USB audio/charging...?

[steeda763]

Can I build a microUSB cable for a Nexus 4 to get audio out and charging capability? I'm trying to break away from my iPhone 4, but I do enjoy being able to use it as my music and GPS device using one cable in the car, plus charge it at the same time.

I've scoured Google and several forums, and only found that people do this with Samsung phones, and wanted to know if it's applicable to all Android phones or not. Please, no BlueTooth-related suggestions; just looking for a definitive yes/no answer. Thanks in advance!

 

[JunBringer]

I've looked into it quite a bit too and found that you can't do usb audio from the Nexus 4. You'd have to use the headphone jack and the usb port to charge unfortunately.

 

[SiempreTuna]

That's a bummer! My car has a standard AUX port, but some of the same model have USB cables. I'd just assumed that a USB cable would work if my car had one!

 

[steeda763]

Yeah I think that's a huge setback to not even have at least digital audio out. I like Android and I want to like the phone. Damn!

 

[JunBringer]

Galaxy S and Galaxy Note phones have it though so it's definitely possible on Android. I'm hoping the next Nexus gets on the ball with this.

 

[SiempreTuna]

Google really dropped the ball with audio: not having a standard for earphone controls and not supporting audio via USB basically mean that the huge peripherals market there is around the iPhone is impossible with Android.

I'm sure one reason people buy into Apple is that everything these days gets labelled is iPhone Compatible. You could NEVER have an Android Compatible label because there is no Android standard so nothing could be compatible more than a handful of Android devices.

Really: what were Google thinking?