In-Vehicle Charging Dock for S Galaxy S III

At first I was quite satisfied with the product. The S3 has an absolutely horrible interface that pops up when the "car dock" mode starts, but that is no fault of the iBolt.

However, after several weeks I started noticing during long trips that my phone was draining battery and not charging as it should have been. When I started paying closer attention I noticed that the connection from the dock to the phone via the USB cable would intermittently terminate. If I bypassed the built-in cable and plugged an external cable into the phone while it's in the dock, I do not see this problem. I only see the problem when the phone is connected directly to the dock.

And then finally, the phone would no longer recognize the connection to the dock at all. This has been a rapid degrading in functionality of the iBolt dock. I still use it as a physical holder of the phone, but for the price charged for this item, I need more value.

(Edited 12/3/2012: I'm happy to say that iBolt is standing by their product and sending me a replacement, free of charge. I am bumping them up a star for standing by their product.)

Works with those cases:

Works well with my Seidio Active case (ASIN: B008FYFVNE)

Works well with Case-Mate POP! 2 (ASIN: B007ZL0QVA)

Reportedly works with Otterbox commuter (ASIN: B0085JRQQE)

Does NOT work with those case (Use with Ibolt ProDock instead)

Reportedly the Otterbox defender is too big

My wife's Amzer AMZ94215 Double Layer Hybrid Case with Kickstand (ASIN: B008AU20Q4)

A couple of things I learned in setting up this car dock:

the "car mode" on the phone is just that "a mode".

We generally associate "car mode" with a special car user interface.

This is really just a car dashboard app that gets started when you enter car mode.

The one that comes with the S3 is miserable (it just starts S-voice asking you what you want to do)

But the Android Play / Market easily comes to the rescue. Just search for "car home" and you will

be presented with a few good options. I use one called "Car Home Ultra" and it's PERFECT!

Some of those apps can trigger the car mode on/off for you based on a combination of bluetooth, usb and

audio connection which can be useful if you use a different dock that doesn't trigger it for you

(the Ibolt ProDock and Prodock Plus come to mind as they can accommodate ANY size of case).

Other tidbits:

This dock can accomodate cases up to 2.5mm thick (from the instruction sheet)

Do read the instruction sheet: To configure audio coming out of the dock's connector go

to Settings --> Dock --> Audio output mode and enable it.

That's it. GREAT dock, go buy one and drive safely!

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What can I say? This is a great car dock. Very sturdy, fits the phone nicely with or without case, and plugging in the phone activates 'car mode' (do yourself a favor and get the Car Dock Ultra app to replace S-Voice).

Coming from a former Droid X user who was used to having a phone-specific plug-and-play dock that 'just worked', I had high expectations for car docks. I wanted one that would do the same thing for my GS3 that the old Motorola dock did for the Droid X. This dock does it.

One cool thing to note / minor complaint: the dock leaves the camera exposed so you it can theoretically work as a dash cam. However when the USB cable is plugged in, the picture will be upside-down. This is not iBolt's fault. Apparently when the phone is in car mode it 'locks' the horizontal orientation for reasons known only to Samsung. And the iBolt is holding the phone the 'wrong way'. Of course, if the cradle held the phone the 'right way' the volume controls would be inaccessible.

Anyway, there are a couple work-arounds: flip the cradle upside down, temporarily unplug the USB jack, or just deal with the upside down picture and flip it later with an editor.

Again, I don't fault iBolt for this issue, but you should know about it if you plan to use this as a 'dash cam'.

Other than that, five stars and worth every penny.

Read Best Reviews of In-Vehicle Charging Dock for S Galaxy S III Here

After seeing the youtube video, I pre-ordered this from smartphonepedia since Samsung didn't have a dedicated GSIII charging car dock. It replaced the Infuse 4G dock I was using for my GSIII.

I have to disagree John's review. First off, the directions are clear on how the supplied pads are to be used. The power button never gets pressed. The dock allows for a very good fit with or without a case thanks to the removable insert (nice design). The same is true of the, I think, brilliantly simplistic charging solution, which again allows for use with or without a case. The other benefit of this design decision is that if the cord gets tugged on it doesn't pull on the handset's micro usb socket.

The flip latch is much easier to use than locking the handset into the Infuse 4G dock. The single cable which terminates in both a USB plug and aux audio plug reduces clutter. I use the spigen Kuel P12Q/C car charger because my car doesn't have a USB socket.

My only gripe is that when the phone is in the dock the volume rocker is partially covered by the latch, so I can increase but not decrease the volume without using the software UI controls.

It's not a perfect solution, but grading on a curve it's a 5 based on my experience with numerous other docks. Highly Recommended.

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I'd like to update this review considering the fact that I placed the foam pads correctly where they should go, and now the on/off button is NOT an issue anymore. This car dock is great and performs flawlessly.

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