Hello,
This does not directly relate to android or android devices but as this seems to be one of the more active communities, I thought I should give it a shot here.
I’m Wondering why the USB C socket and plug have the geometry they have. To me, it seems like the more complex hardware is located in the socket which is located on the more expensive device compared to the cable. Firebolt (is that the apple standard’s name?) seem to handle it the opposite by having the flat plug with bare contacts.
Background is that I have frequently had issues with charging my phone due to dust or other dirt getting suck in the socket. Lacking adequate household items, I had to use a small screw driver to get the dirt out, which I think in general a bad idea.
Are there any technical reasons to have the flat contact in the center of the usb socket rather than the plug?
as someone from the apple world, our lightning standard isn’t that much better. Not only is it slower, but the plug also gets full of dust. I usually clean it out with a toothpick every couple months.
It’s just one of those things that are quite annoying but won’t be changed until we have portless (and always overheating lol) phones.
For one thing - the last thing I would want under these circumstances is for a $50 chipped cable sold only through Google - how Apple currently does.
There may be legitimate reasons to have the technology side inside the cable, but this isn’t one of them. No thanks.
a $50 chipped cable sold only through Google - how Apple currently does.
I think this may have been true 15 years ago, before there were third party cables, but the usually pay $5-10 for my Lightning cables
Although …. I can sell you some genuine cables brand new, for the low low price of $49.99, for a huge discount over whatever your imaginary source is
https://www.macrumors.com/2023/02/10/apple-planning-to-limit-iphone-15-usb-c-port/
Get up to date chump
Not an answer because I don’t know, but I recommend using magnetic cables. That way you don’t need to worry about damaging the connector on the phone, and you can use the same cable for USB-C, micro and Lightning.
Also yea don’t use a screwdriver to clean stuff, geez. Just cut a piece of paper or if it’s too stuck, get some isopropyl alcohol and toothpicks.
The magnetic cables can short the pins never meant to be shorted by attracting random metal shavings. For microUSB it was relatively benign with only 4-5 pins (lots of space between them) and low voltage. With USB-C I wouldn’t dare to try it due to it having much more pins and often much higher voltage (Power Delivery). It’s perfectly possible to fry a device with a bad short in such conditions.
The springs are on the cable side for USB-C, which is good because those are always the thing that breaks first.
Apple has them on the port, which isn’t ideal because it’s hard to replace that port once it fails.
USB-C ports are very hard to damage. I scratch the dirt out of mine with a needle about once a year and since the springs are in the cable, you don’t need to be careful.
Use a wooden toothpick, not a conductive metal screw. Geez!
In terms of WHY? It’s 1/2 dozen of one, 6 or so of another. Yeah, the Apple solution seems more robust, and I have no doubt it is. Apple gets a lot of shit, most of it well deserved, but I also have little doubt that they tested the hell out of their connector to be incredibly robust.
I too think their solution seems better, but if yiu are abusing your device enough to where you are breaking the connector, something is wrong.
Apple was one of the major contributors to the USB-C standard, including the physical connectors.
The tongue design was used because it makes high speed a lot easier. If your traces are in the center of the connector, you can do a cutout of the PCB and mount a “dumb” connector housing for the socket. You can also have a ground plane right in the middle and use both sides for differential pairs, which is exactly what happened. It also means you don’t have to deal with the pain of high frequency signals leaving the board into the air like other connectors.
But yes, don’t shove screwdrivers into your USB sockets either.
They probably did test it… and made it worse for planed obsolescence.
For cleaning out the connector, I get a piece of flat clamshell packaging, cut it into a V shape, then use that to carefully scrape out the gunk in the connector. It really helps if you have a stereo microscope or even a loupe, but isn’t required.
I wonder if having a more exposed ‘open’ port without the tongue would lead to more damaging debris getting lodged inside.
I shave a toothpick down to be half the width at the tip and use it to clean out lint etc
