Decent generic phone cradle that charges?

[ouch]

Getting fed up with my current scenario: generic sucker mount, adjustable width phone holder and separate loose charger. The sucker mount sucks, it's old and tired, the holder bit works fine, but is a bit loose on the end of the gooseneck and it's a chore having to connect the charger lead, remembering to do it before putting the phone in the holder etc etc... It's a tough life

What I'm looking for is a universal-ish holder, variable width with a fixed USB style charging plug on the bottom - I've got a Galaxy S2 at the moment, but in a tough case so won't fit any of the tailored holders - it may well be replaced in the next year or so so I'd like to avoid having to replace all the accessories as well.

I'm also looking for a solution that actually tells the phone it's in a car dock - via the 5th pin on the USB connector intended for such purposes. I don't need audio hookup as I've got that sorted via bluetooth.

Anyone out there got any suggestions or recommendations?

[Monty Python]

Don't most phones have their own specific design of charging socket?

[ouch]

Monty Python said:

Don't most phones have their own specific design of charging socket?

Most stuff of note (with the obvious exception of the iphones) will charge from Micro USB. I'm no fan of apple so USB is good for me.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB#OMTP.2FGSMA_Unive... - details of the standard

Edited by ouch on Wednesday 5th February 11:45

[LovesSweetExile]

It's nice having a phone which charges wirelessly. This post is of no help to you.

[simo1863]

LovesSweetExile said:

It's nice having a phone which charges wirelessly. This post is of no help to you.

I've a few wireless charging pads around the house (including one I've built into a bedside table so at night I just put my phone down on the table and it starts charging) but I'm not sure how I could get it working in a car. Surely it would slide off regularly and I'm not sure where I'd house it.

[triggerh4ppy]

Have a look at the brodit pro clip. their not universal but you can change the holder eveytime you get a new phone (cant be that often)

Their expensive but ive had them last 3 years and cant fault them.

[mph1977]

Monty Python said:

Don't most phones have their own specific design of charging socket?

recent blackberry and most 'droid use micro USB as do several of the Winphones , older BBs used mini USB - compared to the position say 10 -15 years ago when every maker had a different connector and sometimes more than one connector...

the Iphone has of course in the great tradition of apple -wkery used it's own connector but across all generations of iphione and ipod there's only 2 types of connector.

[ouch]

triggerh4ppy said:

Have a look at the brodit pro clip. their not universal but you can change the holder eveytime you get a new phone (cant be that often)

Their expensive but ive had them last 3 years and cant fault them.

They look nice, problem is I've got my phone in a 2-layer hard-shell case (casemate tough) -which I cannot praise enough for keeping my phone safe after numerous droppages. The only drawback of this case is it's a bit of a mission to get the phone out of it and back in again. I'd prefer something a bit more generic, but still had the captive USB plug at the bottom..