Multimedia Station for Motorola Droid X user reviews

Pros Very nice looking. My Droid X is fully functional while it is in the stand charging the battery.

Cons There is no extra battery slot to charge an extra spare battery. It would be nice to charge your phone and your extra battery at the same time.

Summary I was about to order a thicker extended life battery but because I have this charging dock I need to do more research first. It sure looks like the phone won't fit on this dock if I get an extended battery for my Droid X.

Pros Good, sturdy appearance.

Cons Needs exchangeable Metal Block to allow support for any case designed for the Droid X; Appears designed only for Motorola-brand case by 'dove tailing' only to Motorola-brand cases with a block indent; Missing HDMI cable (B to A) for the price.

Summary At least with the Car Dock I could modify it with a Utility Knife. Because this Station was made with a Metal Block that is not interchangeable, I have to return the Station to the store. Here's a link to details for modifying the Car Dock: http://reviews.cnet.com/search-results/car-mount-for-motorola/4852-5_7-34139126.html

Pros Holds Droid X at an angle easy to read from a bed. The home Doc program that is started when the phone senses the magnet in the dock has three pages available and you can customize the ribbon with apps or functions you want.

Cons Dim setting too dim, hard to see the icon to brighten the screen. When connected by a USB cable to a computer, screen goes to sleep unless you go to Settings/Sound & display settings/Screen timeout and adjust delay to Never timeout each time.

Summary I have the original Droid with a dock and it operates the same way with a charger connected or a USB cable to a computer. With the Droid X, everything works fine with a charger connected, but when the phone senses attachment to a computer with a USB cable through the dock, it adds the "USB Mass Storage" function. You can go into the Notification page by pulling down the shade from the top of the screen, and when you touch "USB" connection you can choose "Charge only" for the function, but if you don't also back out to the normal home screen, access Settings and set the timeout to Never then get back to the Dock program each time you Dock, the screen will go blank at the end of the Screen Timeout period. Then when you undock, you have to reset the Timeout to something less or your phone screen will be on all the time and drain your battery.

So What? you might say. Well, I routinely connect my Droid X dock to my computer to both charge it and transfer stuff through the USB cable. When I'm on the road, I connect it to my laptop for the same reasons. This effectively disables it as a bedside clock even when the connection is set to "Charge Only", and you must find and press the power button to see the display (which will then go out again). I would have expected the software to keep the Clock/Alarm/Wiget Bar active on the screen regardless of whether the Dock is getting power from a charger or a USB cable when it senses it is in the Dock and the setting from the Notification Screen is set to Charge Only (just like the original Droid does). So here's a case where the Droid X Doesn't!

I called tech support, and after half an hour on the line with them, the result was "Well that's just the way it works." Or more correctly, That's just the way it doesn't work. Accordingly, I can't justify paying $40 for a dock that doesn't act like a dock when it's attached to my computer and will be returning it.


Oh yes, one more annoyance, I can't conveniently put a protective jacket on the Droid X if I want to use the dock as the case has to be removed each time to fit the phone in the Dock. Interestingly enough, the Car Dock that sets the phone to Navigation Mode and causes it to act as a Phone/GPS/Media station automatically when you dock it comes with an insert that can be removed to give you enough room to leave your Droid X in a protective case when using it this way. Obviously, two different engineering teams worked on these docks. Kudos to the car team. The home team lost it.

Pros Can dim screen for bedside clock, easy to use dock app

Cons can't use market widgets in dock app

Summary Phone app works great easy to see and use especially with Droid X's big screen. Clock easy to see. Phone doesn't go on or come off easy at first but will loosen up a little. Well thought out.