Cow. Chicken. Bell.

I recently got a Motorola DROID, and let me tell you, I love this thing. I purchased the media dock for it and noticed that it uses a magnet to switch the Droid into dock mode.

Playing with a magnet I noticed that the Droid has a sweet spot just above the battery where if you place a magnet it will automatically go into either media or car dock mode, depending on the polarity of the magnet. This means that you can easily build your own or modify existing mounting hardware to automatically switch the Droid into your desired dock mode.

Read on for how I modded the Accessory Power FlexSmart Mount to act as my Droid car dock.

[More:]

First I needed a suitably small magnet. I cut open an old BlackBerry case and removed the magnet. It turns out they just use a small magnetized washer in these cases, which means that it is low profile and hence easy to incorporate in a car mount.

Next I found the sweet spot on the Droid and figured out which side of the magnet caused the Droid to switch into which mode. I made sure to mark the side launching car dock mode so I would be able to mount it right side up.

The magnetized washer on the Droid's sweet spot

Now it was time to modify the car mount.

FlexSmart mount before modification

I measured the correct position on the mount and, using an exacto knife, cut a hole the diameter of the magnet into the rubber backing, then superglued the magnet in place.

Dock with embedded magnet. Note the top clamp cushion has been shortened to avoid it pushing on the camera button of the Droid.

Here is a short video showing the Droid changing into car dock mode once inserted into the modified mount:

One final note, modifying the mount may void the warranty of your mount.