13 ms·

I feel like USB-C is cursed enough on its own. The sheer number of times I’ve had to explain to family members why just because the two USB-C ports on a laptop

I feel like USB-C is cursed enough on its own. The sheer number of times I’ve had to explain to family members why just because the two USB-C ports on a laptop look the same, doesn’t mean they work the same.

sneak 6y ago
This is true of electrical power outlets (15A/20A), HDMI, schrader valves, RJ45 (this one especially!), and many other things in life, and I don't think it's very fair to pick on USB-C in this manner when it does so many other things much better than previous alternatives.
- bellyfullofbac 6y ago
  But USB was supposed to be the unifying connector. Before: "Here in the back of the computer we have PS/2 ports (1 for keyboard and 1 for mouse), a parallel port, serial, 25-pin serial, game port". Introducing USB: "Everything is USB now! Plug anything anywhere!" USB version whatever: "Well the sockets look all the same, but you can only plug your display in here, to charge it you have to connect it here", etc, etc.
- unwind 6y ago
  But the point is that USB was introduced more or less on the promise of not being like that. When USB 1.1 came in the late 90s, it was pretty nice. Lots of different ports and cables went away, and all were replaced by standardized USB ports and cables. You could geek out and learn the difference of upstream (A, host) and downstream (B, device) ports, the various types of B port sizes, and that was it. Later USB 2.0 was introduced and just (bam!) made it all 40 times faster, but it still logically worked pretty much the same. Then USB 3.x came and just blew all that to h-ll, which is frustrating for both old bearded geeks, and* new/non-technical users.
  - mminer237 6y ago
    For consumers, wasn't USB 3.0 just USB 2.0 but a few times faster? USB-C is what is confusing to some people. Replacing micro USB was straightforward enough, but replacing USB-A is a rough process.
    - tsbinz 6y ago
      USB 3 is also what kills your wifi if things aren't properly done (e.g. https://medium.com/ghostbar/your-usb-3-0-hub-is-killing-your-wifi-some-of-them-yes-a3c343dc4000 https://medium.com/ghostbar/your-usb-3-0-hub-is-killing-your... - and it's not only a mac problem), so it's not just 2.0 but faster.
  - mumblemumble 6y ago
    I guess? Except that my desk has three USB cords, each with a color-coded label so that I can tell what each one is for. One is seemingly the only one that will charge my e-reader, but only does low speed data transmission so it never really gets used for anything but my e-reader. Another is power only and therefore useful for charging devices without my computer attempting to talk to them. And a third is a proper, modern (ish, I suppose), well-behaved USB 2.0 cable.
- kristiandupont 6y ago
  I am reminded of Einsteins quote about making things as simple as possible but no simpler. I feel that USB-C is an attempt to make things just a bit simpler than possible. With USB-A and -B, there is a physical indication of the direction of flow (data and/or current). Just "connecting" two things is sometimes unambiguous, but sometimes it's not.
  - thedanbob 6y ago
    From what I remember reading about the spec, USB-C feels like an attempt to make things simpler for users (one plug for everything!) and manufacturers (here's all the things you can do, but they're all optional!) simultaneously, which of course just makes things more complicated for everyone.
- jdsully 6y ago
  20A plugs look different, they have a prong rotated 90 degrees.
  - cesarb 6y ago
    Where I live (which uses the NBR 14136 standard), the 20A plugs and sockets look identical to the 10A plugs and sockets, the pins and corresponding holes are only slightly larger (so that a 10A plug fits on a 20A socket, but not the reverse).
- BrandoElFollito 6y ago
  > This is true of electrical power outlets (15A/20A) You mean that one can hold 15A and the other - 20A? If so, they do work the same, they just have different capacities (like a tap, some of them will provide more water, others less but they work the same (especially if they look the same))
- mauvehaus 6y ago
  There are actually different connectors for 15 and 20 amp devices in the US under NEMA. You do see NEMA 5-15R receptacles on 20A circuits in residential applications, but that's probably because most appliances don't require 20 amps. A 5-15 connector has two vertical prongs, a 5-20 has a horizontal and a vertical, with the special case of receptacles with a T slot that fits both 5-15 and 5-20 plugs. It goes a bit deeper than that though: A NEMA 6-20 also has a horizontal and vertical prong, but they're reversed from a 5-20 so you can't plug them in in an incompatible (and likely hazardous) way. The whole standard is really well thought out. I went down the rabbit hole when I got an old table saw with a 6-20 plug and had to figure out what the hell to plug it in to (dryer outlet, via a "custom" extension cord). I feel like I haven't seen too many uses of Schrader valves that are likely to cause havoc. Most of the use cases for them besides tires are pretty obviously special and distinct from one another. I mean, I'd hope nobody's ever hooked a bike pump up to their air conditioner or a can of R134a to a tire...
  - sneak 6y ago
