Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

OK, I have a Galaxy Note 2 in an Otterbox Commuter case and it fits in the xDock perfectly (you will probably have to adjust the feet on the dock to fit it). This would be a 5-star rating if not for the cable/features issues. In the description, iBolt says that connecting the USB/AUX cable not only opens Car Mode but it allows for audio through the USB charger port. the former has been refuted by iBolt in communications with another customer on a different forum and the latter may well be true but the cable that supports this does not come with the dock and isn't available until March 2013. Also, it was written on my invoice that if I wanted the USB/AUX cable it would be an extra charge. So now I will have to pay extra for functionality that was originally (and still is) advertised. Also, it is worth mentioning that while the xDock did come with a USB cable for charging, it does not charge properly using said cable. I tested it by plugging my phone up and charging it overnight using the USB cable that came with the xDock. it took 7 hours to charge from 13% to 48%. On any other cable, it takes less than a 3rd of that time to charge the Note 2 from 13% to 100%. My final thought is this... if you intend on buying a Samsung dock for your phone, this one is sturdy and it will definitely hold your phone, but be warned about the other "features". For less than half, you can get another dock that will hold your phone almost as well without promising features it don't or won't have yet. I will use the dock, but if i had known that the features would be crippled and I would have to pay extra for a cable to solve the issue, I more than likely would have waited to purchase if I would have purchased it at all. UPDATE 2/15/2013: I initially gave the XDock a 2-star rating due to the lack of a USB/AUX cable and some crippled features. I have since gotten a reply from iBOLT.CO regarding my issues with their product... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hello, I am one of the co-founders of iBOLT and I wanted the opportunity to follow up with you on your concerns raised in your xProDock Amazon review. Kim Clegg, in charge of customer service, is also cc:ed in on this email. Given that the xProDock is a new product and we've had delays on the aux-out cable we are making a serious attempt to follow up with each and every customer. I noticed in the review that you raised two concerns: 1. Aux-out audio cable: The charging cable with integrated aux-out for the audio from applications will indeed be included for everyone that has purchased the xProDock on Amazon from us. We made the decision last week to NOT include this and make it a separate add-on, this as we had feedback from customers saying they don't want it as they have Bluetooth with streaming audio in their car. Also, it will be a lot more expensive to produce then previously planned as we are going full out doing a product that alone could retail for half or more of the value of the car-dock. However, after making the change we experienced negative feedback from our customer base so we reversed the decision and the cable will now be included! I have personally used the 1st sample of the upgraded aux-out cable today with my Note II and the sound is terrific. Virtually no back ground noise or power feedback with clean throughput of the audio. We expect to have this cable in stock sometime in March and you will receive one immediately, naturally at no additional charge. 2. Cable not charging: A handful of people have clearly received a USB cables that have a problem with voltage drop, resulting in slower then expected charging. Using a wall charger or quality car charger with a phone in sleep mode should charge the Note II in 2 1/2 - 3 hours and with a 10 ft cable you may expect about one hour more charging time due to the natural loss is a long cable. Running GPS navigation, streaming audio etc. will add additional charging time. We will solve the problem (until your aux-out cable is in) by sending a new USB cable to you in the beginning of the week. This will be a 6 ft cable. 3. New Driving App: Within the next few weeks we anticipate launching our new iBOLT driving app for the xProDock. This will be a premium paid app on Google Play but for Amazon customers we will send this as a free download as a small "Thanks" for putting up with the delay of the aux-out cable. Stay tuned for email in about 2-3 weeks on this. We would appreciate your confirmation that the above satisfies your concerns and that you are indeed a satisfied customer? With a new product, and the long 3 week Chinese New Year break we've been very challenged with this product launch due to the known cable issues. My contact info is below. Feel free to reach out to myself or my Colleague Kim anytime with any concerns regarding your iBOLT experience. Have a great weekend! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Not only have they addressed all of my concerns, but they did so in under 4 hours after my posting of the review. This has made me re-think my initial review and if what they promised me in their communication rings true then I will gladly purchase from them again in the future. I will change my rating to 4 stars and if they deliver on everything they promised, I will upgrade it again to 5 stars. I will report back and let you know how it all goes. Overall I am very impressed with the level of customer service from iBolt. UPDATE 5/23/2013: I received the new USB/AUX OUT cable about a month ago and wanted to put it through it's paces before updating my review. The new cable works great, very long (9ft.) and I have zero sound quality issues with it. I do hope that they are now shipping the cable with he actual dock itself. I have noticed a quirk with the new cable but I think it is more related to the new interface arm (you get a new interface arm marked SAM2 that you need to connect to the dock. This replaces the interface arm that originally came with the dock). Using certain bluetooth headsets/earpieces the phone (Verizon Galaxy Note 2) will reset when you disconnect a call using the call button on the headset. This is constant with the Motorola S9-HD headset and occasional with the BlueAnt T1. I mainly use a BlueAnt Q2 and a Samsung HM1700 and I have not noticed this quirk with either of those earpieces. I really believe it is the interface arm, but I am working on testing that out soon. Overall, the dock is still a great dock and now that the USB/AUX OUT cable has arrived, this is the dock I wanted in the first place. Also, while waiting for the cable, I got a 50% coupon for an iBolt portable charging battery (will review soon) and they also sent em the link to get the iBolt Dock'n Drive app. The app works great. I hope they update it soon to fix the speedometer (isn't as accurate as Car Home Ultra) but it isn't a deal breaker by any means. I have updated my rating of the Dock to 5 stars, as they did deliver on everything they promised and I didn't have to pay extra. Update 10/24/2013: I am still using the dock, but I now use it with a Galaxy Note 3 and a Galaxy S4. Both phones work well with the dock and the iBolt Dock n' Drive app. Also, the bluetooth issue I mentioned which would reboot the phone when ending a call is so far only occurring on the Galaxy Note 2. None of the bluetooth devices have rebooted the phone when ending a call while the Note 3 or Galaxy S4 is docked. I am assuming it is a software glitch with the dock and the version of Android on the Note 2 (Android 4.1.2). Also, I thought the USB/AUX cable was giving me charging issues due to the length of the cable, but I have actually found out it was the USB charger I use in the car (dual port 750mA). If you want the charger cable to charge properly, you need to make sure that you are using a USB car charger that has an output to match your OEM charger for your phone (Note 3's OEM charger has an output of 2A, or 2,000mA). Check the phone's charger specs to be sure. Otherwise charging will be slow to nonexistant.