Same here. I wish it wasn’t proprietary and pricey, but man, it is so much better than Micro USB. I have a Logitech mouse that eats batteries, so I have a choice of either replacing the AA NiMH every ~16 hours of use or plugging it into a micro USB cable to charge. It’s always a bit of a trial, and I keep thinking I’m going to break it. I plug in my iPad most nights and it’s trivial and feels sturdy.
Micro USB is horrible. I’ve broken more than one micro USB jack (even though I’m quite careful) because I couldn’t tell which way was which. Sometimes it feels like it will break even when it is inserted correctly. Fiddly. Flimsy. Stupid.
Diego
That’s what she said! Am I doing it right guys? Huh?
You’re demonstrating that you get it again, aren’t you.
I can’t tell anymore.
I’ve never had problems with micro USB. It not exactly complicated people…
It’s smaller than the other and doesn’t go both ways.
“That’s what she said! Ho, ho, ho!”
You realize this is very rude, right? It’s such a common problem that the connector is notorious, and engineers for both Apple and the USB group felt it necessary to find a solution. You’re dismissing the frustrations of a wide range of people, many of them very technically astute, because you, personally don’t have a problem. This disregard for the user experience is why we have Windows 8.
You’re right, it’s not complicated, since in theory there are only 2 positions. In the real world, though, there are a near-infinite number of ways you can misalign any connector with tiny errors of positioning. Whether this matters or not depends on the tolerances of the connector. USB connectors, even large ones like USB-A, have fairly fine tolerances, and it’s remarkably easy to make a small error that looks like it should fit, but is off enough that it doesn’t.
The “flip the USB” meme exists because of those tolerances. The user is has the gross orientation right, but is off just enough so it doesn’t insert correctly. Because they can’t easily see that the gross orientation is right, they flip it, because they think it’s the gross orientation that is wrong, not a tiny misalignment.
If this is such a common error that there are multiple cartoons about it, and the cartoons are about the USB-A connector, why should it be surprising that the much smaller micro-B connector has the same problem? It’s made worse by the fact that it can be hard to eyeball the difference in width between the micro-B top and bottom in anything less than bright, direct light.
Half of the engineering of the Lightning connector isn’t that it’s reversible. It’s that all four edges of the simple rectangle have rounded shoulders, instead of the square edges of the USB connectors. These guide the connector into the jack when there’s a slight misalignment, so it’s much more tolerant of errors.
If a lot of users are making errors you consider stupid, sneering at them for being idiots may make you feel superior, but it’s much better to come up with a solution which minimizes or eliminates the user frustration.
I take your point, Gus, but your position is also based on anecdata. Do you have proof that micro USB is difficult to use for most people, or are you generalizing from your own experiences and preference for another connector?
Of course I don’t have a study. My evidence that it’s a widespread problem is 1) the USB group had enough evidence that it was an issue that they designed another connector, and 2) the “flip the USB” joke resonates with enough people’s experiences that they find it funny and pass it along.
Are you arguing that the “flip the USB” memes - of which we have two instances in this thread - are not popular?
Just from a 3rd party, your tone seems much ruder than his, particularly since it’s actually confrontational.
“It’s not exactly complicated people” isn’t confrontational? It’s not implying anyone who expresses frustration with USB connectors must be an idiot?
I think you’re missing my point. The USB group’s reason for existence is to extend USB. They’ll design new protocols and connectors until the cows come home. They’re not going to “finish” USB in any format regardless of its capability at any level of the stack.
I’m arguing against generalizing from your experience into a population and you’re rebutting by asking me to do the same. I’m no more in a position to assert that something’s not popular than you are to assert that it IS popular; that’s my very point. You have your opinion, Jason has his. In the absence of any kind of concrete data, yours is no more valid than his.
I fucking love butterscotch, can’t get enough of the stuff. Others have told me that they like it too. Therefore…everyone likes butterscotch and you’re a poopoo head if you don’t.
Same thing.
No, actually, it’s not.