    > You do see NEMA 5-15R receptacles on 20A circuits in residential applications This is, of course, what I was talking about. I do appreciate the nuances of the 15/20 T-socket and the 6-20/5-20 symmetry; NEMA is super cool (aside from the fact that bladed plugs that aren't twist-lock are sort of lame/less safe in general, at least compared to the UK standard bladed plug). It's a fun rabbit hole to venture down: my occasion was having to adapt straight-blade wall box receptacles that the electrician installed to the twist-lock of the PDUs we had bought. There's also a fun and confusing mess of competing DC connector standards. I haven't decided what 12/48VDC connectors I'm going to put into my new house build yet (beyond the obviously mandatory 5V USB).
    - mauvehaus 6y ago
      That's never bothered me, but I guess I see your point. I always figured that the point of having a 20A circuit with 15A receptacles was so that you can plug in and run two 10A devices without popping the breaker. Stupid question: are there any common household appliances that draw 20A? I've only ever seen the T receptacles in non-household uses.
airhead969 6y ago
And why didn't it use a water-/corrosion-proof, breakaway magnetic connector?
- gumby 6y ago
  Cost. At least the part that wears out first is on the cable, not the device. That was one of the botches of mini-UCB A
magicalhippo 6y ago
> just because the two USB-C ports on a laptop look the same, doesn’t mean they work the same. This is already a solved problem[1] through color coding. Not sure why they couldn't use that scheme. Maybe combine a few to indicate things like DisplayPort and Thunderbolt capability, could have up to four quadrants for example. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC_System_Design_Guide#Color-coding_scheme_for_connectors_and_ports https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC_System_Design_Guide#Color-c...
- Piskvorrr 6y ago
  Nope. That's a UX fail: "of course they're different, didn't you RTFM and observe the correct color?"
- tenacious_tuna 6y ago
  > this is already a solved problem through color coding Speaking from experience, I don't think most end users are liable to pay enough attention to their ports to notice the color coding. I remember family members being confused by the blue 3.0 ports when those were a thing--now there's also red ones, and different color C ones, and some C ports have the little lightning bolt and some don't, and most users don't know what THAT means. The value-add of USB C was supposedly you didn't have to buy different cables for different purposes now, you could just slap everything on a C port. But of course that's not truly the case, and we're now in a messy soup of standards and capabilities that even to seasoned tech professionals are hard to disentangle, much less for end users. Calling this a solved problem 'cuz they slapped some colors on some of the ports is missing the forest for the trees.
  - yarcob 6y ago
    Does the bolt mean Thunderbolt or power delivery?
    - sgtnoodle 6y ago
      My wife's laptop has three USB-C ports and the laptop charges off all 3, but only one has the bolt. I strongly suspect it means Thunderbolt support, i.e. it's the only port that will work well with a dock.
marcosdumay 6y ago
Between USB2, USB2-Power, and USB3, I haven't got a laptop that I know what USB port does what in a long time... And I still didn't get any with USB-C.
- myself248 6y ago
  To make it worse, there's a Thunderbolt port which is indicated by a little lightning-bolt near it, and a charging port which is indicated by a little lightning bolt near it, and neither of those has anything to do with the Lightning connector. Some USB-C ports have DisplayPort output, so there's a DP near them. Some do Power Delivery, so there's a battery near them. And some are also a power input to the laptop, so there might be other random symbols near them. It's chaos. I just juggle plugs until I get the expected behavior, and sometimes I never do because it's not implemented. I've given up.
avian 6y ago
I find it funny how people used to complain about the sheer number of times they had to explain to family members exactly the opposite: "No need to ask. If you can plug it in, then it will work. Computers are fool-proof like that. No, it's not like the jacks on the hi-fi" As in, someone got a new mouse and didn't know where to plug it into their computer, when in fact there was only one DB-9 connector on the computer where it will physically fit and it would be the correct one.
- temac 6y ago
  I'm not even sure this was strictly true at one point. As soon as PS/2 keyboard vs mouse plugs, you had problems. Plus you had (and still have) various audio jacks on the computer anyway. Back to the mouse even prior to PS/2 you often had COM1 and COM2 and if I remember correctly you actually could not replug the mouse on the other port in a plug-and-plug way. You also could have very weird video cabling in the 3DFX 1 and 2 era. But yes, I agree the USB-C plug mess is probably the worst. It has became worse than what it "wanted" to solve. The only way to make it work as broadly advertised again would be if all plugs supported all protocols (that make sense for a given device) and PD options, etc. on all devices and with common cables, at max bandwidth everywhere, but not only I'm not sure this is technically possible, this would probably be cost prohibitive. And so what is the point? The net number of ports decreases on laptops, and there is no need on most gadget devices (beyond data+PD). The only point is for manufacturers to economize 50 cts and make the new inferior laptops pass as better than the old ones because they use the shinny new USB-C plugs. I would be happy if the price was actually 1/2 of the old models.
