I wish USB-C was more robust, or at least had the option of being more robust. I miss not being scared of accidentally stepping on my laptop charge connector and crushing it flat. I'd pay good money for a type-C un-flattener.
EU reaches deal to make USB-C a common charger for most electronic devices
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Re: EU reaches deal to make USB-C a common charger for most electronic devices
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
The issue with the Nintendo Switch is that Nintendo designed their own faulty USB-C charging implementation rather than merely using the reference design. It's not a failure of the spec, it's a failure to adhere to the spec. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16706803
It's still not a great spec if it's so complex that you can screw it up. I understand the complexity for data, but for power I wish it was as simple as power & ground wires and that's it. Compare that with USB-A where even cheap Chinese cables from the lowest bidder usually work (work well enough at least - you might get voltage drop but it will still charge if you leave it on long enough) because the spec is so simp…
Power and ground wires alone don't cut it sadly when you're dealing with much higher wattages. There needs to be a level of negotiation between the host and the charger to decide on a specific power (current & voltage) that both can support.
In USB-A this was accomplished through a hodge-podge of different resistances applied across data lines, not officially part of the standard but just done by manufacturers. USB-C is a huge improvement on this.
I do agree however that the cable-labelling situation is awful. Maybe some kinda tier system could help. Every charger, cable and device could have a class. The charging rate is the lowest of the three. E.g. a "Class 5 cable will charge up to 200 watts and has a pink end". If you pair that with a Class 2 charger (say, 50 watts) and a class 3 laptop (100 watts) you'll be limited to charging your laptop at 50 watts.
Re: EU reaches deal to make USB-C a common charger for most electronic devices
#33Everybody who is frenetically celebrating this as the end of the manufacturer-specific power brick, does simply not know that USB-C is not USB-C. There is no single USB-C.
USB-C is a bunch of specifications that may can be combined or may not. USB-C is only the physical connector. USB-C PD (Power delivery) does support many different modes. There are at least 11 different modes with at least 4 of them are optional. I haven't read the latest version of the specification, but I would bet that there are optionally also some implementation-specific options aka manufacturer-specific. All that combined with the many different cable definitions for the different use cases, makes it for the average consumer a nightmare.
Re: EU reaches deal to make USB-C a common charger for most electronic devices
#34No more innovation: USB-C or else.
It's not restricting to only USB-C. You can go beyond that with new innovations, but you need to maintain compatibly with it.
Re: EU reaches deal to make USB-C a common charger for most electronic devices
#35I want to like this, but I charge my iPhone with a cable that has lightning on one end and USB-C on the other, and I know from extensive direct experience that the lightning end is the better physical design.
Supporting this is tantamount to believing that there will never need to be a USB-D that improves upon USB-C, and I just can’t believe that.
Re: EU reaches deal to make USB-C a common charger for most electronic devices
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
The issue with the Nintendo Switch is that Nintendo designed their own faulty USB-C charging implementation rather than merely using the reference design. It's not a failure of the spec, it's a failure to adhere to the spec. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16706803
And how am I supposed to know that when looking at a device that has a USB-C port for charging, and the instructions on the charger [0] say "Nintendo Switch can be charged by plugging the AC adapter into the console's USB Type-C connector." [0] https://store.nintendo.co.uk/en_gb/-nintendo-switch-power-ad...
You are not supposed to, but it seems to me that the blame is on Nintendo, not with USB-C.
Re: EU reaches deal to make USB-C a common charger for most electronic devices
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
Except for the millions of lightning cable already in prod?
So no more innovation either ? if we can't move out of existing tech because they're still in production
It wasn’t needed. There are no benefits of usb-c over lightning for the usage it has. It’s not an evolution it’s a change.
Re: EU reaches deal to make USB-C a common charger for most electronic devices
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
The issue with the Nintendo Switch is that Nintendo designed their own faulty USB-C charging implementation rather than merely using the reference design. It's not a failure of the spec, it's a failure to adhere to the spec. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16706803
And how am I supposed to know that when looking at a device that has a USB-C port for charging, and the instructions on the charger [0] say "Nintendo Switch can be charged by plugging the AC adapter into the console's USB Type-C connector." [0] https://store.nintendo.co.uk/en_gb/-nintendo-switch-power-ad...
By trying, returning the device (ouch for the shop), and then complaining to your local enforcer of Radio Equipment Directive (ouch for the manufacturer).
Re: EU reaches deal to make USB-C a common charger for most electronic devices
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
The issue with the Nintendo Switch is that Nintendo designed their own faulty USB-C charging implementation rather than merely using the reference design. It's not a failure of the spec, it's a failure to adhere to the spec. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16706803
It's still not a great spec if it's so complex that you can screw it up. I understand the complexity for data, but for power I wish it was as simple as power & ground wires and that's it. Compare that with USB-A where even cheap Chinese cables from the lowest bidder usually work (work well enough at least - you might get voltage drop but it will still charge if you leave it on long enough) because the spec is so simp…
>It's still not a great spec if it's so complex that you can screw it up.
People and companies can screw thing up royally regardless of spec complexity when there's no review/oversight involved. That's not a valid argument.
If you want to force and check adherence to a spec you need to involve certification authorities (TÜV, SGS, UL, etc.) but then widget prices would increase dramatically.
Edit: to address the child comments below: who gets to be the judge of the complexity of the spec? If Nintendo fucked it up but some EE students can get it right through side projects on github, does that make the spec complex or does that make Nintendo incompetent (lacks a HW review/qualification process)?
The spec could be as simple as "white wire goes to positive terminal, black wire goes to negative terminal" and there's still the chance of an implementation fuckup in the design pipeline, especially in large projects/companies with distributed siloed teams like Nintendo due to poor internal communication, if there is no proper internal review/qualification process in the design loop.
Edit 2: I looked at the USB-C charging specs and they're easy enough to understand for any graduate EE and for any company who's had some basic experience with USB as a whole, let alone 100 year old multi-billion HW conglomerates like Nintendo.
IMHO, Nintendo's USB-C charging fuckup is 100% on them. I wish people would stop needlessly defending them here.
Edit 3: Also, what if Nintendo intentionally chose not to follow the spec in order to force the users to use and buy only original parts from them? Either way, incompetence or malice, you really can't blame the spec here.
Re: EU reaches deal to make USB-C a common charger for most electronic devices
#40Everybody who is frenetically celebrating this as the end of the manufacturer-specific power brick, does simply not know that USB-C is not USB-C. There is no single USB-C. USB-C is a bunch of specifications that may can be combined or may not. USB-C is only the physical connector. USB-C PD (Power delivery) does support many different modes. There are at least 11 different modes with at least 4 of them are optional. I…
I've never seen a USB-C cable that didn't charge all my devices with all my chargers. OK, maybe one that came with an HP screen and was clearly labeled as "data only".
I think this will make cables interchangeable in most cases. Fast charging and fast transfers are nice to have but rarely vital.