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Google engineer writing Amazon reviews on USB-C cables that don't work

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Re: Google engineer writing Amazon reviews on USB-C cables that don't work

#191

Post by miahi »

InclinedPlane wrote: post #109
BHSPitMonkey wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who also owns and recommends several Anker products, I do have a counterexample: A microUSB cable I bought about a month ago has gotten it's locking pins stuck in the retracted position somehow, and no longer secures itself inside the port. Not a common case, of course, but they're not infallible.

That's the standard failure mode for a lot of the monoprice micro-USB cables, it's annoying as hell.

As I remember, this is by design - better to have the cable break than the socket (as it was with miniUSB).

Re: Google engineer writing Amazon reviews on USB-C cables that don't work

#192

Post by Eiriksmal »

noobermin wrote: post #6
Albright wrote: post #2

…And on ones that do. Looks very useful for weeding out actual quality from the muddle. Would love to see someone doing this kind of work with other types of cables, too.

Reading the headline, it sounded like astroturfing. Instead, he's being helpful and providing some very useful information from his experience as an engineer from google itself. What a thoughful fellow!

For sure! This review[0] was particularly interesting. The vendor wrote back a nasty response about how their cables are tested at, and capable of delivering, 5A of juice--which is the point. The USB A device on the other end could get smoked.

Mr. Leung responds by painstakingly pointing out everything they have to do to fix their cables.

[0] http://www.amazon.com/review/R2DQ7OH7PQG24F/ref=cm_aya_cmt?i...

Re: Google engineer writing Amazon reviews on USB-C cables that don't work

#193

Post by baddox »

DiabloD3 wrote: post #66

I see no reason why to buy anything but Anker. I once tried to purposely destroy an Anker MicroUSB cable (bought a 5 pack that had three 3ft, one 6ft, one 1ft, didn't need the 1ft), by grabbing the head of it with clamping pliers and yanking the fuck out of it with the cable wrapped around my hand, and bending it to near 180 degrees repeatedly for about 5 minutes. I could not kill it without straight up taking wire c…

Anker's support seems great too, with a sample size of one. I had one their larger USB battery packs, and it had a problem where it would turn off the juice after a few minutes every time I plugged a device in. I submitted a claim through their support website (which, admittedly, is pretty bad) and they mailed me a new one. I don't even have to return the old one, not that it's usable anyway.

Re: Google engineer writing Amazon reviews on USB-C cables that don't work

#194

Post by x0x0 »

eloisant wrote: post #128
radiorental wrote: post #25

What I find interesting here is that Benson is essentially using his employer as a reputation guarantor. I guess depending on the company's HR that could fall either way of a) This is great, we're getting nice PR b) Mr Benson, we need to have a quiet word about what it is you do here and what Google is not in the business of. Really interesting. edit: I assumed this is part of his job. I just find the publishing of t…

Actually this post explains why he's doing that: https://plus.google.com/+BensonLeung/posts/LH4PPgVrKVN It kind of makes sense: he worked on products that use USB-C (Pixel laptops), but if the market is littered with bad cables USB-C will have a bad image which will be bad for the products he worked on. So what he's doing is in the interest in his employer, and for the benefit of the products he worked on. He's not d…

If only there were some way for google to get high quality usb-c cables to customers! Like not charging $13 plus shipping for a 1m cable (a ridiculous profit margin), and keeping them in stock. Or hell, throwing 5 of them in with everything they sell that uses usb-c. I mean, that would have to cost dollars. Whole dollars, on a $500 phone!

https://store.google.com/product/usb_type_c_to_usb_standard_...

Re: Google engineer writing Amazon reviews on USB-C cables that don't work

#195

Post by digi_owl »

mdlowman wrote: post #124

Reading the reviews, it looks like there's basically one complaint. Ports/devices with older connectors (USBA, mini-B, micro-B, B) aren't necessarily going to be able to (or supposed to be able to) handle a 3A current draw. A device that supports USBC should handle current draws this high. But to do so, it must be able to determine if it is safe to draw this much current. That's only doable with a USBC->USBC connecti…

Well that explains it, as i have yet to get up to speed with the C stuff. I do recall though that older stuff should have a resistor in the charger itself to note if it is a charger port or not (if it does not have the electronics to do proper handshake on the data pins).

