Android Dock API, source code, etc released

[Joe Born]

Hi Everyone, been a while since there's been activity on here.  Most of my time these days has been towards Sonr (actually a spinoff of Neuros FWIW).

Here's the schtick

This email is to announce the launch [1] of an SDK and developer
version of the Android speaker dock, along with developer bounties.
Now, we all know that speaker docks are one of those nearly invisible,
commoditized billion dollar categories that have about as much sex
appeal as a paper shredder. You might wonder why a developer would be
interested in this category. We believe there are two big reasons:

1. Smartphone docks are the shared Internet music entry point for
mainsteam homes.  None of their more glamorous cousins have a fraction
of the penetration that speaker docks have.  They  are simply the
easiest, least expensive means to get Internet music to the home, and
every indication is that they will remain so.

2. Nailing “casual interactivity” is a fundamental to bringing the
richness of Internet music to mass adoption in living rooms and
kitchens.  And that’s true for all product configurations, not just
the dock.  Pandora with no interactivity is only marginally better
than FM radio, and requiring interaction with a touchscreen for ALL
interactivity alienates too many listeners in too many important use
cases.  Getting the humble remote control right for Internet audio is
the key to unlocking a lot of pent up demand.

It is true that many geeks resist being separated from their phones,
but overall, over half of all smartphone users regularly dock or plug
in their phones at home.  We targeted our first reference designs at
speaker docks because we wanted to directly target mainstream users
with an inexpensive, accessible category that could make the most
impact in the shortest amount of time.  If we’re relegated to
nightstands for early adopters, we feel it’s enough of a base to build
from over time.

The product and SDK just became available today [2],  any feedback is, of course, appreciated.

Thanks,

Joe

Joe Born
m: 773-442-2676
www.sonrlabs.com

[1] http://www.sonrlabs.com/2012/05/25/why-we-started-sonr/
[2] http://www.sonrlabs.com/developers/

--
Joe Born
Neuros Technology Intl., LLC 
twitter: http://twitter.com/neurostech
jb...@neurostechnology.com
IRC:  #neuros (freenode.net)

[Roger Calver]

Hi Joe,

Thanks for the email and just a note to say Im back into developing since my long time off.

Rog.

On 12/06/2012 18:03, Joe Born wrote:

Hi Everyone, been a while since there's been activity on here. �Most of my time these days has been towards Sonr (actually a spinoff of Neuros FWIW).

Here's the schtick

This email is to announce the launch [1] of an SDK and developer
version of the Android speaker dock, along with developer bounties.
Now, we all know that speaker docks are one of those nearly invisible,
commoditized billion dollar categories that have about as much sex
appeal as a paper shredder. You might wonder why a developer would be
interested in this category. We believe there are two big reasons:

1. Smartphone docks are the shared Internet music entry point for

mainsteam homes. �None of their more glamorous cousins have a fraction
of the penetration that speaker docks have. �They �are simply the

easiest, least expensive means to get Internet music to the home, and
every indication is that they will remain so.

2. Nailing �casual interactivity� is a fundamental to bringing the

richness of Internet music to mass adoption in living rooms and

kitchens. �And that�s true for all product configurations, not just
the dock. �Pandora with no interactivity is only marginally better

than FM radio, and requiring interaction with a touchscreen for ALL
interactivity alienates too many listeners in too many important use

cases. �Getting the humble remote control right for Internet audio is

the key to unlocking a lot of pent up demand.

It is true that many geeks resist being separated from their phones,
but overall, over half of all smartphone users regularly dock or plug

in their phones at home. �We targeted our first reference designs at

speaker docks because we wanted to directly target mainstream users
with an inexpensive, accessible category that could make the most

impact in the shortest amount of time. �If we�re relegated to
nightstands for early adopters, we feel it�s enough of a base to build
from over time.

The product and SDK just became available today [2], �any feedback is, of course, appreciated.

Thanks,

Joe

Joe Born
m:�773-442-2676
www.sonrlabs.com

[1]�http://www.sonrlabs.com/2012/05/25/why-we-started-sonr/
[2]�http://www.sonrlabs.com/developers/

--
Joe Born
Neuros Technology Intl., LLC�
twitter: http://twitter.com/neurostech
jb...@neurostechnology.com
IRC:� #neuros (freenode.net)

--
FOR REALTIME DISCUSSION GO TO IRC #neuros on freenode
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[Jeremy Coleman]

Joe,

Thanks for the heads up! I am unable to visit the site right now, but will definitely be checking it out tonight from home.

 

I have been looking at the android dock offerings lately and trying to decide if I really have use for one. When all is said and done the ultimate answer is no for a couple of specific reasons.

1. They don't support control and interraction with the apps I want to use. It seems like the approach you are taking with SONR takes care of this which is one of the reasons I have been considering the digitial innovations dock over the offerings from Philips.

 

2. I don't need another set of speakers! Many people listen to their music in the bedroom, or have counter space for a dock in their kitchen, I am not one of those people. The primary places that I want a dock already have stereos that I like with auxiliary inputs. I need(want) a dock that fully supports all of my apps via an ir interface my wife can use with a harmony remote, but has an aux out instead of builtin speakers and amplifier. Also for something like this to be practical it obviously needs to be compact and look nice in order to obtain the WAF (Wife Approval Factor).

 

That said I will see what sort of a developer deal you've got going on and maybe I can finally justify the purchase! If I bite on the speaker dock I'm not going to kick myself later when your kickstart goes live am I? ;)

[Joe Born]

That's great news, I'm delighted you're back!

On Jun 12, 2012 12:11 PM, "Roger Calver" <rogerc...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Joe,

Thanks for the email and just a note to say Im back into developing since my long time off.

Rog.

