in my car, it would just be nice to have ONE cable to plug into the phone instead of two each time for power and audio. Thanks.

[Eric335]

Originally Posted by PTinVT

getting OT but I'm having a hard time searching the web with the generic terms... I have a droid 2 (I think, it's got the slider keyboard - way too heavy, going to get a slimmer/lighter phone next time) - is there a single cable that plugs into the droid and splits so that it receives power (USB which I can plug into my lighter adapter) and also has audio out? I'm not worried about a fancy mounting solution, I don't spend a lot of time in my car, it would just be nice to have ONE cable to plug into the phone instead of two each time for power and audio. Thanks.

I'm not sure. I'd b interested in that as well. I wonder if the USB allows playing music thru it as well as charge? I dunno

[emarkd]

The USB port in our cars doesn't supply very much amperage so I think it would be useless for charging. It will, however, treat the phone's SD card as an external hard drive, so you can access mp3's that way. If you're streaming then a cable to the aux input is your best bet. That bluetooth gateway is a neat tool but 100 bucks to save one wire, when you're still probably going to need the other one for power, doesn't make sense to me. But its your money so do what you want.

Don't try to run the cables through the air vents, though. Run them backwards towards the windshield and tuck them down in the front. Then run them all the way to one side - passenger is probably easier - and pass them down into the kick panel area. Then tuck them around underneath the edge of the carpet and down the center console to the armrest area. You can come up from underneath in the back if you want to go to that much trouble.

[Eric335]

Originally Posted by emarkd

The USB port in our cars doesn't supply very much amperage so I think it would be useless for charging. It will, however, treat the phone's SD card as an external hard drive, so you can access mp3's that way. If you're streaming then a cable to the aux input is your best bet. That bluetooth gateway is a neat tool but 100 bucks to save one wire, when you're still probably going to need the other one for power, doesn't make sense to me. But its your money so do what you want.

Don't try to run the cables through the air vents, though. Run them backwards towards the windshield and tuck them down in the front. Then run them all the way to one side - passenger is probably easier - and pass them down into the kick panel area. Then tuck them around underneath the edge of the carpet and down the center console to the armrest area. You can come up from underneath in the back if you want to go to that much trouble.

how do i do that? im not sure how to get from the windshield to the passenger footwell? a DIY for removing those specific panels, or someone doing this before?

also, richster, is this what you had?
http://www.amazon.com/BlackBerry-60-.../dp/B001FFRN18

[sdblue]

+1 for the BB stereo gateway.

I have a different phone, but it works great for streaming and plays well with the integrated BT handsfree.

Also, for power, I added a box in the glove compartment that adds two 12V and 2 USB jacks, and ran a USB cable through the dash trim so that it comes out right below the KUDA dash mount where I have my phone dock.

[richster77]

Originally Posted by PTinVT

getting OT but I'm having a hard time searching the web with the generic terms... I have a droid 2 (I think, it's got the slider keyboard - way too heavy, going to get a slimmer/lighter phone next time) - is there a single cable that plugs into the droid and splits so that it receives power (USB which I can plug into my lighter adapter) and also has audio out? I'm not worried about a fancy mounting solution, I don't spend a lot of time in my car, it would just be nice to have ONE cable to plug into the phone instead of two each time for power and audio. Thanks.

They don't sell an integrated charge/audio cable for droids like they do for ipods/iphones. I think its because the usb only does power or data and doesn't have audio.

Originally Posted by emarkd

The USB port in our cars doesn't supply very much amperage so I think it would be useless for charging. It will, however, treat the phone's SD card as an external hard drive, so you can access mp3's that way. If you're streaming then a cable to the aux input is your best bet. That bluetooth gateway is a neat tool but 100 bucks to save one wire, when you're still probably going to need the other one for power, doesn't make sense to me. But its your money so do what you want.

I've had problems mounting my droid as a drive. Probably has to do with the low power output of the USB.

