Database Info

[Q] Dock Mode for Galaxy Note 4?

I found my Note 4 have dock mode with the old dock for other Samsung's phone. But doesn't work with the audio out.
Have anyone know the purpose of the dock mode for the Note 4?
Or there is audio out for the dock mode, which only my dock doesn't fit the electric requirement?

julianfong said:
I found my Note 4 have dock mode with the old dock for other Samsung's phone. But doesn't work with the audio out.
Have anyone know the purpose of the dock mode for the Note 4?
Or there is audio out for the dock mode, which only my dock doesn't fit the electric requirement?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does your Note 4 have the "Audio output mode" setting in Settings, General, Accessory, Dock? That's what tells it to use external speakers when it's docked.

Does it output via hdmi? 720p, 1080p?
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda app-developers app

Also, is it an official Samsung dock?

Official Samsung Multimedia Dock (for Note 2 & 3)
I have verified that my official Samsung multimedia dock works EXCEPT that the standard audio out jack does not appear to work.
HDMI audio works in both stereo and surround mode. Video is output at 1080 30P.

Has anyone tried it with the plain OEM desktop dock (EDD-D200BEGSTA) that just has audio output? I wonder if the Note 4 doesn't handle all of the extra outputs of the fancier one (EDD-S20JWEGSTA).

JimSmith94 said:
Does your Note 4 have the "Audio output mode" setting in Settings, General, Accessory, Dock? That's what tells it to use external speakers when it's docked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The option does not appear to be available on the Note 4?

mherzfeld said:
The option does not appear to be available on the Note 4?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Correct! This is one reason I went back to a Note 3 for now.

If you search you'll find that this has been discussed at length in several other threads. I'll sum up here for you though- basically the Note 4 at this time does not support audio out over USB the way the previous gen Galaxy devices did. This means it won't work with the desktop docks or with the car docks/cables that split audio and charging on one cable. Essentially any device that tries to provide both audio and charging simultaneously through the usb port will not work. The Note 4 WILL support audio over USB with a USB OTG cable and a DAC, but you can't charge while using them.
However, Android 5.0 Lollipop does have audio out over USB included as a standard feature, so it's quite possible that once we get the 5.0 update this will begin to work. I haven't been able to find any solid proof, but my suspicion is that Samsung knew that 5.0 would have this feature included and so they just didn't bother to build it in to the initial release of the Note 4 (interestingly the S5 also suffers from this). Why take the time to develop a feature that's already being included in the first software update anyway? Again it's just my own personal theory, but I wouldn't be surprised to have this feature start working once we get Lollipop.
Anyway, a simple search of the forum will turn up a bunch of other info on this, take a minute to look!

With Lollipop now, this feature does not work. Could be a hardware limitation.

I believe it has something to do with the Fast Charging capability.
Standard USB uses only 2 pins for power, meaning either of the remaining pins can be utilized for audio, probably the data+ pin, or possibly the second ground pin.
However with fast charging, the data+ and data- pins are used to communicate with the charging controller, so they can't be used as audio out. This seems to be the case, as an old "faster" charge cable I made way back does not work with Fast Charging. (the cable was made by an old common trick where you short the 2 data pins in the USB A side, essentially telling the phone no data was going to be used, just charging."
I have the Multimedia Dock as well, and I noticed that limitation when I got the phone. Though honestly it didn't bother me all that much, as the Note doesn't like to stay in it anyways, and I rarely used the audio out.

MasterTentacles said:
I believe it has something to do with the Fast Charging capability.
Standard USB uses only 2 pins for power, meaning either of the remaining pins can be utilized for audio, probably the data+ pin, or possibly the second ground pin.
However with fast charging, the data+ and data- pins are used to communicate with the charging controller, so they can't be used as audio out. This seems to be the case, as an old "faster" charge cable I made way back does not work with Fast Charging. (the cable was made by an old common trick where you short the 2 data pins in the USB A side, essentially telling the phone no data was going to be used, just charging."
I have the Multimedia Dock as well, and I noticed that limitation when I got the phone. Though honestly it didn't bother me all that much, as the Note doesn't like to stay in it anyways, and I rarely used the audio out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I bet you're right, but I don't know of any other phones that have audio out to compare against. For example the Nexus 6 supports dock mode for Daydream, but I haven't found any docks that can activate it.

How to activate Dock Mode
I discovered that with the app called "Smart Connect" you can customize what apps will activate based on what peripheral device is connected. You can set this up for the usb dock, 3.5mm input, etc. You can control what happens when something is connected and when it is disconnect. You don't need root either. This isn't perfect, I still preferred the way the Note 2 and 3 worked but it does help.

