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clock too bright in the media dock?

Ok, so here's my <hopefully> temporary workaround. If you lock the phone while mounted in the dock, the screen (and soft buttons) will go completely dark. The alarm will still go off and turn the screen back on so you can hit snooze or dismiss. So the downside is that I can just look at the phone to see what time it is, this defeats the main reason I got the dock in the first place. On the flip side it's not illuminating the whole room.
 
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I'd like to fashion my own dock for the bedside (outta wood). This way maybe the soft keys could be hidden enough to not light up the room. I could provide enough room for the cord to connect underneath, and give it some heft so that buttons could be pushed without sliding the phone around. I have not played with the standard dock, but I assume it gives the phone some stability so that you can push a button.

What we need to figure out is what the magnet position needs to be to force dock mode. The alternative is to use the DockRunner app, which works just fine.

-Matt
 
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This way maybe the soft keys could be hidden enough to not light up the room.

I have not found this to be the case. For me, it's the screen that's too bright, not the keys. Yeah the keys look brighter when looking directly at them. Try this; look away from the phone at a wall that's being lit up while covering up just the soft keys with your finger (or any solid object). The wall is still lit up just as much as before, at least it is for me.
 
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Looking forward to using a docking station, when I can get one! The store I bought my Droid from does not have any in stock and has a waiting list of Droid owners who want one.

I use the DockRunner app, and I rigged up my own ghetto dock for it. Here are some lousy pics (taken with a Chocolate 3):

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I cut a notch in the cardboard base supporting the phone from the left side to where the micro USB jack is. This way, I plug my phone in and slide it into the holder.

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I rigged this up for my new phone for three reasons. (1) The Verizon store was all out of the docks for the phone, (2) I'm too cheap to pay $30 for the dock anyway when you can easily simulate its docking functions with a DockRunner, (3) I wanted something that would hang off the side of my nightstand (which is taller than my bed) instead of sitting on top of it and taking up more room.

So it looks pretty bad, but I don't really care--it works, and it was free! :) Basically, the backing is duct-tape wrapped (for reinforcement) cardboard, secured to the nightstand with those easy-remove velcro picture hanging tabs. The plastic over the front is actually clear vinyl from one of those bags that sheets and blankets come in when you buy them.
 
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