On 12/06/2012 18:03, Joe Born wrote:

Hi Everyone, been a while since there's been activity on here.  Most of my time these days has been towards Sonr (actually a spinoff of Neuros FWIW).

Here's the schtick

This email is to announce the launch [1] of an SDK and developer
version of the Android speaker dock, along with developer bounties.
Now, we all know that speaker docks are one of those nearly invisible,
commoditized billion dollar categories that have about as much sex
appeal as a paper shredder. You might wonder why a developer would be
interested in this category. We believe there are two big reasons:

1. Smartphone docks are the shared Internet music entry point for

mainsteam homes.  None of their more glamorous cousins have a fraction
of the penetration that speaker docks have.  They  are simply the

easiest, least expensive means to get Internet music to the home, and
every indication is that they will remain so.

2. Nailing “casual interactivity” is a fundamental to bringing the

richness of Internet music to mass adoption in living rooms and

kitchens.  And that’s true for all product configurations, not just
the dock.  Pandora with no interactivity is only marginally better

than FM radio, and requiring interaction with a touchscreen for ALL
interactivity alienates too many listeners in too many important use

cases.  Getting the humble remote control right for Internet audio is

the key to unlocking a lot of pent up demand.

It is true that many geeks resist being separated from their phones,
but overall, over half of all smartphone users regularly dock or plug

in their phones at home.  We targeted our first reference designs at

speaker docks because we wanted to directly target mainstream users
with an inexpensive, accessible category that could make the most

impact in the shortest amount of time.  If we’re relegated to
nightstands for early adopters, we feel it’s enough of a base to build
from over time.

The product and SDK just became available today [2],  any feedback is, of course, appreciated.

Thanks,

Joe

Joe Born

m: 773-442-2676
www.sonrlabs.com

[1] http://www.sonrlabs.com/2012/05/25/why-we-started-sonr/

[2] http://www.sonrlabs.com/developers/

--
Joe Born
Neuros Technology Intl., LLC 

twitter: http://twitter.com/neurostech
jb...@neurostechnology.com
IRC:  #neuros (freenode.net)

--
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[Joe Born]

The kickstarter will go off on Thurs so no harm in waiting for that! But if you really want one let me know and I'll take care of you.

I wish we had an audio pass through on the dock but that feature got cut.:

--

[Jeremy Coleman]

Alright Joe, you've got me suckered into one, I went ahead and ordered it! I'll still be looking forward to the kickstart on Thursday!

[bmc]

A handful of questions to Joe and you all:

1. Did the kickstarter ever get kickstarted?

2. Any updates on the bounties?  Pandoroid, for example, among others...

3. Taking audio out from the USB would be huge.  USB OTG mode and audio out is supported on a handful of devices even now (Nook Color, for example as far back as Gingerbread/CM.  Also stock Galaxy S2.  And stock Note, And...).  And it is announced as standard across all devices for Android 4.1. (*) Looks like some existing android docks dodge this by just using bluetooth.  Given a choice between bluetooth A2DP from inches away (it's docked, after all), and plugging in the 2nd audio cable, you have to be aware folks will go for the perceived simplicity of no 2nd cable (even if many folks struggle with BT pairing).

4. FYI, Today's Thingfling is the AS140 Android dock for ~$50.  A product in the same space which has chosen to go bluetooth rather than audio cable.  And has a nice connector setup.

5. Here's a dock for the Note that provides a 3.5mm audio out jack, solely from the microusb docking.  Don't know if they're playing HTC-like tricks with extra pins, but I doubt it.
  http://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/cell-phones-accessories/EDD-D1E1BEGSTA

6. Many new android devices are supporting MHL.  That really seems an ideal route - take the digital audio, and inject your remote commands using the MHL/RCP.  Ignore the video stream.  Your dock just becomes a headless, audio-only HDTV using the MHL standard.

(*)
http://www.head-fi.org/t/616552/android-4-1-supports-usb-audio-out
http://www.head-fi.org/t/604479/good-news-about-android-phone-supports-digital-audio-output

[Dan Fandrich]

On Tue, Jul 03, 2012 at 04:18:29PM -0700, bmc wrote:
> 3. Taking audio out from the USB would be huge. USB OTG mode and audio out is
> supported on a handful of devices even now (Nook Color, for example as far back
> as Gingerbread/CM. Also stock Galaxy S2. And stock Note, And...).

Nook Color, at least, doesn't do audio over USB. It uses a nonstandard
connector with extra pins that provide analog audio.

>>> Dan

[bmc]

Nook Color does do audio over USB.  It supports full USB host mode.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1459892

• Audio Output
  If your device doesn't require special drivers , and recognized as a USB Audio on your PC - It should work
  Testimonials : Logitech DAC A-5572A | Beresford TC-7520SE Caiman | FiiO E7

Galaxy Note does the same (via true OTG, so the cable switches it rather than software), as do many other devices.

Some devices *also* have a cheap "put a special resistor across two pins, and it goes into dock mode and puts out analog audio".  But that appears to differ quite a bit between devices when it even exists...

If you wanted to support as many devices as simply as possible, I'd think sticking with USB-OTG and a DAC in the dock would be the way to go.

Doing it the other way might be cheaper than having a DAC (?), but more complex (programmatically setting the resistance for different devices? Some devices may not even support the funky analog audio dock mode). 

Whereas all devices that have USB-OTG & Audio support work the same.  And as of Android 4.1 is becoming even more standardized.

  - Brian

[Dan Fandrich]

On Sat, Jul 07, 2012 at 10:32:03AM -0700, bmc wrote:
> Nook Color does do audio over USB. It supports full USB host mode.

I'm talking about the stock firmware. If you're going to void your
warranty, you're on your own!

>>> Dan