Youtube video on this issue
we go over this in our video on YouTube, no go on the audio out for the Note 4.
Luke @ Galaxy Tech Review

degeiso said:
we go over this in our video on YouTube, no go on the audio out for the Note 4.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The dock could be used to attach usb dac to phone and to charge phone at the same time, right?
The question is: will usb dac & charge work at the same time if I connect dock to low level usb power cable? e.g. if I connect dock to car charging adapter?

We unfortunately do not have a USB dac to test this.

Yes i can confirm that using a usb dac with smart dock obviously does work.
The only thing that does not work as it was said before is the dock audio jack.
My dack is my best workaround solution so far.

MHL + Power Adapter not Charging Device

So I recently got a MHL/OTG adapter off of ebay. The HDMI out and usb ports seem to work no problem. My problem is that when connecting my charging cable to the MHL hub my device isn't getting any power. I have no indications of my battery % going up. That means if I were to stream a movie onto my TV it would work fine but I would run out of battery fast. Does this seem like there's something wrong with the MHL adapter? Is my samsung battery charger not strong enough? Any help with this is greatly appreciated. I have done a bit of research on this and found mixed answers.

Actually... That's normal... An otg adapter puts your device into "power output" mode so it can power a flashdrive or other storage device... So the input/charging mode gets turned off.
Plugging your charger into the hub helps power the external devices so they don't kill your battery so quickly...

No. MHL 3 is meant to charge in parallel. Works on mine. It charges at 700mA only though, pretty slow. You can check the current by Synapse App + Skyhigh Kernel. I think you can configure higher charging rates as well(didn't try). MHL 3 is speced for 2A current.

Yeah... MHL works that way... But the OP says it's also an "OTG hub off ebay" .... So were not just talking about a straight MHL adapter... If it's an OTG hub triggering OTG mode on the tablet... Then it won't charge and it's not suppposed to.

xmilar said:
So I recently got a MHL/OTG adapter off of ebay. The HDMI out and usb ports seem to work no problem. My problem is that when connecting my charging cable to the MHL hub my device isn't getting any power. I have no indications of my battery % going up. That means if I were to stream a movie onto my TV it would work fine but I would run out of battery fast. Does this seem like there's something wrong with the MHL adapter? Is my samsung battery charger not strong enough? Any help with this is greatly appreciated. I have done a bit of research on this and found mixed answers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, I also have a MHL/OTG adapter like yours (MHL/OTG/Card Reader) MHL-HDMI works flawless but OTG doesn't.
A USB pendrive that works flawless with an OTG cable it doesn't recognized in the hub while MHL>HDMI it's working.
@xmilar can you please post the link to the MHL/OTG adapter you bought and while yours not charge, are MHL+OTG working simultaniusly?
Thanks!

I've looked into MHL adapters for my Tab S 10.5 and LG G3 but it would require multiple cables and if I replace either or both items and the new item uses a different MHL, I would have to spend more money. I ended up just buying a Chromecast that does the same thing and wirelessly. Best $30 I spent

Hello, I ve bought an MHL adapter, the one with usb connector to charge the tablet when using the mhl, anyway nothing is working. The tablet doesnt charge, and shows 2 times the following : HDMI Connected, then after one second HDMI disconnected, two times. On my Sony phone works with no problems. I have skyhigh kernel and stock rom.

Probably it's not MHL 3?

Sorry for the late reply, if is not MHL 3 why is it working on my Sony Z1 compact with 4.4.4 rooted also.

If the adapter works on a Sony device then its probably based on a standard micro USB connector. According to the wikipedia entry for MHL newer samsung devices use a propriety 11 pin micro USB connector for MHL. There is mention of a "tip" to adapt between 11 pin and 5 pin, perhaps you could buy one of these?

[Q] Samsung smart dock doesn't fully work on s4,Has anyone encounter issues using it?

Hi all
I recently bought samsung galaxy smart dock from aliexpress it was available for $ 35 dollars at the time of purchase.Basically It was samsung smart dock for note 2.On description it was mentioned that it would work with s4 and note 3.I tried using dock on galaxy s4 I9505 but none of the usb ports are working, tried many usb,mouse,keyboard none of them work.I have been experimenting with the dock but only hdmi is working.The phone recognises the dock and when connected it switches to dock mode but doesn't responds to any usb device. Have tried changing data cables and chargers and still not working.
Am I missing any stepstep in using dock,Is smart dock faulty or is this fake smart dock?
I have attached the picture of the dock.