- gregmac 6y ago
  I think this was at its peak when basically every computer had only USB 2.0 ports. You pretty much could plug in anything to anything, so long as it fit. Not to say there were no issues -- USB 1.1 hubs, cable length limits -- but they were so incredibly minor compared to today. USB 3 introduced blue plugs, complicating things slightly but still everything basically worked, and if something was operating slower than expected it was at least obvious by the color. Then 3.1 and USB-C came out, and apparently USB-IF lots its collective mind. Now you have you pay attention to see if your ports, cables and devices are "USB 3.0" or "USB 3.1 gen 1" or "USB 3.2 Gen 1" or "Superspeed" or "Superspeed 5Gbps".. (Btw, trick question: all of those are the same thing).
medium_burrito 6y ago
The 737 Max quote "designed by clowns, who in turn are supervised by monkeys" seems appropriate for USB-C too.
xoa 6y ago
I feel like this is a temporary state of affairs that falls into the bucket of "regrettable but unavoidable". Over time I think the standard march of mass manufacture, refinement, miniaturization, and so on will result in every single USB-C plug on a general purpose device (like a notebook) doing the max of the standard. They'll all be Thunderbolt 4/USB 4 or whatever, and thus able to do everything. Cables production will also scale up and become cheaper, and at some point every single cable one would typically find will be capable of handling whatever. There aren't any fundamental scaling blockers, like some dependency on rare metals or something. But it's still costly at the start of the refinement cycle, and it's hard to bootstrap without allowing manufacturers to do cheaper cut down feature versions to get the ball rolling. It needs to provide some marginal value in the mean time and real promise, even if it means some higher overhead in the establishment phase. So for someone buying a new device in 2025 or 2030, USB-C may still exist but I think issues with what ports do what will be lessened. We already see devices like Macbook Pros where all the USB-C ports are functional, and while those are on the higher end of pricing they aren't stratospheric enterprise territory either. I suspect it won't take that many hardware generations for that sort of thing to spread downward. The question is if that's worth the immediate trouble. And at least for USB-C, I personally think it'll be worth it. It's a good connector, and the improved capabilities are valuable. We've had USB-A for a long, long time, and it doesn't seem unreasonable to guess that USB-C will stick around similarly. There was demand for something more compact and reversible with other QoL benefits along for the ride, and I think it's worth the upfront cost to get the whole industry onboard something that can converge rather then ending up with various manufacturers going their own routes.
- frosted-flakes 6y ago
  There will always be some inconsistencies that consumers will need to be aware of. For example, Thundetbolt cables are limited in length, to about 0.5 m for passive cables and 1 m for active cables (and those are very expensive). Meanwhile, a bog-standard charging cable can easily be several metres long. I doubt every cable will become an active Thunderbolt cable; that's simply not realistic or economical.
tzs 6y ago
What we need is a reasonably priced dongle that you can plug into an arbitrary USB-C port and it tells you what that port supports.
legohead 6y ago
I've had more issues with USB-C connections wearing out than other formats, even micro&mini-usb. My phone barely charges at this point, which is frustrating because it otherwise performs fine. I'm going to have to buy a new phone because of the damn charging port! I was considering how many times I've actually plugged it in. Worst case for me would be 3x/day. At 3 years, that's only ~3300 times. Surely they stress tested the connection more than that before production? Of course, these days I'm plugging it like 20x/day because it falls out or just doesn't work.
- pinkythepig 6y ago
  my phone had an issue with charging cables falling out. Turns out the port had compacted lint jammed in it. Turned the phone off and used a needle to clean it all out, phone retains cables now like the day it was new.
  - sgtnoodle 6y ago
    This. My phone reports "moisture detected" or oscillates between charging and not charging when there's crud inside the socket. I mechanically scrape it with the tip of a sharp pair of tweezers when it's lint, or I use the tweezers to swab with little pieces of paper towel soaked in isopropyl alcohol when it's something more nefarious. I don't even bother turning my phone off, but it's rated as water resistant and so I am pretty confident that there aren't any voltages present when disconnected. Even on non-waterproof phones, though, any voltage persistently applied to pins on an external connector will result in corrosion over time, so it shouldn't be a problem to just mechanically scrape gently with a dry metal needle.

