10 ms·

"I would be willing to bet that within a decade you HAPPILY buy a phone without a headphone jack, whether that be an Android or iPhone. They're not going backwa

• camillomiller 10y ago
  Well, how can you "believe that the iphone is by far the best executed mobile phone platform and the best hardware", and subsequently declare that you hate them for not using a subpar standard when compared to their flawlessly engineered proprietary one?
  • hollander 10y ago
    Easy, for him the iphone connector is a showstopper - no matter how good the rest of the platform actually is.
  • zeven7 10y ago
    What makes Apple's better? Genuine question; I haven't looked into this at all.
    • dexterdog 10y ago
      It makes Apple more money and keeps hate between iPhone and Android users because they can't share chargers.
    • FussyZeus 10y ago
      Reversibility is the clearest benefit to the end user. Also it's a much more durable connector than most, the cable end is just a flat piece of metal as opposed to having pins and whatnot.
      • derefr 10y ago
        Re: durability, one thing most people don't think about is that modern Lightning docks are effectively just Lightning connectors: https://9to5mac.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/apple-lightning-dock-2.jpg?w=1000&quality=82&strip=all&h=668 https://9to5mac.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/apple-lightning-... The stress of holding up the entire mass of the connected device (that can be as large as an iPad Pro!) is on the connector; and the stress of being held up by that connector is on the tiny part of the device that grips it. That'd be impossible with a USB connector (even USB-C), on both sides.
        • FussyZeus 10y ago
          I was surprised the Macbook didn't have any Lightning ports to be honest. I figured they would use that for direct device connection. As it stands if you have a brand new Macbook Pro and iPhone 7 you can't connect the two without an adapter, which is just stupid.
          • 4ad 10y ago
            > if you have a brand new Macbook Pro and iPhone 7 you can't connect the two without an adapter Without a cable, not without an adapter. Very big difference. I can use the same cable to charge my phone from my MacBook's power supply and from the MacBook itself. When I travel, I only take one power supply and two cables. Even if the iPhone and the MacBook used the same connector, I'd still take two cables so I could simultaneously charge them both, so I don't have to carry any extra hardware. Yes, it would be nice if they could use the same cable, but at least I don't have to take any extra cable or dongle for charging my iPhone (I still need dongles for other things, though).
            • 10y ago
    • sssilver 10y ago
      The connector also has pretty much phenomenal build quality, compared to every other whatever USB cable shipped with whatever device.
  • michaelt 10y ago
    When it comes to what side of the road we drive on, one side might be marginally better than the other - but the major benefits come from everyone agreeing to use the same side, regardless of what side that is.
• sliverstorm 10y ago
  I suspect a lot of people have come to take USB for granted, forgetting about the mess it resolved. (Or, they weren't around at the time)
• snowwrestler 10y ago
  Meanwhile, everyone is complaining that Apple just released a laptop that standardizes on USB for all IO and charging.
  • Mithaldu 10y ago
    Nobody's complaining about that, but about the removal of all other options. And well, many many other problems with that new thing that are entirely unrelated to USB.
  • theptip 10y ago
    That's because magsafe is magical, and they removed all the other ports. I have heard nobody complain about the charging situation on macbooks; GP's point is specifically about cell phones.
    • Osmium 10y ago
      > That's because magsafe is magical, and they removed all the other ports. In fairness, there are two huge new benefits to their new approach: * You can charge on either the left or the right side. This reduces cable strain. * If the cable breaks, you can swap it for another (cheap) USB-C cable, without having to buy another power brick. There's an argument against Magsafe too: laptops are lighter now, so the magnets would have to be weaker to still work reliably, and thus also have more accidental disconnections (this is irritating). I'm not completely sold on this argument, but you can buy third-party USB-C Magsafe-like adaptors if it's really important to you. For me, who's had several frayed chargers over the years due to cable strain, I really like their new approach. (Note: there's a legitimate argument against Apple here too... I've heard that the reason Magsafe chargers are so susceptible to fraying is because they don't use PVC, and instead use a more 'environmentally-friendly' plastic, which is much weaker. They could still use more substantial strain relief regardless, but I'd guess they have aesthetic arguments against that, which is a silly reason for something so important. I'm not sure how much truth there is to this however.)
      • stouset 10y ago
• fenomas 10y ago
  > never purchased or used an iphone because of my stubborn indignation over the lack of plain old USB for charging. I reached that conclusion over the "can't install apps without the manufacturer's permission" thing. I've always been surprised more developers didn't feel the same way.
  • NickPollard 10y ago
    For what it's worth this was (and is) my red line that prevents me from ever buying an iPhone. That's one person who agrees with you at least!
  • lostlogin 10y ago
    It's a technical crowd here - you can install apps without using the App Store and it's not particularly difficult either.
    • khedoros1 10y ago
      Well, I can (or I could on a personal one, as opposed to the work-supplied one I carry). I like being able to install software from outside of an app store without modifying my firmware, worrying about updating my device, losing my warranty, opening up large security holes, etc. Reaching outside of the walled garden isn't hard, but there are more things to consider compared to installing an apk on Android.
    • fenomas 10y ago
      It's an ideological complaint, not a technical one. Not being able to install apps is a nuisance; not being able to distribute apps for others to install is a deal-breaker, but the main thing is that I'm afraid of our world becoming a place where walled gardens are the typical model for consumer electronics.
• wvenable 10y ago
  The lightening connector is so much better than micro-USB that it's really hard to fault them for that. But I imagine even the iPhone will go USB-C in the next iteration.
