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EU reaches deal to make USB-C a common charger for most electronic devices

engadget.com

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Re: EU reaches deal to make USB-C a common charger for most electronic devices

#61

Post by causi »

vanattab wrote: post #45
causi wrote: post #31

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.

Yeah. Type c is worse then micro or mini in this regard but still no where as bad as type A. I can't tell you how many USB cables I have thrown away because office chairs have run over the ends.

The only advantage with type A is that it's large enough you can use a set of flat pliers to straighten it out. Type-C is nearly impossible to do that with.

Re: EU reaches deal to make USB-C a common charger for most electronic devices

#62

Post by PinguTS »

plonk wrote: post #40
PinguTS wrote: post #33

Everybody 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.

You haven't brought any of those cheap Chinese cables, haven't you?

I have such cables, which can't be really used for charging as well as for fast data transfer. They are good for my development hardware kits, I have. Because those kits don't have any high power requirements. But I cannot use them to power my notebook.

Re: EU reaches deal to make USB-C a common charger for most electronic devices

#63

Post by bigDinosaur »

jl6 wrote: post #35

I 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.

It's probably worth noting that iPads and Macbooks charge with USB-C, and that seems generally fine.

Re: EU reaches deal to make USB-C a common charger for most electronic devices

#64

Post by throw0101a »

Nextgrid wrote: post #20
stewx wrote: post #11

Earlier 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…

> I understand the complexity for data, but for power I wish it was as simple as power & ground wires and that's it.

The minimum requirements are that you have to support the USB 2.0 protocol:

> While BC1.2 is still supported over USB Type-C because it depends on the USB2.0 lane, a significantly simplified and higher power current capability mechanism is also implemented. This simplified approach involves resistor pull-down/ pull-up relationships. These pull-down/pull-up resistors are connected to the CC wire and the upstream facing port (UFP) must monitor the voltage on the CC1 and CC2 pins in order to detect the current sourcing capability of the down- stream facing port (DFP) it is connected to. This is a substantial improvement over the complicated handshake mech- anisms involved with USB BC1.2.

> The basic USB Type-C current capabilities are Default USB (500mA for USB2.0 and 900mA for USB3.0), 1.5A@5V, and 3A@5V.

* https://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/en/appnotes/00001953a.pd...

Re: EU reaches deal to make USB-C a common charger for most electronic devices

#65

Post by JumpCrisscross »

2000UltraDeluxe wrote: post #18
lekevicius wrote: post #14

As a European, I'm very happy. USB-A has been with us for over 20 years. It's only disappearing because of USB-C, and USB-C seems to have room to grow. I wouldn't be surprised if it will still be the most popular connector in 2035, and not just because "legislation stops innovation". Making sure there are no weird exceptions to a very good port is reasonable and good.

The idea's nice. I'll still have about 30 unusable micro-USB chargers lying around, though.

This almost certainly prompts a USB-C iPhone followed by a portless one. (I don’t think they’re thin enough yet for USB-C to be structurally compromising.) In the box will either be no charger or a wireless charger with a USB-C port, thereby technically meeting the requirement.

Re: EU reaches deal to make USB-C a common charger for most electronic devices

#66

Post by lm28469 »

frizlab wrote: post #37
lm28469 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It's a long term plan for a universal system. The benefit is very clear, just a few days ago a friend asked to charge his iphone at my place, I don't own lightning cables, everybody owns ubs-c cables

Re: EU reaches deal to make USB-C a common charger for most electronic devices

#67

Post by mrjin »

Oh well. I just returned 3 USB-C hubs in a row, one almost fried my computer. Since the introduce of USB-C, I have more cables than ever. There are virtually so many types of USB-C cables with different capabilities and all looks almost exactly the same. Some cannot handle charging current of 2A or less. Some might be able to do 3A, some maybe 5A. And some of it is USB 2.0, some are USB 3.x 5Gbps, 10Gbps, 20 Gbps or maybe even 40 Gbps. Some have DP-Alt mode, some don't. It's simply a random combination of any of the previous stuff. I wish I had read the specs and labeled them correctly. Now I have a whole bunch of them and I cannot tell which can do what except very few long thick ones for my monitors.

Re: EU reaches deal to make USB-C a common charger for most electronic devices

#68

Post by chenzhekl »

Just curious. If there is a seemingly better connector emerged in the future, could vendors experiment it on new devices on their own? Or do they have to first submit a proposal to the regulator and then deploy it to the device after the proposal has been accepted? I am afraid that the latter could harm innovation.

Re: EU reaches deal to make USB-C a common charger for most electronic devices

#69

Post by kalleboo »

frizlab wrote: post #37
lm28469 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

They sell 1 TB iPhones that shoot 4K ProRes video. It also has terrible quality when used for video out connecting to a TV for e.g. a presentation. Lightning is wholly inadequate for modern devices.

There's a reason they've transitioned most of the iPads to USB-C.

Re: EU reaches deal to make USB-C a common charger for most electronic devices

#70

Post by pmontra »

Youden wrote: post #26
baisq wrote: post #3

No more innovation: USB-C or else.

What innovations are ruled out by mandatory use of the USB-C connector? It supports more power and data than a mobile device is ever really likely to need. All that's left is the physical form factor and I'm not sure there's a lot of room for improvement there, especially enough to justify the tons of electronic waste.

I try to be devil's advocate with a sci-fi bullshit: a five seconds supercharger with a laser over a fiber optic cable (to keep the beam confined and not to burn stuff.)
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