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Challenge: Universal Android Dock

e14 Contributor

Hey Ben, I would like to propose a challenge to you.

I have watched your videos and it appears as if you have an Android powered device. All of us Android owners absolutely love our phones and most of us would never fall to the dark side, though at times we can be envious with such things as Air Play and the amount of products made for that apple product. >.>

One thing that I guarentee most Android users are jealous of is the universal docks built for the iPhone's. There are hundreds to choose from for ANYTHING iPod. I myself am quite jealous and would really love to have some sort of docking station for my Android device similar to an iPhone one.

I would love for one to built with some good speakers, an app that goes with it, a giant snooze button, maybe a display (dunno the practicality seeing as you could put all info on phone), play music through and charge through the night.

 

AND if your feeling adventureous you could take on that Android version of AirPlay too...

 

Please and Thank you

  • Howdy,

     

    I just saw on my hackerspace, Pumping Station: One, mailing list that one our member's companies has just released a universal Android dock:

     

    http://boingboing.net/2012/01/11/android-dock-charges-plays-mu.html

     

    http://craphound.com/images/ec56_android_speaker_dock.jpg

    Cheers,

    Drew

  • in reply to fustini

    Wow this is awesome! I love it! The only thing though is that when I imagined Ben doing this the speakers weren't the driving factor. What I am really looking for is just something small for my bedside

  • in reply to e14 Contributor

    Yeah, I like your idea of that form factor, too.  I would definately use it.

  • He talks about this a little bit in the new episode.  Android phones do not have a standard conenctor that gives a lot of signals.  The only thing you can guarantee is the USB port, which I think doesn't work in host mode on most devices, meaning it can only be a slave device.  You're only options then are the wifi connection or the bluetooth connection.  Also not all the phones are the same form factor.  Your best bet is to have a dock that a phone can sit in (like above) with a usb cable that comes out to charge the phone, you can't hard place it because the location of the port isn't standard, and then doing either speaker connection through bluetooth (which most phones should allow) or to connect to the headphone jack.  There is already many things like this out there.  Most iPod docks even have an aux port for audio, and many bluetooth speakers exist.  I recently picked up the ARS15 from Frys

    http://www.amazon.com/Acoustic-Research-ARS15-Wireless-Bluetooth/dp/B00549AEAI

    but I can't tell you how it works because the box didn't come with a power supply despite being sealed and Frys will not let me return it because it has missing pieces, despite going there out of my way (its a 2 hour drive each way) 3 days after purchase, with my receipt, after we called and they said we had to come in for it.

  • in reply to colecago

    Yeah, I noticed that line too.  However, I thought it was a bit misleading as USB is actually a plus over a proprietary 30 pin connector in my opinion.  With Android Open Accessory Development Kit (ADK) support, Android is actually much more receptive to accessory development and one doesn't have to submit to any silly NDAs.

     

    Anyways, I would agree that bluetooth is a great interface for a dock.  I really enjoy using bluetooth with my Android: I have a small Monster bluetooth speaker that I use around the house to listen to podcasts, and a Sony bluetooth jack that I can plug my headphones into and clips on my jacket while leaving my phone snug inside my pocket.

     

    Cheers,

    Drew

  • in reply to fustini

    BTW, I was researching if there was a way to hook up an Android to a vehicle iPod connector and came across this which might be useful for dock as well:

     

    DIY iPod dock adapter for the Motorola Droid

    http://www.thice.nl/ipod-dock-adapter-for-the-motorola-droid/

     

    I also found a similar commercial product:

    http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/21/dockboss-adapter-brings-ios-speaker-dock-compatibility-to-andro/

     

    The downside to these are I believe that they are just physical connections of power and audio, and therefore the play/selection controls on the car stereo won't work.  This is bit of a bummer if the Android would be stowed in a dash compartment.  This got me thinking that this might be an interesting project.  I am imaging a microcontroller could sit in between the car stereo ipod connector and the Android to provide full control.  Anyone else think this is a good idea?

     

    Cheers,

    Drew

  • Yeah, but its pretty much a 95% software hack at that point.  You basically have to decode the iPod controls to your micro, make up your own protocol, then send it over usb to the Android device, then the worst part would be writing an Android app that interfaces with other apps for control.  I'm not sure if any players out there already play well with plugins, but its worth a shot looking at.