I'm having problems too.
The HDMI on mine works but if I plug anything in the USB ports then the HDMI will flash on and off. If I use mine with mouse and keyboard plugged in but use the screen on the phone (nothing plugged in to HDMI) they work fine. Not sure what to do. It is as if there is not enough power to run all of it.

I have a smart dock and ran into the same trouble. I found that if i plugged in the USB devices before I docked the phone the usb would work great. I have tried a USB keyboard with additional USB ports, a USB mouse, and a wireless USB keyboard/touchpad combo. All have worked fine. I hope this helps.

Hello. I have those... my s4 no charging. Everytin is ok. But not chargin very well

walter2 said:
The HDMI on mine works but if I plug anything in the USB ports then the HDMI will flash on and off. If I use mine with mouse and keyboard plugged in but use the screen on the phone (nothing plugged in to HDMI) they work fine. Not sure what to do. It is as if there is not enough power to run all of it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Use geninue samsung charger of 2000 ma. Either the one that was supplied by the phone or the one that came with the smart dock.Try changing data cables.Samsung data cables are little thicker than ordinary cables.
The problem with my smart dock was that it had one broken pin of front connector,that pin was bend when I inspected closely . So I bought another one and all usb,hdmi and charging function is working at same time.I tested using usb 4 gb,keyboard and mouse. Then I plugged speakers and connected to tv .All function were working.:

ErisDroid? said:
I have a smart dock and ran into the same trouble. I found that if i plugged in the USB devices before I docked the phone the usb would work great. I have tried a USB keyboard with additional USB ports, a USB mouse, and a wireless USB keyboard/touchpad combo. All have worked fine. I hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The problem with my smart dock was that it had one broken pin of front connector,that pin was bend when I inspected closely . So I bought another smart dock and all usb,hdmi and charging function is working at same time.The dock works no matter in which order you use it.I found on the new one that you can plug keyboard, mouse or any usb product before of after putting phone,all works flawlessly.

I had a Smart Dock a while ago and had to return it because after some minor issues with the device not charging, hdmi not working... that usually only needed reconnecting it stopped working, and that happened after having used it few times, I have the feeling they have low build quality. I suggest you try to return it and get other solution.

I got refund from the seller on aliexpress.I came to know that smart dock was itself faulty and it was a copy of original galaxy smart dock.
The connector pin that was bended inwards and was not broken I fixed it later by adjusting the pin with needle and came to know it was not only the issue.I came to kow that if any pin is broken inside connector,Phone will never recognize the dock.In my case phone was recognizing the dock just the dock itself was not responding to any usb device.
The smart dock still then didn't worked although my phone goes to dock mode when connected.Only hdmi and charging works.I returned the product. and bought another one from ebay which is working flawlessly now

I have this dock, I actually bought it from Samsung.com and for some odd reason ended up paying a total of $175usd for it ._.
(original price was $100, shipping ended up as another $30, and then it was wrongfully seized by costumes which nothing short of demanded $45usd or else they confiscate it, I could appeal but that would take ~six months and ... I will face storage charges meanwhile...... which is complete BS.)
As for its functionality:
This thing, on my i9505 works like charm, no need to do any sort of voodoo like putting the USB devices before plugging the device, I simply plug anything I want in any order I want, external 2TB HD? no problems, Logitech G500 mouse? yep, a Filco USB keyboard? aha, 48" SmartTV ? yep.
Everything works, the device "kicks in" some kind of "docking station mode" and everything works from there.
However: this "docking station mode" cannot be avoided or escaped and only apps that show up in it work (stock browser\gallery\mp3\calendar\alarm clock) .. and it works with a small delay, like as if the mouse sits behind a time delay of ~200ms, you know, just slightly faster than 1\4 of a second, same goes for the keyboard, video however plays at the same time was on the phone but UI animations are slightly slowed (both on phone and external display)
This delay is making the overall expriance to be very bad, I can only imagine that the note 2\s3 must feel even slower.
I also have the other simpler adapter that only goes to the power adapter\HDMI (Samsung's as well, from another order, originally bought it for my old n7000\note 1), with that thing the UI is just as slow, everything works essentially the same... video plays wihout issues ETC
What I found out is that with the dock station you cant use any micro-usb extension cable (so that .. the S4 could be used with an extended battery case [or just any non generic thick case]) but with the HDMI adapter it does work (also the female USB adapter, the one that allows you to plug a single device such as thumb-drive\mouse\keyboard - does work with extended micro usb cable)
And last observation:
When using the Sony Expria Z3 Compact (comes with Snapdragon 801) with the Samsung HDMI adapter... it works PERFECTLY, super fast, no delays, UI smooth, and all apps (Everything, really) is accessible... even Blizzard's new Android Hearthstone game... everything, meanwhile the S4 is sluggish as hell and super unfun to use :\
Oh and no phone other than Samsung's works on the docking station, not even old Samsung note 1 (tried nexus 5, lg g2, lg g3, galaxy s1, expria z3 compact, galaxy s2 - only the S4 worked with the dock)