  • dpark 10y ago
    I can't imagine that happening. They'd piss off all the customers that bought lightning accessories, lose control over the connector, and get what in return?
    • Klathmon 10y ago
      Not only that but the fact that people are buying lightning headphones for the current gen. They are in a shitty place right now. They can't go USB-c without pissing off a good amount of their customers, but they can stick with lightening forever either (it's already starting to show its age WRT transfer speeds and other abilities)
      • deleted 10y ago
        [deleted]
      • SysArchitect 10y ago
        They could upgrade lightning to support USB-3... Lightning doesn't specify the USB protocol.
    • wvenable 10y ago
      I assume that's why they haven't already switched but they just releases Macbooks with nothing but USB-C connectors so I imagine the debate must be on internally at Apple.
    • massysett 10y ago
      Apple's long history of port and drive removal demonstrates that pissing off customers is not a prime concern. Lost licensing revenue might bother them though.
• dpark 10y ago
  I don't understand the obsession with USB charging. This makes no sense at all to me. How would my life be materially better if my phone charged over USB? My last phone charged over USB and I can't say it felt better. At this point, you might be tempted to claim that I would be able to use the same cables as other devices. To this, I'll point to the ongoing switch to USB-C and note that's you're buying new cables anyway. Micro USB was a shitty plug. USB-C is better, but you can actually thank Apple for that, because it's a reaction to the Lightning plug.
  • ng12 10y ago
    Come visit my company gym, we have 20+ perfectly good treadmills that all have outdated iPhone chargers. The best part about micro USB was that it was absolutely ubiquitous. If my phone was dying at a friend's place or at my neighborhood coffee shop chances are I could charge my phone. My least favorite thing about my 5x is that it's USB-C. I regret upgrading before USB-C became more commonplace.
    • treehau5 10y ago
      Exactly. Could you imagine buying a home if the electrical outlet wasn't standardized? (In the US). Just ask the rest of the world how frustrating it is when every country has their own plug.
      • thomasfoster96 10y ago
        Homes tend to have a longer lifespan than phones.
        • treehau5 10y ago
          True, but the people living in them don't. People in the US move, and they move a lot. Please use the downvote button for comments that are not relevant to the discussion, not as the "I disagree" button. We aren't reddit. My point is factual, 26 million Americans move every year. The challenges and hassels would be comparable if we had different plugs for all our appliances and electronics are analogous to the problems we have with different standards for charging ports on our cell phones, just a larger scale.
• nickthemagicman 10y ago
  THIS SO MUCH!! YOURE NOT ALONE!!! Additionally, Why do I HAVE to use Itunes to sync the phone? I just want to grab a photo off of it.. where's my USB mode?
  • ebrewste 10y ago
    This doesn't change your overall argument, but Image Capture on the Mac will let you get your pictures without Photos or Itunes. I'm DONE with Photos and had to figure this out. It's not a great app, but it is simple.
    • nickthemagicman 10y ago
      Yeah but PDFs? Text files? Software? Entire Movies? MP3 Albums? It's all just data in USB mode!
    • toomuchtodo 10y ago
      What made you be done with Photos? Just curious before I move 100GBs of Flickr photos into it.
  • astrange 10y ago
    iPhones speak PTP (the USB camera protocol) as long as the screen is unlocked. You can use any photo app you want.
  • myfinalaccount 10y ago
    If you just want a few photos, it's much much easier to Airdrop them, or email them, or add them to dropbox, or message them. There's no need to plug in for that.
    • khedoros1 10y ago
      Assuming you've got an internet connection available for both of your devices, sure. As an example: I've got a work-supplied iPhone that I use for photos of office activities, sometimes. All the file-sharing sites are blocked on the work network, and I don't have a Mac to deal use an Apple-specific transfer protocol with. Thankfully, the comment you replied to is moot as well. I plug my phone into my machine, unlock the screen, and pull pictures off it all the time. Still, when putting music on it, I'm left wishing that I had the option to use something like gtkpod, like I used to use with my iPod, back in the day.
• stouset 10y ago
  You had me up until the "$10 for every phone sold" bit. Do you seriously believe Apple is happy to willingly sabotage sales of their tens-of-billions cash cow to make a few tens of millions on accessories? They stuck with 30-pin because it was something their customer base had already bought into, and they didn't want to force a change. They went with Lightning because, let's be honest, micro-USB is shit — every micro-USB device I've owned has had the connector fail within two years. Lightning can handle 12W of power, micro-USB 9W. Lightning is reversible. Lightning has no moving parts on the connector, prone to breaking (or worse) grabbing onto your $700 device with a death grip and bring nigh-unremovable. It would be great if they switched now to USB-C. They're clearly in the works on that, but didn't want to make a connector change on their phones after only two revs.
  • JohnTHaller 10y ago
    Quick Charge 2.0 via microUSB can throw a lot more power down the wire and charges nice and quickly. Plus that same wire can plug into a USB port on anything and charge. I'm always surprised by folks talking about failing microUSB ports. The microUSB port on my old G2 (HTC Desire Z) still works fine as does the miniUSB port on my G1 (HTC Dream).
    • stouset 10y ago
      > I'm always surprised by folks talking about failing microUSB ports. The microUSB port on my old G2 (HTC Desire Z) still works fine as does the miniUSB port on my G1 (HTC Dream). I'm always surprised by folks talking about their non-failing micro-USB ports, as if that somehow discounts other people's devices that have failed.
      • JohnTHaller 10y ago
        I don't doubt that some fail. But so many who have had them fail make it seem like the ports are absurdly fragile and fail for everyone all the time.
  • ricksplat 10y ago