Connecting Evo to car stereo

[Aragorn]

So, with my current iPhone, I have a car dock from ProClip that has an iPod dock connector on the bottom. This allows me to both charge and get a line-out from the phone by simply sliding it into the holder. I use my iPhone with Pandora as my primary car radio through the Aux input on my stereo.

Any idea if something like this will be possible with the Evo? It would be nice to only have to connect one cable and be able to get audio and charging at the same time. Bluetooth might be an option but it's kind of ungainly and I'd have to buy some kind of Bluetooth receiver for the stereo.

Thoughts?

 

[Caloy]

Yes, just make sure you have the cable for it. Just connect your aux input to your 3.5 mm jack and you should be good. Not sure what your aux input is, it can be RCA cables at the back or even a 2.5 (or 3.5 mm) input in the front of your stereo. Either way there will be a cable for it. 3.5 to RCA or 2.5 to 3.5 cables. You just need the right cable.

another option if you don't have Aux inputs, is to get a FM transmitter and connect that to your phone and tune in the desired frequency on your radio.

 

[RedWingsFan]

http://androidforums.com/htc-evo-4g/77668-any-news-pics-official-car-dock.html

 

[Aragorn]

Yes, just make sure you have the cable for it. Just connect your aux input to your 3.5 mm jack and you should be good. Not sure what your aux input is, it can be RCA cables at the back or even a 2.5 (or 3.5 mm) input in the front of your stereo. Either way there will be a cable for it. 3.5 to RCA or 2.5 to 3.5 cables. You just need the right cable.

another option if you don't have Aux inputs, is to get a FM transmitter and connect that to your phone and tune in the desired frequency on your radio.

My car stereo already has an aux input. It's a cable that snakes from the back of the head unit, under the plastics of the car and out the center console. It terminates into a 3.5mm jack.

My concern was that I don't want to have to plug in one cable to charge the phone and another into the headphone jack. Ideally it would work like my current setup where I have a car dock that allows me to both charge and get a line-out by simply sliding the phone in.

 

[Caloy]

I saw it on some video, but I think it's only for charging.

I would think they will have a cable that separates into a charging cable and one for the audio. But not sure.

 

[MyHTCevo]

So, with my current iPhone, I have a car dock from ProClip that has an iPod dock connector on the bottom. This allows me to both charge and get a line-out from the phone by simply sliding it into the holder. I use my iPhone with Pandora as my primary car radio through the Aux input on my stereo.

Any idea if something like this will be possible with the Evo? It would be nice to only have to connect one cable and be able to get audio and charging at the same time. Bluetooth might be an option but it's kind of ungainly and I'd have to buy some kind of Bluetooth receiver for the stereo.

Thoughts?

Pretty sure you're stuck having to use two cords to output the audio and charge at the same time. Not as easy as the iphone but I'd rather have a micro usb for charging purposes.

 

[legacy]

The iPhone has more options for connecting to a car. I don't see this changing for a while. Doesn't your current dock have to plug into a cigarette lighter, AND the accessory port of your stereo? If not, where is it getting its power from?


My car has USB input as well as a line in, so I'll be able to charge the phone and play music, but it'll still take two cables.

 

[Aragorn]

Doesn't your current dock have to plug into a cigarette lighter, AND the accessory port of your stereo? If not, where is it getting its power from?

It's a Belkin cable that plugs into the cigarette lighter and has a mini headphone jack on it in one cable.

 

[legacy]

It's a Belkin cable that plugs into the cigarette lighter and has a mini headphone jack on it in one cable.

Duct tape your two cables together and it's essentially the same thing, right? LOL.

Ok, use black electrical tape. It'll look classier.

 

[cesjr02]

I'm hoping the bluetooth audio will be sufficient, (since my car's head unit supports it.) Other wise I have an Aux input on the rear.

 

[cesjr02]

Question, can the Evo output usb audio?

I just remembered I have a usb input on my car stereo which could handle both audio and charging if it can output audio.

 

[mpbond]

1. FM transmitters blow, all of them. If you are going to use FM, make sure it is an FM MODULATOR.

2. Ipods will always be king in car stereo. All manufacturers have Ipod ready headunits and have been in licensing agreements with Apple since about 02. Some of the newer radios with front USB will recognize other MP3 players, but I have not tried another phone. If they recognize the EVO as a flash drive then they will work fine.

3. Aragorn, you will have to use the 3.5 and the charging cable for the EVO unless you have a USB plug in your radio.

 

[drexappeal]

Well, if there's a similar adaptor for the EVO that I have for my Touch Pro, where you can plug in 2 mini-USB connectors (micro for EVO), you'd be able to use this

HTC Audio Cable AC A320 for CellularSouth HTC Hero / Sprint Hero, HTC Evo 4G / T-Mobile G1, myTouch 3G Slide / Verizon HTC Droid Eris - G1 Depot

And also be able to plug your car charger in. Only way to do that would be through an splitter adaptor (don't know how to describe it, but it's basically a micro-usb plug on one end and then 2 female micro-usb ports on the other end).

