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I'm a USB-C Maximalist

shkspr.mobi

71–80 of 461 posts

Re: I'm a USB-C Maximalist

#71
post #3

Any recommendation for electric shavers that are USB-c ?

https://www.meridiangrooming.com/collections/trimmers more of a trimmer but this had an alright replaceable blade set up and has USB c. if you need the rotating heads I haven't seen one just yet though

Xiaomi has a few; I got their teensy travel one but more models: https://www.mi.com/global/product-list/personal-care/shaver/

Re: I'm a USB-C Maximalist

#72

I too am a USB-C maximalist, but with a handful of differences from OP: - You lose me at "toothbrush." I don't want personal care items that have internal batteries at all , because they'll eventually die on me while the device itself (brush heads notwithstanding) is otherwise perfectly functional. I'd much rather keep rechargeable AA(A)s on hand for that kind of stuff. (I still haven't found a good electric razor fo…

Why haven't phones just moved to have two USB ports? A slight convenience when you want to charge it in that you don't have to turn it around, you can have USB headphones and also charge, you could use more accessories...

I've needed 2 USB-C ports on one-port devices (phone, Steam Deck) a few times so I got this tiny 2-port hub with micro SD card reader (also has option for 3.5mm audio port instead of card reader): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DKV7JSHC?th=1 "Satechi USB C Mobile Hub, 4-in-1 USB C Multiport Adapter, 4K HDMI, 100W Pass-Through Charging, 10Gbps Data"

Re: I'm a USB-C Maximalist

#73

I would like the USB-C connector was more durable. I've literally never killed a USB-A connector, but enough lateral force and USB-C just breaks. I suppose it was made so small due to mobile devices, which is understandable, but came with tradeoffs.

Yep, I will say it’s not as bad a old USB-mini connectors but I’ve soured on USB-C after too many of them have broken on me (among other issues this thread covers well)

Some years ago I may have cheered on the pushes to get iPhones to use USB-C, but at this point I think lightning is a superior connector in that sense. I’ve almost never had one break off.

Re: I'm a USB-C Maximalist

#74

I too am a USB-C maximalist, but with a handful of differences from OP: - You lose me at "toothbrush." I don't want personal care items that have internal batteries at all , because they'll eventually die on me while the device itself (brush heads notwithstanding) is otherwise perfectly functional. I'd much rather keep rechargeable AA(A)s on hand for that kind of stuff. (I still haven't found a good electric razor fo…

Re. toothbrush, I have to take the opportunity to give Philips credit for the Sonicare electric toothbrushes they made ~15 years ago. That thing just keeps trucking, it’s incredible. I go on 2 week trips and don’t even bring the charger, and have no worries about it dying. It must have been crazy overspecced, I expected it to be a 5-year disposable piece of non-serviceable tech.

Ha I thought mine was on the verge of dying after a good few years of use (amazon reviews were all like, yeah it only lasted a two years), so I ordered a new one, but the old one keeps going so I keep the new one in reserve looming over it menacingly, and it just refuses to kick it lol.

Re: I'm a USB-C Maximalist

#75

I don't like USB-C because they all look the same on the outside, but they're not all the same on the inside. Especially my cheap consumer electronics. Sometimes they will charge, sometimes they won't charge, but all the cables look the same, and you don't tend to know in advance.

This is an acceptable failure mode. I'd be nice if there was a standardized LED flash or color that you could get so if your relative said something isn't working, you could ask, "Is it flashing three times?" or whatever.

The alternative is barrel connectors. If you plug in the wrong one, there's a decent chance that it a) won't work, or b) never work again.

Re: I'm a USB-C Maximalist

#76
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

See, I agree with this too. You wouldn't have to worry nearly as much about the random little things that are specific to just one device or another (IR blasters, the DAC on old LG phones, etc) if you could just plug in a second USB peripheral. But what I'm more getting at is the other way around: that wireless headphones will already have USB-C for charging anyway. And that, particularly for larger ones (that have t…

>so that, again, you could use the headphones while you charge them. Yes! And you could charge them off your phone! If I could dream: wouldn't it be nice if you had headphones with charging cables attached to them so that you never had to worry about losing them. And phones could have a convenient extra port for plugging such headphones into. Ah, one could only dream.

