241–250 of 482 posts
It would be better if EU regulators asked Apple to open their Lightning cable standard so other phone vendors can use it. I very much like Apple’s implementation of their charging cable because it uses less space on the device.
Why would the other phone vendors switch to a different connector though?
As someone that deeply detests Apple and would never give them money, I will admit the lightning connector is superior in durability, inspectability, and safety than USB type C in virtually every way. The real crime here is that Apple insisted on patenting the design and keeping it for only themselves, forcing the rest of the industry to adopt an inferior connector and ultimately force it on them too. Classic Apple.
It's sad that it took legislation to make this happen, but I can see why. I worked in a pseudo-Apple-store during the height of the 30-pin dock connector and I sold so many cases, speaker docks, charging cables, and all sorts of weird accessories that were built for the 30-pin connector. Then Apple switched to Lightning. It was better in every. single. way. And yet people got burnt. There was so much hardware that wa…
I'm generally not a fan of the EU mandating technical decisions, but for me personally, Lightning connections have always been really low quality. Since my iPhone was about a year old, it often won't recognize a new Lightning cable that's plugged in, I have to unplug and re-plug it several times. Or it will charge for a minute and then suddenly think it's disconnected. Or you will bump it slightly and it thinks it's…
> I'm generally not a fan of the EU mandating technical decisions How do you feel about California mandating emissions standards for vehicles?
WA got rid of emissions testing because almost every single car passes, and it’s actually a net increase in carbon emissions to keep the bureaucracy around. That money could be spent on carbon capture or solar subsidies instead.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Nothing can fix the stupidity of USB-C cables, though What is the stupidity of USB-C cables? Honestly don't know, simply not up on USB or cable technology
There’s an oft-repeated complaint that they are too versatile
We replaced trying to figure out which plug fits in which of the many ports we have, with trying to figure out which identical-looking cable will do what we want when we plug it into the single kind of port.
This is arguably still an improvement at least for some people, but does suck.
I'm generally not a fan of the EU mandating technical decisions, but for me personally, Lightning connections have always been really low quality. Since my iPhone was about a year old, it often won't recognize a new Lightning cable that's plugged in, I have to unplug and re-plug it several times. Or it will charge for a minute and then suddenly think it's disconnected. Or you will bump it slightly and it thinks it's…
> I'm generally not a fan of the EU mandating technical decisions How do you feel about California mandating emissions standards for vehicles?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> existing industry standards appear to suffice reminder: lightning came first , because the industry couldn't get its shit together and agree on a successor to micro-b, despite acknowledgement of the shortcomings. lightning is the pcie 8-pin in this comparison: you may not like the technical limitations it imposes, but, it works well enough that you can build products around it. So why impose a change to The Current…
> legally outlaw the Apple standard. Apple "standards" are DRM proprietary stuff, I would not dare to call it a standard.
oh right "Apple bad, barely even a standard!!!"
Sorry if it sounds frustrated but this just isn't a very interesting tangent, either you or the throwaway coward. It's still a standard even if you don't like the licensing terms or the feature set/implementation/etc. Stop being pedantic, it's not interesting, it's not even technically correct, it's just tedious.
Terminal HN brain in action.
Anyway: much like HDMI, the licensing dollars of hundreds of companies and the worldwide adoption % says that it is a standard, even if a for-profit entity controls it, and even if you don't like the features/licensing. If you're going to be pedantic and tedious, at least be correct, nothing in Webster ever mentions that a standard has to be controlled by an industry body or names USB-IF specifically.
Again though, this is a ridiculous tangent that people are doing to avoid actually addressing the core point about the obvious parallels between USB-C and a new ATX power connector.
I must be the only person on HN who thinks the lightening port is better than USB-C.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I'm more cynical in my interpretation of Apple's motives: I think they just wanted those licensing dollars They've switched every other non-iPhone device to USB-C. The more plausible interpretation would be that they don't want to piss off a core constituency of customers who've built up 10 years of Lightning cables. The number of people who care about standardizing on USB-C are definitely less than the vocal folks…
> Nothing can fix the stupidity of USB-C cables, though What is the stupidity of USB-C cables? Honestly don't know, simply not up on USB or cable technology
Compare to lightning, which AFAIK is indestructible, and lint can easily be cleaned out of the phone port with a toothpick.
I'm sure people more knowledgeable than me will have other facts as well.