 

[cesjr02]

Well, if there's a similar adaptor for the EVO that I have for my Touch Pro, where you can plug in 2 mini-USB connectors (micro for EVO), you'd be able to use this

HTC Audio Cable AC A320 for CellularSouth HTC Hero / Sprint Hero, HTC Evo 4G / T-Mobile G1, myTouch 3G Slide / Verizon HTC Droid Eris - G1 Depot

And also be able to plug your car charger in. Only way to do that would be through an splitter adaptor (don't know how to describe it, but it's basically a micro-usb plug on one end and then 2 female micro-usb ports on the other end).

Interesting, so you cannot charge your phone with this cable alone?

 

[drexappeal]

Interesting, so you cannot charge your phone with this cable alone?

Did you read my entire statement or just click on the link? If you get the adaptor, you should be able to use that part AND a charger.

 

[cesjr02]

Did you read my entire statement or just click on the link? If you get the adaptor, you should be able to use that part AND a charger.

Yes I did, I was just clarifying. Also after doing a search I could not find a male micro-USB split to twin female micros. It might be harder to find.

Edit:

Well hard to say if this would work as it's for a palm device.

Palm Power/Audio Adapter for Treo 800w - WMExperts Store

 

[drexappeal]

Yes I did, I was just clarifying. Also after doing a search I could not find a male micro-USB split to twin female micros. It might be harder to find.

Edit:

Well hard to say if this would work as it's for a palm device.

Palm Power/Audio Adapter for Treo 800w - WMExperts Store

I see...yeah, it's possible it doesn't exist, but that'd be the only way for dual purposing. The other suggestion I made to someone is 3.5mm to rca cable.

 

[cesjr02]

It will just take trial and error to find a best solution.

My goal is to have one cable coming from the head unit to the Evo for both charging and audio.

I do have USB input on my receiver but I believe that's more for playing music files off a storage device. That cable you linked to did say compatible with the Evo so basic audio output via USB should be possible.

 

[drexappeal]

It will just take trial and error to find a best solution.

My goal is to have one cable coming from the head unit to the Evo for both charging and audio.

I do have USB input on my receiver but I believe that's more for playing music files off a storage device. That cable you linked to did say compatible with the Evo so basic audio output via USB should be possible.

If you have a USB input on your receiver, that should work fine. The USB cable should send power to the phone while the headunit is on.

 

[Nitrousoxide]

This should work really well as a bluetooth solution.
Amazon.com: BlackBerry Remote Stereo Bluetooth Gateway for BlackBerry 8100…

 

[echoota]

I'm probably preaching the choir, but I advise exploring all connections options and use FM transmitters only as a last resort. Personally the static eventually drives me crazy.

So far, this is the most self contained option I can find.
FM Transmitter & Charger for SmartPhones - Car Mount System w/ DC Surge Protection & Flex-Neck - GG-FLEX-SMART - Buy.com

 

[sitlet]

It will just take trial and error to find a best solution.

My goal is to have one cable coming from the head unit to the Evo for both charging and audio.

I do have USB input on my receiver but I believe that's more for playing music files off a storage device. That cable you linked to did say compatible with the Evo so basic audio output via USB should be possible.

My current Windows phone has an app that will turn the usb into JUST a storage card. So when I plug it into a computer or xbox etc, it sees it just as an sd card, not a phone. I'm sure android has something similar, if you can find it, i think that will work fine with your stereo's usb input, as it will just see it as a flash drive.

 

[echoota]

Here's another option. I have no practical application experience with this method so be warned, the idea is purely theory and speculation.

Strange unbranded product, direct from China I'm sure.

Another one, branded at least, SATECHI, never heard of them.

Use:

• Connect the USB to charge your Evo using any MicroUSB to USB type A cable.
• Connect the Evo's bluetooth (BT) to this device, A2DP preferred.
• the device transmits your BT output to an FM tuned station.

I assume using BT instead of USB allows you to control everything through your phone instead of the device simply seeing a drive with music files (if that's even possible).

Concerns:

• Will the USB connection get in the way of your playing music through BT? Both on the device itself or the phone?
• Take the SAITECHI reviews with a grain salt. I saw elsewhere that someone from SAITECHI was spamming forums with the product touting its greatness. That, and not a single bad review (cluelss or otherwise) leads me to question the integrity of salesmanship (oh the irony!) behind the product. It will require further research.

Also I did not shop for cheapest available, only possible solutions. But this could be a start.

 

[sitlet]

As others have said, using an FM transmitter should be your LAST resort, as the sound quality of those tiny transmitters is usually HORRIBLE. As far as the link posted above, I would stay away from that. Not only is it an fm transmitter, it gets its feed from bluetooth, which itself is not very good for transmitting audio. So you've got quality loss from the bluetooth, plus quality loss from the fm, so it will sound very bad.

 

[cesjr02]

My current Windows phone has an app that will turn the usb into JUST a storage card. So when I plug it into a computer or xbox etc, it sees it just as an sd card, not a phone. I'm sure android has something similar, if you can find it, i think that will work fine with your stereo's usb input, as it will just see it as a flash drive.

Well actually I don't want my receiver to see my phone as just storage. I want an audio line out so I can output stuff like Voice Navigation etc.