901–910 of 1001 posts
inb4 the next iphone has no ports, and the excuse they give involves being waterproof or something
That would be foolish, wireless charging is far too slow to replace cables anytime soon.
What's interesting is that nearly all of my recent electronics purchases have used USB-C. Headphones, thermal printer, neck-cooler, rechargable screwdriver - all USB-C. What's weird are the few things which don't. Amazon Alexa use a barrel charger. Brand new HP printer has the old square style USB plug. Pulse Oximeter user micro-USB. So C is certainly getting there. Appearing in cheap and expensive products. And, I'm…
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Creating a spec that people don’t want, can’t, or can’t afford to adhere is a failure. I don’t recall ever seeing prior USB devices fail at adherence. The problem is that USB C is a massive spec with a lot of things that aren’t always needed in it (display, pd, high data speeds etc). You can either design your product to implement a lot more things (eg Macs) or skimp out and cause confusion (Switch). By breaking the…
Or maybe Nintendo just decided that they didn't care. I really don't see how any technical specification could be expected to physically prevent everyone in the world from deliberately implementing it partially or incorrectly. I don't doubt that USB-C might be technically complicated and confusing compared to alternatives and predecessors, but I find it very difficult to believe that Nintendo engineering gave it thei…
I'm sure that's not it. I'm sure it was
"Hey product manager. We can launch in 6 weeks if this port accepts power and connects to a dock, or 36 weeks if we need to conform to standards in section 17, subsection 5 part 41.2B of standard 1120 on European code B7"
"what does get us"
"Nothing, we don't need those features. Also it'll add $25 to the bill of materials"
"ignore it then, we want to launch sooner and increase our margin."
A lot of people saying "USB-C cables aren't even compatible with each other!" (Nintendo switch etc.) Guess what: that's exactly the problem this regulation is intended to solve. Fake USB-C cables like Nintendo's that have the right shape but do not adhere to spec should gradually disappear along with lightning cables. The regulation actually says that cables can no longer be bundled with the devices themselves, so Ni…
1. Cables have radically different capabilities - they may charge at 60W, 100W or 240W ; they may be limited to 480 mbps transmission rates or go all the way up to 40 gbps transmission. Up until now, the market has not regulated such that you can tell the difference when you grab a random cable, or necessarily tell the difference at time of purchase
2. Devices like the Nintendo Switch and Raspberry Pi shipped with broken implementations. For instance, the RPi would not work with cables that _supported_ over 60W charging rates.
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This argument would sound less hollow if there weren’t two existing superior (from a user experience perspective) alternatives already on the market. Apple’s Lightning (thinner than USB-C) and MagSafe (safer than USB-C for charging laptops… so glad Apple is transitioning back to it for M2 Airs)
Lightning cables don't last. They are a complete disaster. And that's not even considering how a little bit of dust can prevent your device from charging at all, and lightning ports are a complete dust magnet. But the best argument against "what about lightning?" is the fact that Apple themselves don't use it on their higher powered devices like macs, and use USB-C instead.
I had 2 Google Pixels before with USB-C and both died because dust would accumulate around the center thingy and it was impossible to clean. The center thingy actually became loose on my second Pixel and the connector wouldn’t hold in place anymore.
I have since switched to an iPhone and I think the lightning connector stays remarkably clean. It’s also easier to clean because it doesn’t have the center piece of USB-C connectors.
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This argument would sound less hollow if there weren’t two existing superior (from a user experience perspective) alternatives already on the market. Apple’s Lightning (thinner than USB-C) and MagSafe (safer than USB-C for charging laptops… so glad Apple is transitioning back to it for M2 Airs)
Lightning isn't as fast as USB 3.0 (which USB C cables should support), and can't supply as much power as USB-PD (which, again, works over USB C cables)
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Or maybe Nintendo just decided that they didn't care. I really don't see how any technical specification could be expected to physically prevent everyone in the world from deliberately implementing it partially or incorrectly. I don't doubt that USB-C might be technically complicated and confusing compared to alternatives and predecessors, but I find it very difficult to believe that Nintendo engineering gave it thei…
> I find it very difficult to believe that Nintendo engineering gave it their best shot and simply couldn't manage to do it correctly. I'm sure that's not it. I'm sure it was "Hey product manager. We can launch in 6 weeks if this port accepts power and connects to a dock, or 36 weeks if we need to conform to standards in section 17, subsection 5 part 41.2B of standard 1120 on European code B7" "what does get us" "Not…
I wish EU standardizes a single electric socket for all EU countries. Germany, France, Switzerland and Italy - each has a different socket (although German and French are very similar to each other). More here: https://www.plugsocketmuseum.nl/EuropePlugsSockets.html
1. The C plug was fine. It doesn't carry more than 10A, and that is fine because it does not support grounding, so it would be unwise to use it for very powerful appliances, but it's well enough for bed lamps and phone chargers.
2. We Italians are famous for finding half-assed solutions to problems, so instead of developing a decent plug we just shoved a ground prong on the C type plug, so the 10A L connector was born.
3. Given that 10A plugs can only carry AFAIK a maximum of ~1500W, the 16A L connector was created as a chunkier version of the 10A one.
4. Given this whole nonsensical situation, companies catering to the EU single market largely ignore the L connector. Every single device sold in Italy either uses the C type ungrounded connector (Europlug) or the E/F "Schuko"-French combo connector.
5. Italian houses have either 10A plugs WITH 10A WIRING or 16A plugs (usually with combo 10/16A plugs, have I mentioned the two sockets are incompatible despite both being L?). This means that F "Schuko" adapters to L are a common fixture in Italian homes.
6. People buy devices with F plugs, which they then have to plug into their sockets using adapters. Adapters can either adapt to 16A plugs, or, unfortunately, to 10A, which is extremely dangerous given that Schuko is a 16A connector and 10A plugs often do not have the proper wire gauge for that. The fact that no Schuko adapter supports nominally over 1500W doesn't help either.
Long story short: Italian homes are full of high power devices, such as microwave ovens, air friers, hairdryers, kettles, ... plugged in 10A wall sockets through adapters that do not allow more than 1500W of power. It's absolutely stupid and moronic. Yes they get hot. Yes they are a hazard.
The solution would be to mandate everywhere the C/F/L combo socket in new buildings, but given that 16A wires are more expensive and the Italian government has been historically extremely pro-business, it will never happen.
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I don't see why "What about innovation?" is taken seriously as an argument anyway. USB-C is more than adequate, we could coast with it for the next hundred years. Nobody is kept up at night by the lack of innovation in AC power plugs, the standards countries have settled on today, while not all equivalent, are all generally satisfactory in practice. Problem solved; stop fixing that which ain't broke and move on to ot…
This argument would sound less hollow if there weren’t two existing superior (from a user experience perspective) alternatives already on the market. Apple’s Lightning (thinner than USB-C) and MagSafe (safer than USB-C for charging laptops… so glad Apple is transitioning back to it for M2 Airs)
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According to this regulation, it seems devices and cables must be clearly marked as for what they can do.
The only comment I could see in the article on that topic is this: > the EU simply said that "consumers will be provided with clear information on the charging characteristics of new devices, making it easier for them to see whether their existing chargers are compatible. Which is super disappointing, as the person who wrote TFA clearly didn't read anything other than the press release. The actual supporting document…