Sadly Apple have a variant of that floating around, resulting in confusion and devices that can do 500mah to anything, and 2400mah to Apple devices. Or anything if you fake them out via rigged cables etc, giving us the monstrosities called "charge only" cables.

Re: Google engineer writing Amazon reviews on USB-C cables that don't work

#196

Post by ohitsdom »

fpgaminer wrote: post #83

The current rhetoric when it comes to the failings of online reviews is to point at fraudulent reviews. I posit that, rather, it's the lack of weighting reviews by the expertise of the reviewers. Clearly the reviews of a hardware engineer at Google should have more weight to them than an average consumer (on products like this), because as bkmartin points out, the average consumer has no idea as to the true quality o…

That's why I clicked on each of his reviews and marked them as helpful. That way they will sort to the top.

Ideally this will happen on every product review page, as other readers recognize an educated review and mark it as helpful accordingly.

Re: Google engineer writing Amazon reviews on USB-C cables that don't work

#197

Post by rzzzt »

mikestew wrote: post #62
whistlerbrk wrote: post #11

Why two star reviews instead of one for the cables that fail to meet the spec? Does Amazon / do people view 1-star reviews as bitter / exaggerated? Are they less visible?

Personally, I filter out one and five star reviews. To me, five stars means when you use the product, Jesus appears before you. One star means I ordered a cable and received a dead crab instead (pretty sure there's an XKCD that covers the last one). But others don't agree with my rating system, so "ordered blue, but it was robin egg blue. Werst company evar!!!11" means one star. Five stars means "I work for the compa…

You might be thinking of https://xkcd.com/325/.

Re: Google engineer writing Amazon reviews on USB-C cables that don't work

#198

Post by at-fates-hands »

radiorental wrote: post #25

What I find interesting here is that Benson is essentially using his employer as a reputation guarantor. I guess depending on the company's HR that could fall either way of a) This is great, we're getting nice PR b) Mr Benson, we need to have a quiet word about what it is you do here and what Google is not in the business of. Really interesting. edit: I assumed this is part of his job. I just find the publishing of t…

I actually had the same reaction. He has a vested interest in pushing specific vendors that work well with his employers products.

This means because of his reputation (Google engineer) it's easy for him to dismiss one cable manufacturer and support another while getting some form of a kickback either directly or indirectly from said manufacturers.

Sure, he's doing his job, but he's also in the position to pick and choose winners. As such, I would discount his advice based on the possible bias towards products that could possibly line his own pockets.

Re: Google engineer writing Amazon reviews on USB-C cables that don't work

#199

Post by mattcrox »

thomaslutz wrote: post #136
DiabloD3 wrote: post #66

I see no reason why to buy anything but Anker. I once tried to purposely destroy an Anker MicroUSB cable (bought a 5 pack that had three 3ft, one 6ft, one 1ft, didn't need the 1ft), by grabbing the head of it with clamping pliers and yanking the fuck out of it with the cable wrapped around my hand, and bending it to near 180 degrees repeatedly for about 5 minutes. I could not kill it without straight up taking wire c…

I just had to deal with a defective Anker Cable after 5 months.

Interesting, me too (4 months) - the charge will cut in and out randomly, although looking at the cable it seems to be in perfect condition still. Makes playing music through my car's USB port a challenge, as it's rare to be able to play more than two songs in a row without a disruption. Disappointing.

Re: Google engineer writing Amazon reviews on USB-C cables that don't work

#200

Post by radiorental »

vidarh wrote: post #149
radiorental wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand the rationale, but isn't the current s.o.p. to ship a good cable with the product? "if the market is littered with bad cables USB-C will have a bad image which will be bad for the products he worked on." I don't buy this tail wagging the dog argument. Sorry.

I don't see why shipping a good cable with the product makes a difference. My house is full of USB chargers, because I want to be able to charge multiple devices several places in the living room as well as our bedrooms. Then there's the portable battery packs etc. One cable per device is insufficient for a lot of us.

Then you create a list of recommended cables. You don't bury that data in amazon reviews - if that's the intended purpose of releasing this information
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