The Replug might be the audio pogo pin connector the Nexus (and other devices) is missing
As you might know, the Nexus is one of few devices that has external metal connectors designed to connect to spring loaded metal “pogo pins” on docks, allowing you to make the connection without plugging in anything the traditional way. These pins don’t support audio in the traditional way though, which makes it a pain to create any docks that do audio as easily as power, at least without using additional, expensive hardware. If you have to plug in a headphone plug manually, the convenience of the pogo pin system quickly goes out the window.
A few years ago, I reviewed a headphone adapter called the Replug over at our sister site, Anything but iPod. It’s an adapter that uses a similar concept to pogo pins combined with a physical interlock system to create an adapter designed to break away cleanly if the headphone cord is pulled, thus potentially saving the headphone jack on the device from damage. The thing is that if you remove the physical interlock, you essentially have an aftermarket audio pogo pin system that works on the exact same principles: Line it up in the dock, and you’re done.
Since you would disable the interlocking mechanism in the plastic part of the adapter, the plug going into the device would still be intact. This would allow you to use the Replug system like it was meant on your headphones, have a dock where the connection is made as soon as the device is in the dock, and just leave the Replug plug in the device when not in use, serving as a dust protector. It’s not jus the Nexus that would benefit from this, but any other device as well.
Unfortunately, the Replug company seems to have gone almost dormant over the years. I wish it would wake up again and expand into microUSB cables, as I would really want a Replug I could leave in my Galaxy S II’s microUSB port at all times. Until that happens though (probably never), at least there’s the audio adapter to play around with.
