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The Broken Promise of USB-C: We'll Never Get a Universal Cable

theatlantic.com

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Re: The Broken Promise of USB-C: We'll Never Get a Universal Cable

#11

Post by PopAlongKid »

gabrielsroka wrote: post #9
PopAlongKid wrote: post #6

>Incredibly, its mice will still charge dead-cockroach-style, flipped on their back. I don't understand this comment in the article. What is incredible about that? I mean, I could turn my notebook or smartphone over and it would still charge the same, what's the big deal? >This situation is worsened by the fact that many manufacturers now ship devices without a charging brick. Which ones (so I can avoid them)? I just…

My Google Pixel 7 came with a cable but without a charger. I think that's the standard now, if not the law in some places.

I should have been clear that I was referring to notebook computers coming without a brick.

Re: The Broken Promise of USB-C: We'll Never Get a Universal Cable

#12

Post by grouchomarx »

naruhodo wrote: post #7
PopAlongKid wrote: post #6

>Incredibly, its mice will still charge dead-cockroach-style, flipped on their back. I don't understand this comment in the article. What is incredible about that? I mean, I could turn my notebook or smartphone over and it would still charge the same, what's the big deal? >This situation is worsened by the fact that many manufacturers now ship devices without a charging brick. Which ones (so I can avoid them)? I just…

I have a rechargeable, wireless mouse. It's not fruit-branded. The thing about my mouse is that when the battery gets low, I can just connect it to my laptop with the charging cable and continue working. It's much more convenient than quitting for the day, and cheaper than buying a second mouse.

charging the magic mouse for two minutes will give you weeks of battery life

Re: The Broken Promise of USB-C: We'll Never Get a Universal Cable

#13

Post by lm28469 »

maxerickson wrote: post #4

USB-C has already been a huge improvement, so the article lands kind of flat. Maybe they were heavily invested in stuff with lightning ports or something, so they didn't notice 5 years ago when everything else started to consolidate.

Meh, I was more or less forced to buy a USB c only pixel phone, for my headphones to work I had to buy 4 dongles in 6 months so far, one worked but had constant static noise in the background, one straight up didn't work, one died after 3 weeks, I'm now using an apple dongle which works fine excepts it only outputs 50% of the volume on android so in a lot of places it's just not loud enough

And yes I refuse to buy e waste bluetooth headphones that cost 5 times the price of wired ones, kill the battery 5 times faster and have to be trashed every other year because of glued/soldered tiny ass batteries

Re: The Broken Promise of USB-C: We'll Never Get a Universal Cable

#14

Post by TheBozzCL »

lm28469 wrote: post #13
maxerickson wrote: post #4

USB-C has already been a huge improvement, so the article lands kind of flat. Maybe they were heavily invested in stuff with lightning ports or something, so they didn't notice 5 years ago when everything else started to consolidate.

Meh, I was more or less forced to buy a USB c only pixel phone, for my headphones to work I had to buy 4 dongles in 6 months so far, one worked but had constant static noise in the background, one straight up didn't work, one died after 3 weeks, I'm now using an apple dongle which works fine excepts it only outputs 50% of the volume on android so in a lot of places it's just not loud enough And yes I refuse to buy e…

That’s why I bought myself a portable headphone DAC. I went for the Qudelix 5K. I can turn any headphone into a bluetooth headset, or connect them via USB-C or Lightning with the right cables.

Re: The Broken Promise of USB-C: We'll Never Get a Universal Cable

#15

Post by ryandrake »

grouchomarx wrote: post #12
naruhodo wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a rechargeable, wireless mouse. It's not fruit-branded. The thing about my mouse is that when the battery gets low, I can just connect it to my laptop with the charging cable and continue working. It's much more convenient than quitting for the day, and cheaper than buying a second mouse.

charging the magic mouse for two minutes will give you weeks of battery life

The point is that a peripheral device should not be unusable while it’s charging, whether that charge takes two seconds, two minutes, or two hours.

I can’t think of any other recent electronics device that cannot be used while charging.

Re: The Broken Promise of USB-C: We'll Never Get a Universal Cable

#16

Post by Valgrim »

politelemon wrote: post #3

> Some, like Apple, say they do this for ecological reasons. But more cost-conscious manufacturers do so to save money, I had wondered if the author might be drinking a little too much apple juice, this was the line that confirmed it. No, they all do it for cost reasons, only one happens to spin marketing around it which you take at face value (if it were even remotely true, you wouldn't see the markup or immense was…

Not sure what functionality is not covered by current cables. Both my laptop and phone, which are several years old, use the usb-C connector for power, data, video, audio, and combined with a hub can connect to any usb peripheral out there.

Sure, the weird triple-split usb-c connector that came with my son's cheap walkie-talkies from Amazon doesn't do all that. But I don't expect it to, and it will at least charge my phone if I plug it, and that's the primary usage I want for this cable.

Re: The Broken Promise of USB-C: We'll Never Get a Universal Cable

#18

Post by hu3 »

grouchomarx wrote: post #12
naruhodo wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a rechargeable, wireless mouse. It's not fruit-branded. The thing about my mouse is that when the battery gets low, I can just connect it to my laptop with the charging cable and continue working. It's much more convenient than quitting for the day, and cheaper than buying a second mouse.

charging the magic mouse for two minutes will give you weeks of battery life

unnecessary limitation

if it was a cheap chinese tier 3 mice that would still be debatable

let alone overpriced hardware

Re: The Broken Promise of USB-C: We'll Never Get a Universal Cable

#19

Post by RecycledEle »

USB-C adoption will take time.

I can imagine a day, 10 years from now, when I only carry an IEC power cable,a 2-prong power cable, a Cat 7, 8, or 9 Ethernet cable,a HDMI cable with a couple of adapters, and a few USB-C cables.

If we keep improving USB-C cables like we have Cat cables, and keep them at 28 V, 5 A power delivery, with power meters on at least one connector, I'll be happy.

Re: The Broken Promise of USB-C: We'll Never Get a Universal Cable

#20

Post by RecycledEle »

amanaplanacanal wrote: post #17

My nemesis is the "charge only" cable. I plug it in and can't figure out why my devices won't connect.

Do yourself a favor.

Get a cable tester.

Test every cable and cut up/throw away the ones you do not love.

Then order more really good ones than you can justify and keep them handy.

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