The USB consortium still doesn’t have their shit together, USBC is a garbage standard.
Open a drawer of random USBC cables and tell me which ones support which features, or even which features exist. It’s one connector and a half dozen different standards that support different speeds, data types, power amounts, display support, etc. It’s a nightmare to debug and shop for, and every devices you buy has a different random cable.
The only USBC standard thats good is Thunderbolt because it is always clear what it supports, but Intel owns that standard.
I’m not against phones being USBC, I’m against the stupid standard. Is incredibly annoying and confusing when I ask you for a cable and you give me one that doesn’t support fast charging (USB PD), or one that has usb 2.0 transfer speeds, or doesn’t support “alt mode” to work with my computer monitor.
In order to pass through the USB-IF Compliance Program, all USB-C® to USB-C cables categories must be labelled with either a power capability of 60W or 240W by using the appropriate power icon and/or logo. The USB-IF now requires that all cables must be labeled with the 60W or 240W logo prior to compliance testing so that testing can confirm the intended display of such icons/logos. The policy now extends to all USB-C to USB-C cables. These markings must be checked before compliance testing can begin.
In addition to the power markings, in order to pass through the USB-IF Compliance Program, all cables except for High-Speed USB (USB 2.0) USB-C to USB-C cables, are required to be marked with the appropriate data rate they can support. An example, a USB 20Gbps USB-C – USB-C cable that supports 20V at 3A must be marked with the Combined Performance and Power 20Gbps/60W logo.
The logo is useful for data transfer, but for power delivery you can usually find the outputs on the adapter. For example, my 65W USB-C charging cable supports 3A at 5V/9V/15V and 3.25A at 20V. It’s not very consumer friendly, sure, but at least it’s simple (higher is “better”).
As if 99% of cables aren’t bought at dollar stores and gas stations to charge phones for 2 weeks before being lost or damaged. And none of them bother with USB logos.
All I really care about it the durability of the phone port, and usb c looks far more inherently fragile than lightning. 1/4 of the USB Cs on my MacBook Pro have issues, and my phone gets plugged and unplugged far more often, and only has one port.
I feel the same way about durability but apparently usb-c is rated to 10,000 insertions. Idk though. The lightning port has been very solid in regular use but I can’t say the same about the usb-c ports I’ve known.
Eventually wireless charging will be the standard so it might not matter as much for phones.
As if PCIe 4.0 x4 is much better. You’re looking at the technical documentation here.
Besides that, there are supposed to be markings on the cable. If there aren’t, you’ve bought a shit cable. You’re looking for these logoz on the cable:
Ignore the spec name, obviously, that’s not directed at consumers. You’re also looking for this logo on a charger:
If these logos aren’t present on the packaging or on the products themselves, look for something better.
As for device support: any Android device with Play Services must support the USB power delivery. iPhones and other Apple products with USB C support fast charging. You’re only really left guessing with laptops, and even those come with a little icon to indicate which ports support charging these days.
People choose to get hung up on the weird naming schemes USB comes up with, but unless you’re designing a device those protocol names mean nothing to you. Stick with the customer facing logos.
I usually flex my cables a bit to figure out their types, if it’s stiff enough, chance that it supports PD. The only way to be sure is to plug it in though and pray the cable is not shitty enough to ruin your device.
The USB consortium still doesn’t have their shit together, USBC is a garbage standard.
Open a drawer of random USBC cables and tell me which ones support which features, or even which features exist. It’s one connector and a half dozen different standards that support different speeds, data types, power amounts, display support, etc. It’s a nightmare to debug and shop for, and every devices you buy has a different random cable.
The only USBC standard thats good is Thunderbolt because it is always clear what it supports, but Intel owns that standard.
I’m not against phones being USBC, I’m against the stupid standard. Is incredibly annoying and confusing when I ask you for a cable and you give me one that doesn’t support fast charging (USB PD), or one that has usb 2.0 transfer speeds, or doesn’t support “alt mode” to work with my computer monitor.
Thankfully, they recently introduced logo requirements for this exact reason.
Here’s a table of the logos
Hopefully that improves things, and the logos are not weird and arcane like I half expected.
The logo is useful for data transfer, but for power delivery you can usually find the outputs on the adapter. For example, my 65W USB-C charging cable supports 3A at 5V/9V/15V and 3.25A at 20V. It’s not very consumer friendly, sure, but at least it’s simple (higher is “better”).
As if 99% of cables aren’t bought at dollar stores and gas stations to charge phones for 2 weeks before being lost or damaged. And none of them bother with USB logos.
All I really care about it the durability of the phone port, and usb c looks far more inherently fragile than lightning. 1/4 of the USB Cs on my MacBook Pro have issues, and my phone gets plugged and unplugged far more often, and only has one port.
I mean… That’s exactly why “unlabeled” is defaulted to USB 2 speeds and less than 60W. They’re already labeled correctly for this update.
Wait, you’re complaining that they’re standardizing logos so that the cables capabilities are clear?
I mean, what would your solution be other than bitching?
I feel the same way about durability but apparently usb-c is rated to 10,000 insertions. Idk though. The lightning port has been very solid in regular use but I can’t say the same about the usb-c ports I’ve known.
Eventually wireless charging will be the standard so it might not matter as much for phones.
I’d be curious to see how many of those cables without logos are actually USB certified as opposed to being compatible with the spec.
USB 3.2 Gen 2x2
A group of people thought that was a good name for the protocol. And as you were saying, with no marking to indicate the cable is compatible.
As if PCIe 4.0 x4 is much better. You’re looking at the technical documentation here.
Besides that, there are supposed to be markings on the cable. If there aren’t, you’ve bought a shit cable. You’re looking for these logoz on the cable:
Ignore the spec name, obviously, that’s not directed at consumers. You’re also looking for this logo on a charger:
If these logos aren’t present on the packaging or on the products themselves, look for something better.
As for device support: any Android device with Play Services must support the USB power delivery. iPhones and other Apple products with USB C support fast charging. You’re only really left guessing with laptops, and even those come with a little icon to indicate which ports support charging these days.
People choose to get hung up on the weird naming schemes USB comes up with, but unless you’re designing a device those protocol names mean nothing to you. Stick with the customer facing logos.
I usually flex my cables a bit to figure out their types, if it’s stiff enough, chance that it supports PD. The only way to be sure is to plug it in though and pray the cable is not shitty enough to ruin your device.