For the most part, I am comparing this to official Motorola car dock for my Droid 1. This car dock for the MAXX is a GREAT improvement and shows Motorola can actually incorporate some good ideas.
First, I made sure to research docks before getting one. Which can be hard since this one didn't have a ton of user reviews right away. Quickly I did learn that what Verizon was pushing in their stores was not the same as could be ordered from Motorola and elsewhere. My biggest draw was the integrated audio. This is a great idea and, in my opinion, worth the premium over the Verizon (which doesn't have the integrated audio cable). My old Droid dock was just a holder for the phone. I had to supply the charging cord and the aux cable (which went to the 3.5mm jack in the phone). It got cluttered, but hey, that's the way is was 2 years ago.
This dock for the MAXX has the connector that slides in to lock the phone in place, charge it, and place audio. Only one cable that goes into the back of the dock. Very clean. 2nd USB port is also a plus. The "horn" that comes with this dock has the same size ball as my old Droid dock, as well as my old Garmin, so use which ever you like. I like my old Garmin because it is more compact and uses a smaller disk. I haven't had any issue with this dock losing suction, so I'm happy there. Also, just pressing the phone into the dock without inserting the USB/audio connector is easy and seems to keep the phone in there pretty well. It isn't to hard to pull it out, just watch for where the volume buttons are so you don't change them accidentally.
I have one gripe. I use a bluetooth device to [sometimes] talk when I'm driving. This device is also capable of playing music from my phone. With my old setup (Droid,dock), I would have BT broadcast enabled on the device, the music to BT option enabled, and a cable in the headphone jack going to my car stereo. I'm listening to something from my phone and it plays on the car stereo. When I get a call, it pauses the music on the phone, answers the call via BT device, I talk, hang up, music resumes over car stereo. Perfect. With the MAXX and its dock, I no longer need to plug anything into the 3.5mm jack while I'm in the car. The problem is when I have BT function enabled, music to BT option enable, and the integrated USB/audio connect inserted everything is pushed to the BT device. If I turn off the BT device or disable the BT function on the phone, then music plays through the car stereo. If I forego the dock and just use an aux cable going to the 3.5mm jack on the phone, then everything works great (as it did w/ the Droid). This seems like a major oversight and I would think that it is just a software issue (but hey, I didn't design this thing). Now, this is probably more a flaw of the phone than of the dock, but since Motorola makes both the phone and the dock and both of the items work exclusively with each other, I think people need to know about it. There is no reason the integrated USB/audio connector should affect the transfer of functions to the BT any differently than the 3.5mm jack.
I'll gladly edit if I find out anything new on the BT issue or if an update fixes it. Overal, great product at an acceptable price, with one oversight.
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Edit 6/8/12
I've noticed that over the past month the audio crackles when going over bumps and rough roads. It is the micro USB connection of the cable to the dock that is failing. When I hold the connection rigid or switch to using the 3.5mm jack then there are no issues. After looking at the micro USB side of the cable under magnification I can see that several of the metal prongs are flatter than others.
Now, I first have to admit that I do not drive on the smoothest roads, and even for Wisconsin I think these are some of the worst roads around. I would still expect better performance than lasting 3 months. I have taken the review down from 4 stars to 2 because of this. And to think that I was disappointed with getting only 1 year out of the bad retaining tab on the original Droid.... I expected better from Motorola. I don't think that expecting this to last more than 3 months was too high.
03-12-2012
Dock arrived in "non retail packaging" as described, which means it comes in a plastic bag instead of a box (still includes directions, individually packaged cords, etc.) It works perfect. When I plug my phone in, launches the custom navigation mode. This mode is customizable.
Construction of the mount is solid as well. Cords are quality.
I will be updating after a few uses.
UPDATE 03-31-2012
After using this dock numerous times in the past few weeks, I'm still pleased with it. Motorola also has a car finder app that when you unplug your phone from the dock, it automatically launches to save your location for easy car location. This app must be downloaded separately from the Google Play Android Market.
Dock Plug cord: definitely worth the extra cash. The dock plug integrates an MP3 cable INTO THE USB. It works flawlessly. This makes it so instead of having a cord plugged into the phone's headphone jack as well as a usb cord plugged into the dock, there is only one cord, the usb cord, plugged into the dock. Instead, your headphone/mp3/auxiliary cable plugs into the usb cable at the other end near your cigarette lighter. Very convenient. This allows for easy phone removal with NO CORDS unplugging from phone.