I’m not asserting that everyone likes butterscotch. I’m examining in detail why people who like butterscotch like butterscotch. I’m pointing out the obvious: that while not everyone likes butterscotch, enough people do to make it a commercially viable candy.
Jason, on the other hand, is saying that he doesn’t like butterscotch, and you’re an idiot if you do.
I’m saying he’s a poopoo head for dismissing everyone who likes butterscotch, merely because he doesn’t.
See the difference? (Kindly overlook that I’ve inverted who likes what, I’m running with your analogy here).
This forum has some insane idea that to plug in a usb cable requires a masters in Cabullshitology. I’m not sure if it is just apple fans or people who like to hugely exaggerate (i’ve plugged in at least 99 million Usbs and not one has broken).
Jokes aside, i’ve always blind plugged in Usbs of all types and never once broken one. I have all sorts of gadgets and crap that uses different Usb connectors and while sometimes i do flip it around a few times, it is basically never a problem even in the dark.
About the only device i have that requires vision is my jawbone bluetooth headset which has a micro usb port at a very odd angle.
I’m not saying people are stupid for having problems with USB cables, just that they way overstate the “problem.”
Also, the reason Apple made the lightning cable is pretty clearly not for a superior user experience. They wanted to gouge their customers for a new cable that couldn’t be made at a decent price, because they specifically added tech to it to not allow that. This to me is a prime example of a company being complete assholes.
So yes, if they want to make a decently priced usb cable that is otherwise similar to the lightning cable, i will be all over that, but if they decide to take the apple route, I will pass and make use of my mastery of usb cables.
I frikkin’ hate Apple, and I don’t think that greed was their sole motivator for introducing a new connector. I agree that they make a point of putting copy protection into goddamned cables, and they did that before the Lightning, which makes them complete assholes. But I think it’s a bit over the top to think the Lightning connector is purely about that.
The 30 pin connector was huge. It really did need to go, given the iPhone / iPod form factor. So why not USB, micro or mini?
Because the iPhone / iPod / iPad are not peripherals. They’re computers, like your laptop. They need to act as host devices as well as clients. They need to connect to speaker docks and suchlike. They need card readers, though the Apple “photo kit” is half-assed in this regard. A card reader should not have a USB A connector. To follow the standard properly, iOS devices should have both USB A and USB B ports.
I think they should have gone that route, but a single, smaller connector that can be both host and client also makes a certain amount of sense on phone sized devices.
(I originally just said: “I wish you’d opened with this so I could’ve started disregarding your whole post right away.”)
Edit: It’s the morning now and that was jerky of me. I don’t think it’s fair or safe to assume Apple changed the cable to gouge customers and I’m surprised to hear people actually think that. I’ll try to explain more if I have time later, but for now, sorry about the originally unhelpful and rude addition to the thread.
This is somewhat surprising. I just never realized my struggles with USB plugs would be universal. Makes sense, though. It really isn’t a problem, though, it is more of an inconvenience.
Yes45
This also is true. I used a great many words to explain why I sometimes struggle with USB connectors of all stripes, which makes it sound like it’s terribly difficult, whereas it’s really me trying to explain why something that ought to be trivial isn’t always trivial.
Sometimes my mouse pisses me off. Sometimes it seems to go easily. Lots of connectors have the same problem, connecting the 30 pin connector to my iPod in the dark was often a huge trial. Which I often did rather than turn on a light and disturb my wife. Now I’ve got a 30 pin cable with a built-in light. And I can say that I’ve never had a problem with the Lightning connector in the dark. Apple may be assholes and the cables expensive, but it is easier.
Maybe I’m just a lot clumsier than the Murbellas of the world. I had to change some lights in a ceiling fixture today, and I had to make several goes of getting it back together. There was a metal rod hanging from the ceiling, and I just could not line up the hole in the glass dome with that rod. I had to get down off the stepladder and look up so I could view the rod more directly, and I still knocked the washer inside the dome away a few times before I got it right.