91–100 of 128 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm sure they are doing this to preserve their patents, what is the point of an open standard if no one is allowed to use it? I would really love to see a magnetic bi-directional cable eventually for phones/tablets. The Surface one is OK, but it doesn't snap as nicely as I think it could.
Then it's not an open one.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
On proper USB cables, it's always logo-side up, isn't it?
Yes, but sadly one particular very large Korean manufacturer whose name begins with an S thinks that the "proper" orientation of a micro USB port places the narrow/tapered side "up" instead of "down". And they print all their cables opposite of everyone else. Sigh. But even so, there's no tactile difference. So cabling a phone in the dark (pretty routine at bedtime) is a crap shoot either way. I personally solve this…
I've had a lot of non-conforming USB stuff pass my door and it's all really really awful.
This is a great answer, but IIRC there's an other reason to prefer micro over mini: the moving parts in the micro-USB connection are in the male plug, not the female one like the mini. Since those parts tend to break easily, it's cheaper to replace the cable rather than the smartphone/device having the female port. That being said I'm still a bit mad at Apple for ditching their old large port, only to replace it with…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's not that hard to simply swap all the pins in hardware if the connector is reversed. You don't need to able to reassign every single pin to make that possible. Lightning is overdesigned which makes it expensive.
You could say that the previous iPod dock connector was over-designed. But it wasn't, because it survived many years and many devices, with only a handful in between (like some iPod nanos) not being amenable to it years after its creation. We do not yet know what fate awaits Lightning. The odds are certainly tilted against it. Not only is Android popular and universally using Micro-USB (unlike when the first iPhone c…
Cars should never under any circumstances ever have specific apps like Spotify, Pandora, and Bing. In 15 years, people are going to feel pretty stupid about owning those. The 3.5mm TRS connector, however, is a long term open standard that will still be working long after Pandora folds.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You could say that the previous iPod dock connector was over-designed. But it wasn't, because it survived many years and many devices, with only a handful in between (like some iPod nanos) not being amenable to it years after its creation. We do not yet know what fate awaits Lightning. The odds are certainly tilted against it. Not only is Android popular and universally using Micro-USB (unlike when the first iPhone c…
No, because my car is going to LONG outlast the proprietary and most likely terrible app that my car's manufacturer would write for the current generation of one particular phone. Cars should never under any circumstances ever have specific apps like Spotify, Pandora, and Bing. In 15 years, people are going to feel pretty stupid about owning those. The 3.5mm TRS connector, however, is a long term open standard that w…
Isn't that the point? Its shiny at the time you buy it, but it quickly feeds planned obscelescence, increasing your desire to replace it later. Win-win for the manufacturer.
Can Micro-USB support USB 3.0 speeds?
You're getting some confusing answer. The simple answer is NO: the USB3 "superspeed" signal is carried on different pins. USB low/full/high speeds carry data in both directions on a single pair of differential wires. SuperSpeed has a separate pair for each direction, and it doesn't share anything with the existing D+/D- lines. Basically, a "USB 3" connector has two completely distinct signaling environments. It's bas…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
But your point is? Apple is able to satisfy this requirement easily with a cruddy adapter (the cable actually). Anyways, if apple's solution is simply better than the android micro USB solution, who wins?
Apple wins, while the rest of us get stuck carrying around a wide variety of cables for no good reason. The argument that the free market will find a solution works when competition is allowed. It doesn't work when every company who isn't Apple is legally prohibited from adopting Apple's connector.
Please note under "Reception" about Micro USB and it being "standard". WHO'S LAUGHING NOW?!
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> You could say that the previous iPod dock connector was over-designed. But it wasn't, because it survived many years and many devices That's not the test of overdesigned. It's overdesigned if the cost doesn't provide sufficient benefit - and it clearly didn't.
It clearly didn't? I'd say the iPod dock ecosystem and all the optional cables (like VGA, HDMI, digital out etc) more than justified the cost of the 30 pin connector.
The connector succeeded because the IPod was extremely popular and then Apple got to leverage network effects.