Stability: I have had no app stability problems during the several hours of use. App launches when phone is docked and closes when phone is un-docked.
Features: Features are simple (navigation, podcasts, music, internet radio). Outside of these, not much here. HOWEVER, this makes it easier to use with less complication.
Voice Features: a little lacking here; only allows you to say "read message" when receiving a text or "make call" in response to receiving a message. These features work and both reads and makes calls to voice commands: however, these features are only activated when receiving messages/calls. I wish they would be available outside these situations. Perhaps a future update will provide more.
*More to come
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I won't reiterate what has already been said about the actual product, but I would like to discuss fit. Please be aware that this navigation dock only fits the Maxx WITHOUT a case. I have a hard plastic case on my Maxx, and it does not fit into the dock unless I remove it. Having to remove the case every time I want to use the dock is quite the nuisance and I wish the dock would've been designed to allow for some adjustments. If anyone has input on alternative docks or a way to manipulate the Maxx dock to fit with a case, please share.
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OK, so I bought this for traveling to use the navigation and it works well. The only thing that doesn't really work for me is the charging. It works to a degree, but not as I had hoped. So to explain a little further, when I use the navigation, and the battery was charged down to say 40 or 50 %, I have it plugged into the lighter socket and the battery doesn't deplete, but it doesn't increase either. I used to to drive about 2.5 hours and it stayed at 50% the whole trip. On the way home, I used the navigation and radio app at the same time, and the battery actually drained as I used it. I was hopeful that the charging would be better. Still haven't decided if I want to keep it or no because of that.
Please note that the audio on mine playing thru the provided jack and into the Aux in of my car works flawlessly. The sound is awesome. Maybe I got a bad charger part and other got a bad audio jack.
The suction works perfectly for me. Didn't fall off once.
Also, sometime when I dock the phone and try to lock in the charger part, it doesn't go in easily. I have to carefully press, release, press, etc, until it goes in.
And, no, for those asking, you cannot use any case when using this. You must remove it from the case. I have a few easy ones to remove, so that isn't a problem for me.
I know that using navigation, especially in junction with i heart radio or Pandora, will use more battery life, but I thought since it was plugged in to charge, and yes the charge icon is showing charging, I figured it would still charge somewhat.
I will try to use the phone by itself without any apps or anything running, to see if this charger does work. But I haven't traveled anywhere since that trip other than a short trip to work and back. Last time I tried this, for about a half an hour, it went from 20% to 21% in 30 minutes. My standalone charger was much quicker than that. Just mentioning this so you know.
I still recommend this, but if it isn't to your satisfaction, you can always return it.
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Unfortunately, the USB cable that was included in the packaging was NOT the USB cable pictured in the description. The CORRECT USB cable has an additional dongle with a 3.5mm audio jack, so only one cable is connected to the dock itself and both audio and 750Ma of charge are carried by it. The cable that was included in the sealed box was the run-of-the-mill motorola USB cable that would only carry charge (and probably was a data cable limited to 500Ma, although I don't know that for sure).
I contacted Amazon Customer Service to see if the correct cable could be exchanged, however the ONLY remedy was to return the entire item and re-order. Customer Service was unable to assure that the next item shipped to me would not have the same issue, so now I play the waiting game to see if this was a simple packaging oversight or a systemic issue. Based upon my reading of recent reviews, it looks like others are receiving the correct USB cable, so here's hoping!
Oh, and the price jumped $12 since I ordered it... Fortunately I noticed while still in live chat with customer service and they issued me a credit to make up the difference.
If the next box arrives with an incorrect cable, I will NOT be a happy camper. However, if the next box arrives with the proper cables, I will revise this review and rate as appropriate, although I will still knock off one star for the hassle.
EDIT 10/09/2012 Received new shipment of this product, the correct cable WAS in the box this time! Will further update once installed.
EDIT 10/14/2012 Installed, works quite well. I have love/hate relationship with Motorola... I dislike how they have handled software issues (Motoblur, Music Player on DroidX2, Bionic/Atrix upgrade fiasco, locked bootloaders, etc.), but I have to say from a hardware perspective their stuff is first rate. The ability to have a single cable to the car dock with audio and charge carried by it is great! Motorola has clearly put a lot of thought into accessories for their phones.
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