4 ms·

It's pointless because , the chance of a cable lasting 7 years doesn't happen. Even the phone isn't typically designed to last that long. The cases where peopl

by kd913 7y ago

It's pointless because , the chance of a cable lasting 7 years doesn't happen. Even the phone isn't typically designed to last that long. The cases where people end up replacing their cable because of a new standard is way less frequent than the cable breaking, this has been my experience at least considering the shifting standards which you talk about. It sounds a bit like optimizing some process but ignoring what is actually the bottleneck. The problem in this case is not the standard on top, but the lifetime of the cable. If the goal is to reduce e-waste then surely it makes sense to tackle the approach from a reduce, reuse, recycle perspective in that order and focussing on the EOL for the cable. By shifting to one cable standard, you can reduce/reuse as at least other products can have better utilization as that old cable is still usable with other products. I have been less incentivised to buy new usb C cable for my phone because my switch and headphone cables still work just fine. I can't do anything with a lightning cable if my iphone dies other than to use it for apple products. Just like I can't do anything with my old ipod connectors. That is just straight e-waste. By shifting to one cable standard, we can more easily recycle the cable as there would be more manufacturers who would have the supply-chain/capabilities of recycling these chargers. Contrast that to the lightning cable which only apple and other companies with a lightning connector can handle effectively.

ppf 7y ago
I don't know why it has proven so durable, but I'm still using a Motorola-branded charger and microUSB cable that came with a Defy+, around 2012.
- jeswin 7y ago
  The original Defy (2010) was the best phone I had ever owned. Water resistant, hardy, high resolution and very, very pocketable. I think the folks on XDA kept OS updates available till Android 7.
  - Yetanfou 7y ago
    No, it did not go beyond 4.4. 5.0 has been booted on it but never got any further, mostly due to the fact that nobody got a 3.x kernel running satisfactorily on the device. I do use one with a 3.1 kernel (running MPD) but all the others are still at 2.6.
  - ppf 7y ago
    Sadly, I can't say the same of my experience with the Defy+. I found it quite disappointing. Small screen, bulky case (that was fragile and broke around the external screws), and not much more wear and water resistant than a regular phone. I dug it out recently and sold it on ebay, although I'm not sure what can be done with a phone stuck with an old version of the play store.
- Yetanfou 7y ago
  Same here, including the Defy+ itself. I have a slew of them doing duty as work phone, trailer camera, media player and such.
drcongo 7y ago
Until recently my daughter was still using a 30pin cable that came with a first gen iPad. So "the chance of a cable lasting 7 years doesn't happen" is patently false.
- justinclift 7y ago
  Still using my first gen iPad here, though it's only for reading ebooks. I have a bunch of 30 pin cables for it though (eg one left plugged into charger at home, one always in my bag, etc). No idea which one is the original cable, and which are cheapo knock-offs. Over the years, I think one of them went bad and needed replacing. The rest are fine though.
timw4mail 7y ago
It has not been my experience that cables break often at all. Does the average user really mistreat their cables that badly?
- hughw 7y ago
  Apple cables are notorious for wearing badly. I suspect it's because they favor very thin casing and for greater flexibility -- a lightning cable winds tighter than typical charging cables for other phones. MacBook Pro chargers also suffer from the syndrome.
  - mcphage 7y ago
    > Apple cables are notorious for wearing badly. Apple phones also last longer than other phones, and because their connections remain so standard, you can use the same cable for multiple phones. I've definitely destroyed some Apple cables, but generally they've been on their second or third device. > I suspect it's because they favor very thin casing and for greater flexibility -- a lightning cable winds tighter than typical charging cables for other phones. I'm not so sure about this explanation—the cables usually fail at the very ends, where the connector meets the cable itself.
pwinnski 7y ago
> the chance of a cable lasting 7 years doesn't happen What do you do to your cables? I have a 30-pin iPad-charging cables that is from 2011, and it's working fine. Coming up on nine years. I still regularly use a lightning cable (and charger brick) from 2013, just a year after lightning was introduced, and that's coming up on 7 years. Your anecdotal evidence is that cables break before becoming obsolete. My anecdotal evidence is the opposite. I have a box full of USB-notC cables in a closet for devices I rarely use, or that are no longer usable, all the while I charge my iPad with a now-obsolete 30-pin cable.

by kd913 7y ago

ppf 7y ago

I don't know why it has proven so durable, but I'm still using a Motorola-branded charger and microUSB cable that came with a Defy+, around 2012.

jeswin 7y ago
The original Defy (2010) was the best phone I had ever owned. Water resistant, hardy, high resolution and very, very pocketable. I think the folks on XDA kept OS updates available till Android 7.
- Yetanfou 7y ago
  No, it did not go beyond 4.4. 5.0 has been booted on it but never got any further, mostly due to the fact that nobody got a 3.x kernel running satisfactorily on the device. I do use one with a 3.1 kernel (running MPD) but all the others are still at 2.6.
- ppf 7y ago
  Sadly, I can't say the same of my experience with the Defy+. I found it quite disappointing. Small screen, bulky case (that was fragile and broke around the external screws), and not much more wear and water resistant than a regular phone. I dug it out recently and sold it on ebay, although I'm not sure what can be done with a phone stuck with an old version of the play store.
Yetanfou 7y ago
Same here, including the Defy+ itself. I have a slew of them doing duty as work phone, trailer camera, media player and such.

drcongo 7y ago

Until recently my daughter was still using a 30pin cable that came with a first gen iPad. So "the chance of a cable lasting 7 years doesn't happen" is patently false.

justinclift 7y ago
Still using my first gen iPad here, though it's only for reading ebooks. I have a bunch of 30 pin cables for it though (eg one left plugged into charger at home, one always in my bag, etc). No idea which one is the original cable, and which are cheapo knock-offs. Over the years, I think one of them went bad and needed replacing. The rest are fine though.

timw4mail 7y ago

It has not been my experience that cables break often at all. Does the average user really mistreat their cables that badly?

hughw 7y ago
Apple cables are notorious for wearing badly. I suspect it's because they favor very thin casing and for greater flexibility -- a lightning cable winds tighter than typical charging cables for other phones. MacBook Pro chargers also suffer from the syndrome.
- mcphage 7y ago
  > Apple cables are notorious for wearing badly. Apple phones also last longer than other phones, and because their connections remain so standard, you can use the same cable for multiple phones. I've definitely destroyed some Apple cables, but generally they've been on their second or third device. > I suspect it's because they favor very thin casing and for greater flexibility -- a lightning cable winds tighter than typical charging cables for other phones. I'm not so sure about this explanation—the cables usually fail at the very ends, where the connector meets the cable itself.

pwinnski 7y ago

> the chance of a cable lasting 7 years doesn't happen What do you do to your cables? I have a 30-pin iPad-charging cables that is from 2011, and it's working fine. Coming up on nine years. I still regularly use a lightning cable (and charger brick) from 2013, just a year after lightning was introduced, and that's coming up on 7 years. Your anecdotal evidence is that cables break before becoming obsolete. My anecdotal evidence is the opposite. I have a box full of USB-notC cables in a closet for devices I rarely use, or that are no longer usable, all the while I charge my iPad with a now-obsolete 30-pin cable.