samXLR said:
However: this "docking station mode" cannot be avoided or escaped and only apps that show up in it work (stock browser\gallery\mp3\calendar\alarm clock) .. and it works with a small delay, like as if the mouse sits behind a time delay of ~200ms, you know, just slightly faster than 1\4 of a second, same goes for the keyboard, video however plays at the same time was on the phone but UI animations are slightly slowed (both on phone and external display)
This delay is making the overall expriance to be very bad, I can only imagine that the note 2\s3 must feel even slower.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
??? Settings>My Device>Accessories to turn off the 'docking mode'
Animations can be a bit sluggish because it's running at 30hz not 60hz like the standalone MHL 2.0 HDMI cable does. Samsung never released an updated version of this dock so I can only assume it wasn't a big hit. (And probably this is one of the reasons! Lack of a landscape support in the touchwiz launcher was a bit of a thumbs down aswell)
I had some problems with HDMI output after a while and initially thought the dock at fault but replacing the usb port in my S4 solved all problems. After about a year of use, dust and grime and crap tends to mess them up. Had the same situation with the S2. Gone past the 2 year point now with my S4, so probably due to replace the port again.
Having a mouse and keyboard plugged in, automatically turns off the device screen, but the touch stills work if you need to do a 'pinch' gesture or similar.
Any full sized S or Note phone after the S3/Note 2 should be compatible with this dock. I had it work for S3 and 4 and Note 2. Not had any others to try them out though. The Note 1 and S2 are only MHL 1.0 so they don't work and I've tried the S4 mini, it won't actually fit, the port on the phone is a slightly different shape (?!)

dave106 said:
??? Settings>My Device>Accessories to turn off the 'docking mode'
Animations can be a bit sluggish because it's running at 30hz not 60hz like the standalone MHL 2.0 HDMI cable does. Samsung never released an updated version of this dock so I can only assume it wasn't a big hit. (And probably this is one of the reasons! Lack of a landscape support in the touchwiz launcher was a bit of a thumbs down aswell)
Any full sized S or Note phone after the S3/Note 2 should be compatible with this dock. I had it work for S3 and 4 and Note 2. Not had any others to try them out though. The Note 1 and S2 are only MHL 1.0 so they don't work and I've tried the S4 mini, it won't actually fit, the port on the phone is a slightly different shape (?!)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the explanation and feedback Dave =),
The S5 works just the same as an S4, the S4 Active with its inferior specification surprisingly works exactly the same too, furthermore I even tried two other flavors of the S4 (the Verizon version, the 9505 and the 9500) all operates the same.
However, the S6 does not work at all with the dock, regardless of my efforts.
Additionally, during my attempts I found out that if you use a micro USB extension cable (mine was only 2" in length) the dock wouldn't work, I tried using it so I could have the phone laying flat on a table instead of sitting inside the dock (reason was actually due to having an extended 7k battery on one of the above S4s and didn't want to remove it just to fit the phone in the dock ... ended up having to do so as ..... yeah, extension cable = not even charging from the dock)
Oh and with all of the devices that I used with the dock: their screen remind turned on and was displaying a mirror view of the external HDMI screen, unlike what you reported (touch working and no visual cue?)
In my opinion this device, the dock station, is almost as big of a fail as Samsung's wireless keyboard for their SmartTV line ... that doesn't (don't laugh) actually support any of their smart TVs (and does work on any BT enabled android/IOS/windows/linux device, just not on their own TVs despite actually having all the special buttons of their remotes) beyond that point, there's the fact that the keyboard's integrated touchpad is complete garbage (unlike say... Logitech's wireless keyboard's touchpad ...)

