So I found one of the Neocell 2G’s old docks and immediately put it to good use.
I did the same thing with the iPhone 2G dock that I did with the iPhone 3G / 3GS dock. I covered all connectors and spray painted it a tan color and also spray painted a protective paint coating on. Here’s the result. (It was raining when the pictures were taken, and these pictures were taken with an iPhone 3G.)
Looks pretty tight, right? But I didn’t stop there. This presented another problem. Before the Neocell 4, the dock could be used for my wife’s iPhone, my mother’s, my best friend’s, etc. When they road with me and wanted to charge their 3G or 3GS iPhone’s, no prob. I’d just take the Neocell 3GS off the dock and drop theirs in.
But now I can’t. Only iPhone 2G’s and iPhone 4’s can work in this dock. And ain’t no one I know has an iPhone 2G, and I’m the only one that has an iPhone 4 (I feel so special, haha) so that means this dock is exclusive to only me.
Man, I don’t want that. I want everyone to be able to dock into the Lexus. I knew people had successfully “modded” iPhone docks to work with other models of iPhones, but the result was HORRIFIC. I mean **** right fugly.
Man, I ain’t puttin some fugly thing into the Lexus.
I’m pretty skilled with a Dremel, so I figured I’d give it a shot. I had a Hong Kong knock off iPhone 3G / 3GS dock that didn’t work, so I decided to see if I could modify it clean enough to pass as a clean, non fugly dock. If I could on this dock, I’d try it on one of my OEM Apple 3G / 3GS iPhone docks. But…
The plastic couldn’t hold up. As you see, it didn’t turn out right. If the very front could stay in tact, this would have worked. I would have coated the “new inside” with it’s own wall-type structure, painted it and that would have worked as it would fit all generations of iPhone.
But it didn’t. The front chipped apart under the stress of having the inner curved parts surgically removed with my Dremel.
So I decided to on something better. I decided to install a second iPhone dock into the Lexus, and this one would be for 3G and 3GS iPhones.
I did the same thing as I did for the iPhone 2G / 4 dock, I masked off all protective areas (including speaker port holes) and painted it black and then sprayed on a protective coating. Check out the pics. (These pics were also taken while raining, but taken with the Neocell 4.)
As you can see, the dock blends in perfectly with the glove box (the little “white” you see on the dock is the reflection of light). The sync cable’s pretty noticeable, but if the white against black keeps annoying me, I’ll order a black sync cable. I’m leaving the cable lose and not hiding or installing it into the interior anywhere so that if someone, such as my wife, wants to use her iPhone while charging it, the cable be unplugged easily (and just as easily, plugged back in).
But that’s not the best feature of them all. Check out the video (recorded with the Neocell 4)…
As you can see, I installed it in such a way that the glove box can actually CLOSE while an iPhone’s sittin’ on the dock charging. I mean, that’s some groovy-*** **** there.
So yeah baby, I’m happy now to have two docks in the Lexus.
Oh yeah baby. Check it. I’ve sold the Neocell 3GS and I’ve ordered an iPhone 4 32GB from AT&T. I ordered it yesterday, 08/25/2010 and according to FedEX, it’ll be delivered tomorrow, 08/27/2010! Wow, that is some fast *** delivery.
I had to order it online from AT&T instead of heading down to pick one up because all places are sold out of iPhone 4 32GB in Tampa, FL. Months after the iPhone 4 debuted, it’s still in such high demand that they’re still are on backorder. The Apple Store here in Tampa gets iPhone 4’s in almost every day, but not many 32GBs and you have to stand in line for over an hour. An Apple store employee told me wait times have been about two to three hours, and you have to come in first thing in the morning. I ain’t standin’ in line at 8 or 9 in the morning every day and wait to see if there’s even any 32GB iPhones.
I avoided ordering from apple.com or from the Apple store because I’ve read report after report of people ordering from Apple and having it take two to three weeks to ship, where AT&T only takes 4 to 5 business days on average. In my case, it may only be 3 days!
So I’m crazy excited about getting an iPhone 4, but it won’t instantly become the “Neocell 4″. Just like when I designed the Neocell 2G and Neocell 3GS, this will just be an iPhone 4 until I customize it with 24K gold, baby.
I’ve been working on the design. I’ve been trying to incorporate wood into the design like I did with the Neocell 2G and Neocell 3GS. This time I want the chrome Apple logo to show like it did with the Neocell 2G’s design. With the current design I’m planning, I don’t have any options for wood plating. I really want gold plating, but the new design of the iPhone 4 changes things.
So here’s what the current design is set to look like. With the image, I’ve created it so that it looks like gold plating with white vinyl text (“Neocell 4″) and have an Invisible Shield over it all (which I rendered the look into the image). I’m going with a dragon design that encompasses the chrome Apple logo. I chose to order a black iPhone so that it would have a good contrast with the gold.
Something new I’ll be adding will be vinyl text that says “Neocell 4″. I think this’ll be a great addiction because this design isn’t really as noticeable compared to the other two designs, and with the lack of wood, this vinyl text will really make “The Neocell” look all that much more professional and unique. Normally, the vinyl text would get messed up and would fall apart within a few days or weeks, but because the Invisible Shield will already be on there to protect the 24K gold, it’ll also protect the vinyl.
The one problem is with the top part of the gold design blocking the LED flash of the camera. So I plan to modify the gold so that, as you can see in the image, the LED flash will be right neatly aligned to the gold design but completely unblocked.
It’ll take a few weeks to get the design done. Once I get the gold plating installed, it’ll officially become the “Neocell 4″ and I’ll post images. I can’t wait.
Why’em I sellin’ the Neocell 3GS? Because I’m getting a new AT&T account (I’ll explain later) and, with it, an iPhone 4.
It should be interesting to see the outcome of this auction, considering the results of the last auction. I’d love it if the Neocell 3GS went to one of my readers like the Neocell 2G.
The Neocell 3GS is still rockin’ it and lookin’ sexy as ever. In fact, it’s much better than what it was before.
I removed the wood and gold plating from the front. The gold and wood plating on the front was perfect. But I had to keep it protected, so I used an Invisible Shield on the front. The Invisible Shield caused a problem, because of the “levels” between the gold to wood to glass caused there to be bubbles in the Invisible Shield. That caused cleaning problems and caused problems with the smooth “feel” of the iPhone. So I took it off and realized it was much better plain on the front.
The back gold and wood plating was great, but the Invisible Shield on the sides annoyed me. So I made a custom shaped Invisible Shield for that back that only covered the back plating perfectly, so that the sides still feel nice ‘n’ smooth.
I don’t have a design plan for an iPhone 4 yet. Not really sure what I’d do. I’m gonna’ continue with the whole “gold” theme. Just like with the Neocell 3GS, I’ll get the iPhone 4 and then decide on what to do with the design.
RT @Pogue: New iPod Touch: Retina screen (4x resolution), A4 chip (same as iPhone), front-facing camera with FaceTime, rear HD video cam. www.twitter.com/johnBbaird
One thing I love in the morning is staying in bed, reading an eBook on my iPhone 4, drinkin' soda and bein' close to my sleeping chick. JbB www.twitter.com/johnBbaird
So for those of you that remember, last year 
