Help Unwanted Rotating in Car Dock

[skylinedrifter]

I have noticed that while I am driving with my Droid in the Motorola car dock, my screen randomly rotates between portrait and landscape positions. I am certain it has to do with either hitting bumps or taking turns and have tried turning off the auto-rotate feature but this has not resolved the issue.

Has anyone else noticed this problem? Has anyone been able to correct it?

 

[anabolix]

Seems like something may be a bit too lose in your phone.

If your bumps aren't huge than I would take it back and get a new one.

 

[Roroco]

I am actually liking the car dock less and less. I kinda wish there was a way to minimize it when I want to. That or have ability to add at least one shortcut (like TuneWiki) to the bar.

 

[anabolix]

??
You can exit out of car mode...

 

[messenger13]

This was happening to me, as well. It was driving me nuts! I noticed that if I put a little force on the mount, removing all vibrations, the issue went away. All I had to do was move my mounting location up an about an inch so that the top of the mount touched the headliner in my car. That was enough to remove the vibrations and it solved the problem. I don't know if that solution will work for you though.

 

[Roroco]

??
You can exit out of car mode...

You can exit out of car mode by hitting the back button or the home icon on the car home page.

Problem is when you hit the Home key, it automatically takes you back to the car home screen. I would rather it take you to the real home page and use the notification area to get back to the car home.

 

[messenger13]

I am actually liking the car dock less and less. I kinda wish there was a way to minimize it when I want to. That or have ability to add at least one shortcut (like TuneWiki) to the bar.

I agree. Tonight I'm going to uninstall the cardock app (requires root) and see what happens when I dock the DROID in my car. May also try the same thing with multimedia dock app.

 

[tebower]

I experience this everytime I drive with my phone in the dock. I made the assumption that it was caused by the accelerometer going crazy while I drove over our crack and pothole ridden Michigan roads. It doesn't concern me much, and I don't think its a flaw, because it makes sense that the accelerometer would be under constant abuse from vehicle vibrations.

 

[zandroid]

I dont know if anyone uses the car dock in portrait, but I think once in the car dock the os should lock into landscape and stay put until undocked. this is really annoying.

 

[barry99705]

I agree. Tonight I'm going to uninstall the cardock app (requires root) and see what happens when I dock the DROID in my car. May also try the same thing with multimedia dock app.

You should be able to pull the magnet out of the dock. It's just a couple clips holding that plate in place. The magnet is probably glued in the holder, nothing a pair of pliers won't fix. Then later on if you want it back a little hot glue and it's all back! Or if you want the multimedia dock to launch instead of the nav app, just flip the magnet.

I have read on another forum that you can rename the app and it won't launch.

I experience this everytime I drive with my phone in the dock. I made the assumption that it was caused by the accelerometer going crazy while I drove over our crack and pothole ridden Michigan roads. It doesn't concern me much, and I don't think its a flaw, because it makes sense that the accelerometer would be under constant abuse from vehicle vibrations.

Are Michigan roads worse than Ohio roads? This is the only state I've ever been in that they can't make the bridges and roads the same level.

 

[skylinedrifter]

You should be able to pull the magnet out of the dock. It's just a couple clips holding that plate in place. The magnet is probably glued in the holder, nothing a pair of pliers won't fix. Then later on if you want it back a little hot glue and it's all back! Or if you want the multimedia dock to launch instead of the nav app, just flip the magnet.

I have read on another forum that you can rename the app and it won't launch.

I exit out of the car dock app all the time but I still get the unwanted rotation. So far, I cant find a way to lock the phone into landscape mode.

Are Michigan roads worse than Ohio roads? This is the only state I've ever been in that they can't make the bridges and roads the same level.

Infinitely worse.

 

[pinesal]

Do you guys know you can turn off auto rotate?

 

[skylinedrifter]

Do you guys know you can turn off auto rotate?

Yes, but that setting won't apply to the phone while it is in the car dock.

Anyhow, I have come up with a workaround. When I insert the phone into the dock, I slide the keyboard out just far enough so that the phone locks into landscape mode. It's annoying but far less so than a constantly rotating screen.

 

[John Frykman]

I agree. Tonight I'm going to uninstall the cardock app (requires root) and see what happens when I dock the DROID in my car. May also try the same thing with multimedia dock app.

You could remove the magnet, or just get rid of the car mount. It really is a piece of junk anyway. There are far better mounts (albeit less the magnet that switches on the dock mode). I may be odd, but I use my navigation in the portrait mode, since I have the "north" indicator switched so my car is always driving "up" so to speak. There is no logical reason to use the navigation mode in the landscape mode (IMHO).

 

[TSmith3480]

Here is the problem I face. I use the car dock on my motorcycle and listen to Pandora while riding. When it constantly rotates because of vibrations and leaning, it FC's my Pandora app. I've tried using Slacker as well, and while it doesn't happen as often, it still happens. If anyone knows of an app or other solution to stop the screen from rotating, please let me know. In the mean time, I'm prolly just going to pull the magnet.

Thanks all!

UPDATE: If anyone is still reading this thread... I recently installed the Dock Runner app. This puts the phone into the "Multimedia Dock Mode" which is in landscape all the time. Along with taking the magnet out of the car dock and activating the Dock Runner app, my constant rotating issues have been solved!