sneak 6y ago

This is true of electrical power outlets (15A/20A), HDMI, schrader valves, RJ45 (this one especially!), and many other things in life, and I don't think it's very fair to pick on USB-C in this manner when it does so many other things much better than previous alternatives.

bellyfullofbac 6y ago
But USB was supposed to be the unifying connector. Before: "Here in the back of the computer we have PS/2 ports (1 for keyboard and 1 for mouse), a parallel port, serial, 25-pin serial, game port". Introducing USB: "Everything is USB now! Plug anything anywhere!" USB version whatever: "Well the sockets look all the same, but you can only plug your display in here, to charge it you have to connect it here", etc, etc.
unwind 6y ago
But the point is that USB was introduced more or less on the promise of not being like that. When USB 1.1 came in the late 90s, it was pretty nice. Lots of different ports and cables went away, and all were replaced by standardized USB ports and cables. You could geek out and learn the difference of upstream (A, host) and downstream (B, device) ports, the various types of B port sizes, and that was it. Later USB 2.0 was introduced and just (bam!) made it all 40 times faster, but it still logically worked pretty much the same. Then USB 3.x came and just blew all that to h-ll, which is frustrating for both old bearded geeks, and* new/non-technical users.
- mminer237 6y ago
  For consumers, wasn't USB 3.0 just USB 2.0 but a few times faster? USB-C is what is confusing to some people. Replacing micro USB was straightforward enough, but replacing USB-A is a rough process.
  - tsbinz 6y ago
    USB 3 is also what kills your wifi if things aren't properly done (e.g. https://medium.com/ghostbar/your-usb-3-0-hub-is-killing-your-wifi-some-of-them-yes-a3c343dc4000 https://medium.com/ghostbar/your-usb-3-0-hub-is-killing-your... - and it's not only a mac problem), so it's not just 2.0 but faster.
- mumblemumble 6y ago
  I guess? Except that my desk has three USB cords, each with a color-coded label so that I can tell what each one is for. One is seemingly the only one that will charge my e-reader, but only does low speed data transmission so it never really gets used for anything but my e-reader. Another is power only and therefore useful for charging devices without my computer attempting to talk to them. And a third is a proper, modern (ish, I suppose), well-behaved USB 2.0 cable.
kristiandupont 6y ago
I am reminded of Einsteins quote about making things as simple as possible but no simpler. I feel that USB-C is an attempt to make things just a bit simpler than possible. With USB-A and -B, there is a physical indication of the direction of flow (data and/or current). Just "connecting" two things is sometimes unambiguous, but sometimes it's not.
- thedanbob 6y ago
  From what I remember reading about the spec, USB-C feels like an attempt to make things simpler for users (one plug for everything!) and manufacturers (here's all the things you can do, but they're all optional!) simultaneously, which of course just makes things more complicated for everyone.
jdsully 6y ago
20A plugs look different, they have a prong rotated 90 degrees.
- cesarb 6y ago
  Where I live (which uses the NBR 14136 standard), the 20A plugs and sockets look identical to the 10A plugs and sockets, the pins and corresponding holes are only slightly larger (so that a 10A plug fits on a 20A socket, but not the reverse).
