Rant: standardize in-car phone dock; my personal crusade at CES
I’ve had it with cables. The sheer number of cables we have to carry around is getting insane. I’ve got (and I bet you do too) a drawer full of cables that I don’t even remember what they go to, but one day might need. My breaking point was reached during my review of the Samsung Blackjack II where they redesigned not only the battery, but all the cables as well. Good for companies that sell cables, bad for everyone else.
For many of us, our cell phones are our connection to the world. We email, talk, browse, navigate, text, IM, Twitter, etc. on them nonstop. They are becoming powerful and power-hungry. The future is powerful cell phones; one look at the iPhone and it is easy to see.
What isn’t easy to see is why car manufacturers haven’t jumped at this as a way to make us happy. Sure there was that BMW that had an iPod dock, but what I am talking about here is a phone dock. A phone dock that will charge the phone, allow me to talk on it or play music through the cars speakers from it. This dock should hold the phone so I can navigate with it as well.
Can you hear the companies adding my name to the beat-down list now from companies reaping the benefit of all our expired cables, batteries and make-shift work-arounds?
I don’t care, I am sure your dashboard looks something like mine: phone with power cable plugged in, iPod in DLO dock with audio cable running into my AUX input for the car stereo. Then comes the time consuming feat of hiding everything when I park on the street. My blood pressure is rising just thinking about it.
I am over listening to music over a temporarily vacant FM station. I’ve had it with the spaghetti mess of cables on my car’s dashboard. It is time for change and I am going to find someone at CES who can help us further this discussion. Here are my list of demands:
- standardized power/audio plug for phones
- car radio manufacturer to make dock to fit this standardized plug to allow charging/audio/hands-free talking
- a Barbie dream home for me and my family
Ok, so getting car manufacturers to give up their fancy and pricey sales of GPS units, mp3 playing std radios and getting Belkin to to slide tackle me in the halls of CES for suggesting such heresy may be far-fetched. If enough of us speak out, some enterprising company will hear the call and make our lives just a little bit easier. Maybe?
Written by JG Mason for Gadgetell. | Permalink | Have something to say? Add a Comment!
Section: Gadgets / Other, Lifestyle, Mobile, Features, The Water Cooler
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