There are still wired options, though, right? I don't really miss them, the nostalgia is not strong enough to forget how often the damn cable would catch on something and try to rip the headphones off my head. Or the cord noise. I get that people do not like having to eventually replace a battery, but high quality wireless headphones are a nice upgrade IMO.

Re: I'm a USB-C Maximalist

#77
post #17

I agree with using a single ubiquitous power standard for small electronics and electrics. That’s almost what USB-C is these days. We need better labelling of cable capacities when there are 20w and 120w cables that at a glance look the same. I was afraid this article was going to say one connector for everything when it said maximalist. If it had said to kill eSATA, SPF+, RJ-45, DisplayPort, HDMI, 3.5mm audio, and a…

For many things, though, a barrel jack is sufficient and doesn’t require the additional cost and complexity of USB-C. Barrel jacks have their own problems (is it inner positive or negative, what current is required, what’s the diameter of the inner and outer rings), but after that it’s as simple as it gets, both electrically and mechanically.

Diameter, length, voltage...

Re: I'm a USB-C Maximalist

#78
> What are the chances that I could find the exact charger needed for a GameBoy Colour?

Fairly high. Nitpick time: The Gameboy Color[0] took a standard-size battery that you can still buy today. It did not need to be charged, but you did have to turn the system off to swap batteries unless you had a barrel-jack adapter.

Barrel-jack DC wasn't quite standard, but you might be able to find something compatible if you went to an electronics supply store and paid careful attention to the listed input voltage and polarity on the device. Regardless, most people didn't bother tethering their Gameboy and just fed it batteries since it ran forever on them.

The real proprietary hellhole started with the Gameboy Advance SP, and didn't end until the Switch used Type-C. Hell, the SP is basically a modern smartphone:

1. Proprietary form-fitting battery pack

2. Custom power input connector

3. No separate headphone output

Bonus points: the headphone adapter Nintendo sold for the SP didn't have a power pass-through, so you had to choose between headphones or charging. Though there are third-party ones now that do both headphone output and USB-C power input.

[0] No "u", not even in the UK

Re: I'm a USB-C Maximalist

#79

I too am a USB-C maximalist, but with a handful of differences from OP: - You lose me at "toothbrush." I don't want personal care items that have internal batteries at all , because they'll eventually die on me while the device itself (brush heads notwithstanding) is otherwise perfectly functional. I'd much rather keep rechargeable AA(A)s on hand for that kind of stuff. (I still haven't found a good electric razor fo…

Re. toothbrush, I have to take the opportunity to give Philips credit for the Sonicare electric toothbrushes they made ~15 years ago. That thing just keeps trucking, it’s incredible. I go on 2 week trips and don’t even bring the charger, and have no worries about it dying. It must have been crazy overspecced, I expected it to be a 5-year disposable piece of non-serviceable tech.

Another vote for the Sonicare.

Re: I'm a USB-C Maximalist

#80

I too am a USB-C maximalist, but with a handful of differences from OP: - You lose me at "toothbrush." I don't want personal care items that have internal batteries at all , because they'll eventually die on me while the device itself (brush heads notwithstanding) is otherwise perfectly functional. I'd much rather keep rechargeable AA(A)s on hand for that kind of stuff. (I still haven't found a good electric razor fo…

Re. toothbrush, I have to take the opportunity to give Philips credit for the Sonicare electric toothbrushes they made ~15 years ago. That thing just keeps trucking, it’s incredible. I go on 2 week trips and don’t even bring the charger, and have no worries about it dying. It must have been crazy overspecced, I expected it to be a 5-year disposable piece of non-serviceable tech.

I have a sonicare. great. The travel case it came with is actually an inductive charging case with a USB-A hidden inside ready to be unfurled.
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