BrandoElFollito 6y ago
> This is true of electrical power outlets (15A/20A) You mean that one can hold 15A and the other - 20A? If so, they do work the same, they just have different capacities (like a tap, some of them will provide more water, others less but they work the same (especially if they look the same))
mauvehaus 6y ago
There are actually different connectors for 15 and 20 amp devices in the US under NEMA. You do see NEMA 5-15R receptacles on 20A circuits in residential applications, but that's probably because most appliances don't require 20 amps. A 5-15 connector has two vertical prongs, a 5-20 has a horizontal and a vertical, with the special case of receptacles with a T slot that fits both 5-15 and 5-20 plugs. It goes a bit deeper than that though: A NEMA 6-20 also has a horizontal and vertical prong, but they're reversed from a 5-20 so you can't plug them in in an incompatible (and likely hazardous) way. The whole standard is really well thought out. I went down the rabbit hole when I got an old table saw with a 6-20 plug and had to figure out what the hell to plug it in to (dryer outlet, via a "custom" extension cord). I feel like I haven't seen too many uses of Schrader valves that are likely to cause havoc. Most of the use cases for them besides tires are pretty obviously special and distinct from one another. I mean, I'd hope nobody's ever hooked a bike pump up to their air conditioner or a can of R134a to a tire...
- sneak 6y ago
  > You do see NEMA 5-15R receptacles on 20A circuits in residential applications This is, of course, what I was talking about. I do appreciate the nuances of the 15/20 T-socket and the 6-20/5-20 symmetry; NEMA is super cool (aside from the fact that bladed plugs that aren't twist-lock are sort of lame/less safe in general, at least compared to the UK standard bladed plug). It's a fun rabbit hole to venture down: my occasion was having to adapt straight-blade wall box receptacles that the electrician installed to the twist-lock of the PDUs we had bought. There's also a fun and confusing mess of competing DC connector standards. I haven't decided what 12/48VDC connectors I'm going to put into my new house build yet (beyond the obviously mandatory 5V USB).
  - mauvehaus 6y ago
    That's never bothered me, but I guess I see your point. I always figured that the point of having a 20A circuit with 15A receptacles was so that you can plug in and run two 10A devices without popping the breaker. Stupid question: are there any common household appliances that draw 20A? I've only ever seen the T receptacles in non-household uses.

airhead969 6y ago

And why didn't it use a water-/corrosion-proof, breakaway magnetic connector?

gumby 6y ago
Cost. At least the part that wears out first is on the cable, not the device. That was one of the botches of mini-UCB A

magicalhippo 6y ago

> just because the two USB-C ports on a laptop look the same, doesn’t mean they work the same. This is already a solved problem[1] through color coding. Not sure why they couldn't use that scheme. Maybe combine a few to indicate things like DisplayPort and Thunderbolt capability, could have up to four quadrants for example. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC_System_Design_Guide#Color-coding_scheme_for_connectors_and_ports https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC_System_Design_Guide#Color-c...

