I have the same problem. I can't imagine why they would make the app ignore the orientation sensors, or why they make the app with 3 screens and only one of them can be customized.

 

Same problem here. It annoys the heck out of me too because I much prefer the portrait orientation when using navigation.

 

I discovered yesterday that it's not just the dock app that's in landscape mode. The dock forces the phone to be landscape only in ALL APPS.

 

I found a workaround for allowing portrait mode while in the car dock.

1. Connect the charger to the dock, but do not connect the charger to a power source
2. Insert the phone in the dock (dock mode will not be triggered)
3. Connect the charger to a power source (the phone will charge, but dock mode still won't be triggered)

Of course this means you won't get the dock app either, but it works for me.

Notes: I'm using a Motorola car charger. Your results may vary.

 

That's certainly annoying. I prefer using my nav in portrait mode.

I have the car dock but haven't used it yet so I'm hoping there's a way around this.

 

This may explain something I was having trouble with today. Just to clarify: If the phone is not plugged in to charge, dock mode will NOT appear? Is that correct?

My dock was working fine the other day, not today - I had it unplugged since it was already charged, this would explain why I had no dock mode.

Strange!

 

I find the car dock mode unusable. Locked into portrait is a problem but the biggest one is that you can't get to any of your home screens if you are using the navigation. The home button only brings you to the dock home. And the back button will force you to cancel your navigation. I'll have to see if there is an app to prevent the car dock mode altogether. I know there was one for my OG droid but it still seemed to slow things down a bit.

 

I was able to get to the home screen - although it took a while to figure it out... Instead of hitting the home softkey, hit the back arrow softkey.

Also, I agree that not having a portrait mode stinks!

 

It's extremely frustrating that I can't get the phone back into portrait mode.

I've seen other posts that complained that their Droid2's would switch between orientations when the car hit a bump, but I've never had that problem while just propping up my Bionic in a cup holder. Now that I've spent north of $50 for the car holder, I regret it.

I found the Preferences menu and was hoping to find an orientation setting. Something like, "Portrait Only, Landscape Only, or Automatic". That would redeem this feature.

 

Yes, hitting the back arrow can get you to the home screen, but if you were using google maps for navigation or directions, the back arrow first backs you out of this so you lose your navigation.

There should be a way to prevent the car dock mode altogether. If it is from a magnet maybe I'll just find it and dremel it out!

I'll also look in the root area.

 

Not true. (Or, actually, not always true.)

My phone/dock is never plugged in to charge when in the dock. Never, never, never. (The location of the outlet and the location of my dock prevent this.) Yet the phone still goes into dock mode when I put it in the dock.

My slight waffling on this point is because it doesn't ALWAYS go into dock mode. Often, I have to pick the phone up and reseat it in there, sometimes three or four times, before I'll do whatever magic thing has to be done to trigger car mode. But plugging in the charger has nothing to do with it.

 

@ Telstar... get the car dock home v3 app. It still is landscape only because
the dock is designed to only be in landscape mode. I called verizon to ask about it. I also prefer the nav in portrait mode. The person I spoke with said they would file a request report and that I wasnt the first person to call and complain about it. She said if enough people complain about it they may correct the problem in a later update

 

I was able to freeze the dock app using titanium backup so that got rid of that terrible mode but still has the landscape issue so I will try some of the suggested fixes.

 

I tried lots of different car dock apps and a bunch of car dock blockers, the only app that I have found so far that works to keep the orientation portrait instead of landscape for my Droid 3 non-rooted Verizon when placed in the car dock is "display orientator" Display orientator | AppBrain Android Market

 

Im using car dock home V3 from the market.
It still has the orientation mode problem when its in the dock but it has several home screens and you can drop just about any app onto one of the screens. The look/style/layout of the screens is very customizable. Much better than the standard dock screens that come with the dock