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Personally I'm quite glad I don't need to have a phone thick enough to plug this into
Yet it is with increasing regularity that I now see people with a secondary inch thick battery to charge their 'phones from.
Rather makes a mockery of their nice slim devices. 😆
Mini USB worked for me, my mobile, camera, playstation et cetera all worked off the same cable.
Much more reliable than the newer shapes and sizes from my experience (work in a pub so always charging customers' telling bones).
You can get fast charge adapters you stick on the end of the cable which do just that and are fairly cheap.
They also have the effect of making it charge only rather than charge and sync. Handy when you're charging from somewhere where the source isn't trusted (PC in an Internet café, for instance).
Portapow do variations of them, and they'd a pretty decent explanation of how / why on their site last time I looked.
USB is a decent albeit argueably not perfect standard
It has a major gaping security floor in it though - the device provides the driver which normally runs with root privilege and no checks. Basically it's a highly effective method of spreading malware, very handy for infecting air gapped computers....
Hence fast charging data block cables:
[url= http://www.portablepowersupplies.co.uk/portapow-fast-charge-data-block-micro-usb-cable/ ]Ta-da![/url]
It has a major gaping security floor
Scary!
[quote=theauthorities ]have no old-style devices.
Ah, you're referring to the "old-style" devices which came out when micro USB was already a standard for charging devices made by everybody else - since when Apple have changed their standard twice?
I don't see any issue with the "device" end of USB cables - 3 standards depending on the size of device, with the middle size dying out now micro is becoming ubiquitous (my old camera has a 4th different one which is a pain as I can never find the right cable, but that's because it is unusual). The problem with USB is with the A connector, which is a particularly rubbish design which could have been hugely improved by making the outside of the connector asymmetric in the same way all the others are.
You can get reversible USB-A cables. Basically the 'tongue' bit without the outer shell, and then the connectors duplicated on the other side. (The OnePlus phones come with such a thing, I think.)
The problem with USB is with the A connector, which is a particularly rubbish design which could have been hugely improved by making the outside of the connector asymmetric in the same way all the others are.
I'd say the main problem with USB is precisely the asymmetry, one thing that Apple got right.
And USB type C got right.
The OnePlus 2 and 3 phones are USB-C ? so reversible by design. X or 1 might be micro USB. But it's only the A connector that has an issue with being the wrong way round every time you try it. The plug has a logo which indicate "up", but that's useless when host device mfrs put sockets in random orientations.
I was doing my nut trying to find the USB connector on my 3D printer... ****ing chinese crap, they've used some different board and it doesn't have the USB, pricks!
Had another look at the USB lead- it's standard on one end, B on the other, I didn't even know USB B was a thing so I'd ignored the socket thinking it was a network cable or connector for some sensor I wasn't using 😳
[quote=Northwind ]I didn't even know USB B was a thing
😯
half your problem will be that you're using cheap cables, you need to replace the contents of your USB cable drawer with these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Nordost-Heimdall-USB-Cable-1-0m/dp/B00KSLVZY6
This joke was originally in a cartoon but I can't remember where and I can't draw so..
Industry bigwigs gather: "There are 16 different standards, all doing the same thing. This is ridiculous and inefficient. Let's have an industry wide agreement and establish a universal standard."
some time later...
There are now 17 different standards.
xkcd
One issue with Apple which I'm not sure has been discussed recently boiled my piss. Ive got an 80Mb Ipod classic whose sound gizmo has failed, OK so stuff breaks, it's about 6 years old, I'll get a new Touch. I've several radios and CD/Radio combos which have docking stations for said classic. New Touch is useless when connecting to these unless you buy their £25 connector which makes the IPod wobble about and looks as though it will break at any time, alternatively pay £35 for a wired one and have the IPod laid down on the radio which is also a bit crap. Any suggestions on this one?
MrNutt - Member
half your problem will be that you're using cheap cables, you need to replace the contents of your USB cable drawer with these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Nordost-Heimdall-USB-Cable-1-0m/dp/B00KSLVZY6
That's a bargain. PC World normally sell them for twice the price, insisting you need one even if there's a cable in the box anyway.
Any suggestions on this one?
Does the iPod have Bluetooth?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bluetooth-Receiver-Adapter-Speaker-Station-Support/dp/B00OQ1Z87E (and a host of similar devices).