Piskvorrr 6y ago
Nope. That's a UX fail: "of course they're different, didn't you RTFM and observe the correct color?"
tenacious_tuna 6y ago
> this is already a solved problem through color coding Speaking from experience, I don't think most end users are liable to pay enough attention to their ports to notice the color coding. I remember family members being confused by the blue 3.0 ports when those were a thing--now there's also red ones, and different color C ones, and some C ports have the little lightning bolt and some don't, and most users don't know what THAT means. The value-add of USB C was supposedly you didn't have to buy different cables for different purposes now, you could just slap everything on a C port. But of course that's not truly the case, and we're now in a messy soup of standards and capabilities that even to seasoned tech professionals are hard to disentangle, much less for end users. Calling this a solved problem 'cuz they slapped some colors on some of the ports is missing the forest for the trees.
- yarcob 6y ago
  Does the bolt mean Thunderbolt or power delivery?
  - sgtnoodle 6y ago
    My wife's laptop has three USB-C ports and the laptop charges off all 3, but only one has the bolt. I strongly suspect it means Thunderbolt support, i.e. it's the only port that will work well with a dock.

marcosdumay 6y ago

Between USB2, USB2-Power, and USB3, I haven't got a laptop that I know what USB port does what in a long time... And I still didn't get any with USB-C.

myself248 6y ago
To make it worse, there's a Thunderbolt port which is indicated by a little lightning-bolt near it, and a charging port which is indicated by a little lightning bolt near it, and neither of those has anything to do with the Lightning connector. Some USB-C ports have DisplayPort output, so there's a DP near them. Some do Power Delivery, so there's a battery near them. And some are also a power input to the laptop, so there might be other random symbols near them. It's chaos. I just juggle plugs until I get the expected behavior, and sometimes I never do because it's not implemented. I've given up.

avian 6y ago

I find it funny how people used to complain about the sheer number of times they had to explain to family members exactly the opposite: "No need to ask. If you can plug it in, then it will work. Computers are fool-proof like that. No, it's not like the jacks on the hi-fi" As in, someone got a new mouse and didn't know where to plug it into their computer, when in fact there was only one DB-9 connector on the computer where it will physically fit and it would be the correct one.

temac 6y ago
I'm not even sure this was strictly true at one point. As soon as PS/2 keyboard vs mouse plugs, you had problems. Plus you had (and still have) various audio jacks on the computer anyway. Back to the mouse even prior to PS/2 you often had COM1 and COM2 and if I remember correctly you actually could not replug the mouse on the other port in a plug-and-plug way. You also could have very weird video cabling in the 3DFX 1 and 2 era. But yes, I agree the USB-C plug mess is probably the worst. It has became worse than what it "wanted" to solve. The only way to make it work as broadly advertised again would be if all plugs supported all protocols (that make sense for a given device) and PD options, etc. on all devices and with common cables, at max bandwidth everywhere, but not only I'm not sure this is technically possible, this would probably be cost prohibitive. And so what is the point? The net number of ports decreases on laptops, and there is no need on most gadget devices (beyond data+PD). The only point is for manufacturers to economize 50 cts and make the new inferior laptops pass as better than the old ones because they use the shinny new USB-C plugs. I would be happy if the price was actually 1/2 of the old models.
gregmac 6y ago
I think this was at its peak when basically every computer had only USB 2.0 ports. You pretty much could plug in anything to anything, so long as it fit. Not to say there were no issues -- USB 1.1 hubs, cable length limits -- but they were so incredibly minor compared to today. USB 3 introduced blue plugs, complicating things slightly but still everything basically worked, and if something was operating slower than expected it was at least obvious by the color. Then 3.1 and USB-C came out, and apparently USB-IF lots its collective mind. Now you have you pay attention to see if your ports, cables and devices are "USB 3.0" or "USB 3.1 gen 1" or "USB 3.2 Gen 1" or "Superspeed" or "Superspeed 5Gbps".. (Btw, trick question: all of those are the same thing).