Use it correctly...
i have the same dock and all ports work fine. you only have to connect the the charger IN THE PORT and THEN insert the HDMI or USB.

car tablet required... suggestions please

so i compete in a car audio budget limited class in the UK
i am looking for a hens tooth i think
so my requirements are ideally 7-8" tablet with usb ideally c so i can use my usb c hub with a topping D10 dac and also use usb audio player pro to get bit perfect output from the tablet via the topping D10, along with insert usb sticks in the hub to play music from (i have a usb extension lead to a panel mount socket on the centre console so i can hide the hub
under 150 if possible, but if the usb c causes grief at this price point i can go to micro usb as long as the device supports charging and otg at the same time
so far i have tried a galaxy tab a 10.1 t510 which did work, but was a bit too big, i have also tried a lenovo tab 4 plus 10" and this also works with my u green hub and the topping D10, however both were too big and i wanted a more compact tablet
i also had to modifiy the wiring to the hub with a relay on the power side of it to prevent the hub draining the battery while the tab is in standby overnight
so i then have in my possesion a amazon 8 hd plus... how simple is it to make something that works? so if i plug my hub in i can get music from the topping into the car, if i plug the charger into the hub i cant get the tablet to charge (sort of although it was very slow if working at all) via the hub like the samsung and lenovo do.... if i unplug the hub and plug it back in it then charges and i cant see the topping... i did kind of find a solution, if i plug a micro usb charger into the hub with a wireless charger on the end and connect the topping the topping makes sound, and also then position the wireless charger at the rear of the tablet i can get sound and also charge... however it didnt seem to want to go past 42% so i suspect the amazon is going to be a fail and get returned, its ideal at 110 quid or whatever it cost
i understand most samsungs with micro usb will actually charge and otg at the same time, so a tab a 8" 2019 would be a solution i think... but now ive bought 3 tablets and an ipad (these do solve my issue but i need an ipad mini 2 16gb without a knackered lightening port... got one off ebay that wouldnt charge already... but they do give bit perfect output but cant use a usb stick for music input... hence the android tablet still appealing)
any suggestions for my requirements are welcomed!
basically 7-8" devices with usb c that will work with my hub, or micro usb that support otg and charging at the same time
for daily use i will also use my iphone XR 256gb into a second topping D10 as i can then get bit perfect tidal stuff, and store it on the device as signal can be hit or miss around my way

Lenovo Tab M8 OTG + Charging

I picked up a Lenovo Tab M8 from walmart (Part number: ZA5C0045US). It comes with a small dock that charges the table via a two pin connector.
I was trying to set this up with an OTG cable so that I can attach a high end sound card. I notice that once I plug the OTG cable, the tablet stops charging via the dock. It's like OTG and charging is not allowed at the same time.
I also tried making my own OTG + charging cable (with a 10K resistor between the ID pin and ground), but it seems that the OTG function will not work unless the ID pin is grounded. I know that other devices allow for OTG + charging when the ID pin has a resistor to ground with a certain value.
Is there a way of finding out if lenovo tablets allow this? If so, where can I go an find out what type of resistor value this tablet will detect as allowing the function of OTG + charging?
Also, this tablet is rooted. Is there a software based solution like my old Nexus 7 (2013) where you could enable OTG + charging?
I've been at this for a couple of days now, so any help is greatly appreciated.

Hi,
Have you had any progress on this? I would like the same function.
Doing some reading though. I think a 10k resistor is too low, normally seen 64k or 100k

Hi, I just signed up to leave a reply here. I also was looking for a replacement for my slightly outdated Nexus 2013 in my car and stumbled upon this thread. So got a used M8 (TB 8505F ZA5G0038SE) and gave it a try.
With a 10k (measured 9.8k) resistor between ID pin and ground, OTG and charge works perfectly, without changing anything in software. With a 2A charger, battery charging is pretty slow, but the battery doesn't drain while using navigation and music (contrary to the Nexus )
So, for me it is a quite good solution.

Thank you for the info guys
I also have a TB 8505F and needed this function in my car.
For me the 10K resistor works, now it both charges and I can use my accessory (OBD2 reader)
Before this I tried a 100K resistor and that did not work so I had started to give up.

Just an update, maybe someone needs the info: I tried to make a second Y-OTG-cable with the same components, and it didn't work. Charging went on and off, no otg function. I decided to play again with the resistor values and it worked again with 12.9k. Maybe there is a certain range, which the second cable was slightly out of.

Hi All, i just bought the same tablet for similar purpose and i was wondering if when the cable is built using the 10k-12.9k resistor, i can still use the docking station that it comes with>? has anyone tried it out like this?