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I'm a USB-C Maximalist

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Re: I'm a USB-C Maximalist

#111

Post by timc3 »

qurren wrote: post #97
chaosharmonic wrote: post #15

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…

I break about 1 USB-C plug a week. They are simply not designed well for real people who do real things in the world, including physical work, exercise, hiking, woodworking, biking, and the like. They are designed by someone in a corporate office who just never gets out to see the real world. Here's how the last few broke: * Phone with typical inadequate battery + external portable battery pack plugged in, shoved in…

Perhaps you are just not careful with things, I’ve been an early adopter and never broken one ( I probably have at least 40 different ones, some of which get plugged/unplugged multiple times a day).

My kids haven’t broken a single one either and they destroyed plenty of lightning cables.

Re: I'm a USB-C Maximalist

#112

Post by demosito666 »

cliglot wrote: post #73
pluralmonad wrote: post #12

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.

Lightning is just better overall.

Re: I'm a USB-C Maximalist

#113

Post by timc3 »

hbn wrote: post #106
qurren wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I break about 1 USB-C plug a week. They are simply not designed well for real people who do real things in the world, including physical work, exercise, hiking, woodworking, biking, and the like. They are designed by someone in a corporate office who just never gets out to see the real world. Here's how the last few broke: * Phone with typical inadequate battery + external portable battery pack plugged in, shoved in…

Is IEC really the gold standard for connectors to you? I always thought they feel terrible to plug in. There's no snap or solid bottom-out indication to when it's "connected." And it just sits in the socket from friction that doesn't feel particularly solid. It's the kind of connection where if it gets yanked a little bit and the connection fails, it's not obvious because it's half-seated in the socket.

IEC isn’t great, hence you get a cage around them to hold them in for critical use.

Re: I'm a USB-C Maximalist

#114

Post by Hippocrates »

I like the fact that we're aligning on one connector but it's hard for me to praise USB-C in and of itself. The connector feels flimsy and has some slop/play in a way that lightning did not, and especially on lower-end devices.

The charging standards, voltages, and data rates, are frustrating because they're almost never labeled. This is especially true on low end, cables, and device devices. The worst offenders will only charge with a USB-A to C cable with low voltage, which is not what I hope for when I see a USB-C port on a device.

Re: I'm a USB-C Maximalist

#115

Post by cricalix »

notatoad wrote: post #95
eigencoder wrote: post #5

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 really only a problem if you buy cheap cables. Pick the baseline spec you want your USB cables to meet, and throw out all the ones that don’t. Problem solved. It’s still a minor frustration if you have to borrow a cable, but that’s solved by packing a cable, and by encouraging as many other people as possible to also throw out their cheap cables.

Sometimes it's not the cable. Sometimes it's the sodding device. I have some IP60-something speakers for the shower. Write up says USB-C power. Brilliant says I, I've got plenty of good ones I use for charging laptops and other USB-C form factor accepting devices.

Sodding things only charge with their special USB-A to USB-C cable. They're in the bag labeled "cursed usb-c charge cables".

Re: I'm a USB-C Maximalist

#116

Post by TheBicPen »

notatoad wrote: post #95
eigencoder wrote: post #5

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 really only a problem if you buy cheap cables. Pick the baseline spec you want your USB cables to meet, and throw out all the ones that don’t. Problem solved. It’s still a minor frustration if you have to borrow a cable, but that’s solved by packing a cable, and by encouraging as many other people as possible to also throw out their cheap cables.

> throw out all the ones that don’t

> encouraging as many other people as possible to also throw out their cheap cables

One of the main advantages of a single standardized plug is reducing e-waste. This just sounds irresponsible. Having a single tool that covers every possible use case is rarely a good solution.

Re: I'm a USB-C Maximalist

#117

Post by [deleted] »

chaosharmonic wrote: post #68
alterom wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My XReal Beam Pro¹ has two USB-C ports: one for charging, one for Thunderbolt video output (both support data transfer IIRC). My other phones (Samsung Galaxy A23 etc) have a USB-C and a 3.5mm headphone jack as Lord intended, so I don't have the idiotic problem of choosing between charging or using headphones / aux cable / etc. There's no reason to not have two USB-C ports and a 3.5mmm headphone jack too in a device t…

> My XReal Beam Pro¹ has two USB-C ports: one for charging, one for Thunderbolt video output (both support data transfer IIRC). I know what you're saying, but to be a little pedantic about it it's actually only USB 3. (I wish there were mobile devices supporting USB4; it would bring them significantly closer to feature parity with larger devices.)

[deleted]

Re: I'm a USB-C Maximalist

#118

Post by qurren »

notatoad wrote: post #109
qurren wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you want to cover all use cases your only option are the 240 W, 40 Gbps cables, and they are not cheap ( https://www.amazon.com/Anker-Supports-Display-Transfer-Charg... ).

amazon hides some prices because i'm viewing the page from canada, but it looks like that says the cable you linked is $15? that's what i've been paying for cables, and it seems reasonable to me.

It's a cable, it should cost $2 at most.

Re: I'm a USB-C Maximalist

#119

Post by TheBicPen »

cliglot wrote: post #73
pluralmonad wrote: post #12

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.

I've had the opposite experience. Lightning was been far more fragile than USB-C.

Re: I'm a USB-C Maximalist

#120

Post by rockostrich »

qurren wrote: post #97
chaosharmonic wrote: post #15

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…

I break about 1 USB-C plug a week. They are simply not designed well for real people who do real things in the world, including physical work, exercise, hiking, woodworking, biking, and the like. They are designed by someone in a corporate office who just never gets out to see the real world. Here's how the last few broke: * Phone with typical inadequate battery + external portable battery pack plugged in, shoved in…

> They are designed by someone in a corporate office who just never gets out to see the real world.

> USB-C got mangled by office chair. If I had been a USB designer in an office, this would have been the FIRST thing I would have stress tested for

Seems like you managed to break one even though it was in the environment that you're saying they're designed for. Maybe you're the problem and USB-C, the technology that billions of people manage to use just fine without breaking on a daily basis, is perfectly fine.

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