[Galaxy Note II Accessories] nerys71:
unless you have lots of cash or lots of insurance you really should wrap the note ii in a case :)

even basic cases might not be enough because of the size and mass of this phone :) a "simple" TPU case would likely provide little to no real drop protection just because of how heavy the phone is :( though it is gorilla glass and it really does not take THAT much shock protection to prevent damage.

note those hard snap on cases and those "barely their" cases? pretty much no protection. they are only good for stopping scuffing/scratching they provide zero impact protection.

also you ibolt guys. I am not sure why a fixed arm won't work with a case? all you need to do is have a "set screw" on the backside of the case (small thumb screw) turn that to "adjust" the distance of the arm to the dock base. adjust out more for thicker cases till the phone "slides in" correctly. once you adjust it you won't have to mess with it again. set and forget.

has anyone tested "easy insert" potential for these phones? I have noticed when I insert my USB chargers I have to be pretty precise with entry or the plug just won't go in.

Here is what I mean by an adjustable "arm" so you can have slide in plug and place with ANY case (as long as the plug itself is SKINNY to fit through the opening in the case!

This part would need to be WELL engineered to pretty tight tolerances. there should be zero "wiggle" and "play" in the usb slider arm. basically you spring load it (like a ball point pen) for insertion.

the set screw on the bottom "raises and lowers" that center portion so its at the perfect height for whatever "case" you have on your phone. the screw should be tight and not "easy" to turn this way once you get it where you want it it WILL NOT move on its own after you set it. after that just pop the phone in place.

the SIDE ARMS that grab the phone would be the same set screw arrangement. open them all the way up slide in your phone adjust them so the phone is while not tight has no "play" to move around. (these arms would have TWO set screws each. one for the X axis (width) and one for the Z axis (thickness)

Also for dash mounting here is my Note II mounted on my dash. I can see the entire screen and this picture is "what I see" precisely.

Here is me touch the screen hands on the wheel. Very convenient and minimal distraction.

again granted this is a minivan and I am rather tall (my head touches the ceiling)

I will try it later in my metro too (tiny car)

Here is my germ of an idea for a good universal slide in don't have to plug in anything car mount.

the base plate would be mid sized and rigid. the back side would have a bunch of "mounting holes" for all of this rigidity is critical. if the parts FLEX you won't get good alignment all the time.

the ARMS would be screwed into the backing plate. you would selecting a set of mounting points on the back to accommodate different phones. you might need higher or lower to clear side buttons etc..

or design per phone if that is easier.

anway the arms would have to be well made and ULTRA rigid. any real flex would defeat the design criteria of at transparent slide it in and done design.

the side arms would have two set screws. #1 would adjust width (since this changes from phone to phone AND within the same phone case to case) #2 would be for "thickness"

#3 would be a set of "WINGS" these are important. they keep the phone from "twisting" on any axis which would prevent seamless insertion of the USB jack at the bottom.

you would adjust #1 and #2 till you got a silky smooth insertion of the phone with no "wiggle" or "play"

once that is done you then adjust the set screw for the USB jack till it lights up perfectly and the phone just "clicks" into place. You could make these screws "hard to turn" so they don't move on their own OR have a set screw that you would "lock down" to secure them into the positions "set" by the user for their phone/case combination

this would be some work. I imagine it would take anywhere from 2-15 minutes to get this all setup BUT once you got it all setup you would never ever have to do it again for that phone/case combination.

from then on you would just slip the phone into place and "bingo" done. phone is secure and plugged in to power and audio without the user having to do anything more than slide the phone in and this would work with ALL case combination so long as your set screws had enough "thread" to cover from the thinnest to the thickest.

if the range is "too great" this is easily solved by having backing plate inserts to "RAISE" thinner phones up to bring them inside the range limit of the set screws.

you guys at ibolt are welcome to use or not use any of this. I ask nothing in return not even credit though that would be nice if you use it :)

I just want to see GOOD hardware made available.

do this right and you could make just a couple of models to cover any wide assortment of phones IE much lower "mold costs"

I would also like to see an optional "top clamp" that the user manually engages to "lock" the phone into the dock from all 4 sides. for us "rough" users this added step is worth it to be certain the phone won't "pop out" of the dock :) for those users without a need for this simply don't install it since it would add a step to insert and removal of the phone. (locking the clamp down and unlocking to get the phone back out. this would only need to slide up and down the backing plate (for different height phones) and "lock it down" the top portion would then snap into place to lock the phone and unsnap (hinge back) to let the phone slide out. no need for the second set screw on this.