If they did that, they’d have to then say ‘how is it still the wrong way?’, then pull it out, flip it back over and try a third time.
The problem is you are looking. It is actually quite easy to feel the underside of the old USB plug. I plug in the charger on my old e-reader without looking. The top side is smooth and the underside is not; it is crimped. Not sure how to describe that, but the feel is unmistakable. That said, the USB-C is brilliant.
Didn’t someone once say that USB was the best way to explain a 1/2 spin particle?
I don’t feel for it, but I do look for the crimping on the underside.as in this photo.
USB-C is easy to plug in, but after that it is a mess.
The same connector supports multiple different protocols: USB, DisplayPort, PowerDelivery, and Thunderbolt. Also the permutations of the combinations of those.
Cables might support one or more of those protocols. Cables might support PowerDelivery only up to certain power levels. Cables might support higher speeds.
The connectors and cables look the same regardless of which protocols and levels they support. (Sometimes cables that support more might be thicker, but that isn’t a guarantee.)
So you can be in the situation where your laptop won’t charge, because you’re using the USB-C cable that came with your phone, and it only supports 18W. Your monitor doesn’t work, because it’s plugged into the USB-C port on your laptop which doesn’t support DisplayPort. Etc.
Still a huge improvement over USB, which is a big improvement over serial, parallel, ps2, vga, etc.
Really? I’ve only had limited exposure to USB-C but I was hoping to replace my collection of USB-A cables, mini USB, micro USB, VGA, DisplayPort, DVI, and so forth with one type of cable. I had no idea that all USB-C cables were not alike. That’s stupid.
These are just the first few listings off Monoprice’s USB-C page:
- USB 3.2 Gen 2 Data & Power 100 Watts
- USB 2.0 Charge & Sync 100 Watts
- USB 3.2 Gen 1 Charge & Sync 5Gbps 3 Amps
- USB 3.2 Gen 2 10Gbps 5 Amps
- USB 4 Gen 3x2 40Gbps 100 Watts
Those all have a USB-C plug on both ends.
If you just want a charging cable for the car, it probably doesn’t matter, until 3 years from now when you pull that cable out of a drawer and use it to plug in an external drive and performance is terrible because it’s only USB 2.
They’ve come up with a set of icons to try and differentiate things.
OK, now I have to memorize a series of icons to understand whether a cable I pick up out of the bin will work for what I need. Not much of an improvement. Perhaps I just acquire a bunch of the most capable sort, even if they’re more expensive, just to avoid the mess?
Of course this is all academic at the moment. I have very few devices that even use USB-C and the computers I’ve seen have only one or two USB-C ports, so we’re still relying on good old-fashioned USB-A ports.
In America, we have been dealing with this issue with regular 120 volt power plugs for years. I don’t know when it started, but at some point they started making one prong wider than the other, so it only goes in the right way. But I never got the point of this, since I was told that AC current reverses itself 60 times a second, so how can there be a right and wrong way?
I used to file down the wide prong so it would go in either way. I never ruined an appliance or have had anything else bad happen. My brother, who understands these things, has explained to me more than once why I shouldn’t do this, but I suspect he’s wrong and 99 times out of a hundred it really makes no difference.
heh wait until Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo make USB cords that only fit their system …trying to find a 3rd party cord to charge my ps4 controller was a bitch … I finally found one when I accidentally plugged in my pirate retro handheld from china’s cord in the ps4 …and even better since it came with its own wall plug I can charge my controller straight from the wall when im not charging the handheld