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Google engineer writing Amazon reviews on USB-C cables that don't work

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Re: Google engineer writing Amazon reviews on USB-C cables that don't work

#181

Post by justin66 »

MichaelGG wrote: post #172
justin66 wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought a real piece of garbage battery charger as a result of one of that NLee guy's detailed reviews. Super unimpressed.

Perhaps the product changed? I often see reviews warning consumers that the new lot of product is deficient. Hell, the Pyrex brand did that, using the name on glass that can't actually hold up to temperature swings. (Lenovo's handing of ThinkPad might fall under this category too.) Best thing to do is return the item; Amazon will value this far more than a negative review.

Unfortunately it often takes a while for the problems with an item to shake out. In this case I used warranty service with the manufacturer which was hilariously bad.

Amazon rejected my first review which complained about the bad warranty service. Bleh.

Re: Google engineer writing Amazon reviews on USB-C cables that don't work

#182

Post by mikestew »

jessaustin wrote: post #164
mikestew wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally, I filter out one and five star reviews. To me, five stars means when you use the product, Jesus appears before you. One star means I ordered a cable and received a dead crab instead (pretty sure there's an XKCD that covers the last one). But others don't agree with my rating system, so "ordered blue, but it was robin egg blue. Werst company evar!!!11" means one star. Five stars means "I work for the compa…

Uber drivers must love you. b^)

Uber is the worst, as I understand it from others, having never used it. It sounds to me like Uber has a binary system with other ratings just to confuse you: "ding this driver and end his contract if he gets anymore ratings like this, or...don't."

Re: Google engineer writing Amazon reviews on USB-C cables that don't work

#183

Post by tehstone8 »

JoshTriplett wrote: post #175

Related: has anyone written reviews of car USB ports, what devices they're capable of charging, and workarounds for charging higher-current devices? Many car USB ports have failure modes similar to those documented in these reviews, and they can't actually deliver high current for charging high-end smartphones, let alone tablets and laptops.

Buy an Anker charger rated at 2 Amps. It will live up to it's promises.

Re: Google engineer writing Amazon reviews on USB-C cables that don't work

#185

Post by xixi77 »

This is awesome, and I really hope more companies do this.

I wonder though: from the few reviews I've looked at, it seems that the main complaint is that the cable does not identify itself as a legacy connector, and can result in the device drawing too much power from the port, potentially damaging whatever is on the other end.

Definitely an unfortunate result, BUT: I wonder, is it still a common concern when the device on the other end is (for example) a wall plug-to-USB connector? Because if it's not too much of an issue in that case, and the device on the USB-C end is not at risk, wouldn't a non-compliant cable result in faster charging?

Re: Google engineer writing Amazon reviews on USB-C cables that don't work

#186

Post by delecti »

natch wrote: post #125

Cool but I don't think he understands how off-brand (meaning not big name brand) products like this change specs and quality on Amazon like Seattle changes weather. For cases where there is a big brand, and they have a reputation to defend, these reviews seem very valuable. For other cases, buyer beware.

> like Seattle changes weather

From the perspective of having grown up in the midwest, Seattle's weather might as well be Old Faithful.

Re: Google engineer writing Amazon reviews on USB-C cables that don't work

#187

Post by tehstone8 »

DiabloD3 wrote: post #66

I see no reason why to buy anything but Anker. I once tried to purposely destroy an Anker MicroUSB cable (bought a 5 pack that had three 3ft, one 6ft, one 1ft, didn't need the 1ft), by grabbing the head of it with clamping pliers and yanking the fuck out of it with the cable wrapped around my hand, and bending it to near 180 degrees repeatedly for about 5 minutes. I could not kill it without straight up taking wire c…

Definitely agree with this.

I use my phone heavily (Ingress mostly) and it's not uncommon to go through 3 or 4 full charge cycles a day or to just keep my phone plugged in all day.

Before I started buying Anker's cables, I would burn through a cable every two weeks or so. First monoproce, although I quickly dropped those. Then several other brands. Another point in Anker's favor is that the profile of the USB-C plug on their cables is much smaller than most other brands. This is important when you have a hefty case on your phone.

Anker's external battery packs are awesome too, as are their wall and car chargers. Most if not all of their products put out 2 Amps which is the charging limit of most devices (certain tables accept up to 3) as opposed to many other wall chargers that put out .5-1 Amps.

Re: Google engineer writing Amazon reviews on USB-C cables that don't work

#188

Post by downandout »

This is cool, but being from the online marketing world, I can already see people copying this in bad ways. "Hi this is Tom, I am from iPhone Development Team 6 here at Apple and we have been testing [product] in our labs. In our opinion, [affiliate link to other releated product] is far better because this product [technical critique that few will understand but will serve to bolster reviewer's credibility, can be copied from random highly technical review site]".

If this is going to be a thing, Amazon should offer the ability to certify that the user at least has an email address for the company they claim they are with (@apple.com, @google.com etc) and show a "certified Googler" or similar logo next to their name.

Re: Google engineer writing Amazon reviews on USB-C cables that don't work

#189

Post by JoshTriplett »

tehstone8 wrote: post #183
JoshTriplett wrote: post #175

Related: has anyone written reviews of car USB ports, what devices they're capable of charging, and workarounds for charging higher-current devices? Many car USB ports have failure modes similar to those documented in these reviews, and they can't actually deliver high current for charging high-end smartphones, let alone tablets and laptops.

Buy an Anker charger rated at 2 Amps. It will live up to it's promises.

The kind that plug in to the 12V "accessory" port, skipping the car's own USB entirely?

Re: Google engineer writing Amazon reviews on USB-C cables that don't work

#190

Post by pgeorgi »

phil21 wrote: post #96
munchbunny wrote: post #19

If only there were more of this stuff! The kind of information in his reviews is technically detailed but clear enough for the layperson, and it answers the real question I have in mind when I'm looking at the 1-3 star reviews: does it actually work for what I want it to do?

The strange part of these reviews though is that counterintuitively many of these cables would be considered to "work for what you want it to do" when a spec-compliant cable would not. Usually what people want is to "make my device charge fast" - in which case the cables not implementing the spec correctly work while compliant cables would not. Of course, there is a reason that compliance exists! Chances are you are…

Just slapping the "the other end is 3A capable" resistor onto the cable isn't good enough, because a cable has no idea what's on the other end.

You can still rapid charge with a compliant type-C/A cable, but it needs to be negotiated through one of the other specified mechanisms (that directly talk with the other end and thus can figure out what the type-A charging side can actually provide).

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