medium_burrito 6y ago

The 737 Max quote "designed by clowns, who in turn are supervised by monkeys" seems appropriate for USB-C too.

xoa 6y ago

I feel like this is a temporary state of affairs that falls into the bucket of "regrettable but unavoidable". Over time I think the standard march of mass manufacture, refinement, miniaturization, and so on will result in every single USB-C plug on a general purpose device (like a notebook) doing the max of the standard. They'll all be Thunderbolt 4/USB 4 or whatever, and thus able to do everything. Cables production will also scale up and become cheaper, and at some point every single cable one would typically find will be capable of handling whatever. There aren't any fundamental scaling blockers, like some dependency on rare metals or something. But it's still costly at the start of the refinement cycle, and it's hard to bootstrap without allowing manufacturers to do cheaper cut down feature versions to get the ball rolling. It needs to provide some marginal value in the mean time and real promise, even if it means some higher overhead in the establishment phase. So for someone buying a new device in 2025 or 2030, USB-C may still exist but I think issues with what ports do what will be lessened. We already see devices like Macbook Pros where all the USB-C ports are functional, and while those are on the higher end of pricing they aren't stratospheric enterprise territory either. I suspect it won't take that many hardware generations for that sort of thing to spread downward. The question is if that's worth the immediate trouble. And at least for USB-C, I personally think it'll be worth it. It's a good connector, and the improved capabilities are valuable. We've had USB-A for a long, long time, and it doesn't seem unreasonable to guess that USB-C will stick around similarly. There was demand for something more compact and reversible with other QoL benefits along for the ride, and I think it's worth the upfront cost to get the whole industry onboard something that can converge rather then ending up with various manufacturers going their own routes.

frosted-flakes 6y ago
There will always be some inconsistencies that consumers will need to be aware of. For example, Thundetbolt cables are limited in length, to about 0.5 m for passive cables and 1 m for active cables (and those are very expensive). Meanwhile, a bog-standard charging cable can easily be several metres long. I doubt every cable will become an active Thunderbolt cable; that's simply not realistic or economical.

tzs 6y ago

What we need is a reasonably priced dongle that you can plug into an arbitrary USB-C port and it tells you what that port supports.

legohead 6y ago

I've had more issues with USB-C connections wearing out than other formats, even micro&mini-usb. My phone barely charges at this point, which is frustrating because it otherwise performs fine. I'm going to have to buy a new phone because of the damn charging port! I was considering how many times I've actually plugged it in. Worst case for me would be 3x/day. At 3 years, that's only ~3300 times. Surely they stress tested the connection more than that before production? Of course, these days I'm plugging it like 20x/day because it falls out or just doesn't work.

pinkythepig 6y ago
my phone had an issue with charging cables falling out. Turns out the port had compacted lint jammed in it. Turned the phone off and used a needle to clean it all out, phone retains cables now like the day it was new.
- sgtnoodle 6y ago
  This. My phone reports "moisture detected" or oscillates between charging and not charging when there's crud inside the socket. I mechanically scrape it with the tip of a sharp pair of tweezers when it's lint, or I use the tweezers to swab with little pieces of paper towel soaked in isopropyl alcohol when it's something more nefarious. I don't even bother turning my phone off, but it's rated as water resistant and so I am pretty confident that there aren't any voltages present when disconnected. Even on non-waterproof phones, though, any voltage persistently applied to pins on an external connector will result in corrosion over time, so it shouldn't be a problem to just mechanically scrape gently with a dry metal needle.