The way I was going to hardwire would be to get one of these, cut off the alligator clips and use some wire taps to hook into the front cig lighter wires. Garmin offers a hardwire product but you would need a converter from mini-usb to micro-usb.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00065L2D8

http://www.amazon.com/Garmin-Hardwir.../dp/B001M09L20

Originally Posted by emarkd

Don't try to run the cables through the air vents, though. Run them backwards towards the windshield and tuck them down in the front. Then run them all the way to one side - passenger is probably easier - and pass them down into the kick panel area. Then tuck them around underneath the edge of the carpet and down the center console to the armrest area. You can come up from underneath in the back if you want to go to that much trouble.

I bought the proclip mount so my plan was to sacrifice a vent and fish a wire through it. I've had experiences in the past where the suction gave out and my GPS or phone just fell off the windshield suction mount. Plus I would like to avoid blocking my peripheral view as much as possible.

Originally Posted by Eric335

also, richster, is this what you had?
http://www.amazon.com/BlackBerry-60-.../dp/B001FFRN18

Yes that's the one. Price seems to fluctuate as I bought it for 30 bucks almost 2 years ago. I saw it on amazon for 50 this afternoon and now its almost 70.

[ct850]

I spent a lot of time searching posts on how to stream music from my Android (LG Optimus) to my 07 335. BT phone operation has been working great directly through the audio system. My Optimus paired without a problem AND brought in all my contacts. I wasn't too optimistic that this would happen as, in many posts I read prior to setting up the phone, people were having problems doing that without resorting to a 3rd party solution. Anyhow, it is sooo cool to hit 'Menu', 'Phone', and see all the contacts alph-listed right on my factory radio screen. So, when my Satellite subscription expired a month ago, I wanted to be able to stream music from Pandora through my Optimus. I'm perfectly happy with Pandora's options over paying a satellite subscription. In fact, in many ways, I prefer Pandora over satellite and I'm only using the free service. Back to the streaming issue, basically every post I found talked about using some kind of 3rd party solution, i.e. the miccus BluBridge, the Blackberry BT stereo gateway and other such products. I was about to order the BluBridge when I decided to see if I had a double-ended 3.5mm cable lurking around somewhere, which I did. Plugged one end into the phone and the other to the BMW armrest console aux input. Nothing happened at first, which I wasn't surprised since I had read some posts that said this didn't work for them. Well, after about a 30 sec. delay--voila--there was my Pandora station playing crystal clear through the system. AND, unlike issues brought up w/the 3rd party solutions, the audio automatically muted with incoming (or placing outgoing) calls, which played through the system, just like they had before I hooked up the aux input. Once the call ended, there was the music back again! And, last, just as it has done all along, my phone automatically syncs with the audio system every time I start up the car--as long, of course, as the phone is on. And everything is neatly stored in the console. No cables hanging out. If I want to be able to change my Pandora 'stations', I leave the phone in the small 'cupholder' (or whatever it is--not too great for holding cups) adjacent to the console. It is so easy to change stations with Pandora that you don't have to divert your attention from driving to do so. All I can say is I'm absolutely pleased as punch that it all works through the factory system-especially given I have an 07 (the first of the E90 verts) and no idrive. And I didn't have to buy any extra accessories (except a cigarette lighter car charger--although the phone WILL actually charge through the USB cable supplied with the Optimus plugged into the console USB; you cannot, however, use the headphone input for streaming in that case). In my opinion, BMW, made a MAJOR leap, technologically, from the E46 of a year prior when they brought out the E90 in 2007.

[fdriller9]

Originally Posted by emarkd

The USB port in our cars doesn't supply very much amperage so I think it would be useless for charging. It will, however, treat the phone's SD card as an external hard drive, so you can access mp3's that way. If you're streaming then a cable to the aux input is your best bet. That bluetooth gateway is a neat tool but 100 bucks to save one wire, when you're still probably going to need the other one for power, doesn't make sense to me. But its your money so do what you want.

Don't try to run the cables through the air vents, though. Run them backwards towards the windshield and tuck them down in the front. Then run them all the way to one side - passenger is probably easier - and pass them down into the kick panel area. Then tuck them around underneath the edge of the carpet and down the center console to the armrest area. You can come up from underneath in the back if you want to go to that much trouble.

Bb stereo gateway is about 50, not 100.