Why USB-C is actually pretty cool

[Gregodav]

On long trips, I always bring my home rapid-charger and plug it into the 110v built-in inverter for faster charging.

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[INCRHULK]

All modern electronics are going to USB-C.

My phones have had that port for years now.

Others will surely follow. Except Apple phones. Because they are Nazis with their proprietary practices.

A bit of history behind the lightening port. Apple wanted to use USB C except the standards were being held up, and they needed to dump the 30pin connector. Now there is so much buy in on the cable they want to avoid the outcry that was the switch from 30pin. It’s going to happen. The iPads have started the transition.

 

[wibornz]

I have a Samsung Note 10+ so I rarely plug it in to charge in the car as I usually get two full days on a charge. I do plug in while traveling and found that the USB ports in the Jeep for traveling just suck. Yea, I typed that out loud. They suck. When I travel, I run a tablet also with Giai running so the tablet stays plugged in. I hated the charging cords running every where so I bought this. with some short USB-C cords.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0779D7DFG?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_dt_b_product_details

I was going to hard wire it in, but then got to thinking that hey this does not to be on the dash full time. While I do travel a lot, it is not every day..... I stuck a piece of Velcro on it so it stays put. It is tucked right up next to the 67 Design rail in the dash tray and out of the way. The charge prioritizes what needs to be charged also. This way I only have one wire running down the dash. Ithe USB-C cords that I bought are short and I wrap them a couple times around the 67 Design arm so they are out of the way and I no longer have a big mess all over the dash with cords every where.

 

[Varilux]

One downside to USB-C is that different cables have different capabilities. You may have to do some research to find what cable you need for faster charging (although I suspect if it charges slowly it’s due to the Jeep connector not being powered as high as it could be) or faster data transfers.

+1
It seems with USB-C (even more than with previous cables) the quality of the cable makes a LOT of difference. After a few months, I was having an issue with my Samsung Galaxy 10 not wanting to always hook up with Android Auto or dropping the connection, and- even when it stayed connected- the phone would indicate slow charging. I did some research and realized there are different quality cables. I bought a nice cable (can't remember the manufacturer now, but there is a white "W" printed on the end), and now it always connects AND charges fairly quickly. I have 25 minute drive home, and if the phone is around 50% when I leave work it is around 85-95% by the time I arrive home.
I then bought another cable for charging at home, and when I hook that up to my AC charger the phone now indicates "fast charging" (which it didn't do with any of the other cables I've used).

 

[wibornz]

How do you tell a quality cable from a run of the mill normal cable?

 

[INCRHULK]

How do you tell a quality cable from a run of the mill normal cable?

Price is a generally good indicator, there’s also a Google employee who tests USB C cables for spec, buy brand name and/or Apple Thunderbolt cables or USB C “sync” cables (they may still sell some that are only power).

Any thunderbolt cable is backwards compatible to USB C and tends to be very high quality due to signal and power requirements.

 

[INCRHULK]

How do you tell a quality cable from a run of the mill normal cable?

Wirecutter Review is a good starting place. I’m looking for the google reviewer/tester and his link.

 

[Varilux]

How do you tell a quality cable from a run of the mill normal cable?

I searched around for some reviews, and tried to find a particular cable that was mentioned often. In the end I went with a Belkin cable (which works fine), and a MOS cable (the one that is working really well in my Jeep). The MOS cable is only 1' long (wish they had 2' cables, but the 1' length allows me to connect my Samsung and put it in the front cup holder), and it has springs around each end of the cable (I guess to protect where the cable goes into the connector).
At least based on my own experience, these cables seem to work really well.

 

[ToddEichel]

Interesting thing I read regarding Apple phones, it's more likely that they're going to get rid of any physical connector port all together, than change from Lightning to USB-C. Apple is envisioning a future of completely wireless phones, once wireless charging and wireless CarPlay are more prevalent (say, 5 years or so given that many new cars are now coming with wireless charging pads and more are supporting CarPlay over BlueTooth). The issue with USB-C on the phone is that the port is about twice the thickness of Lightning so there would have to be some pretty serious hardware rearchitecting to make room for it. The iPad Pro's and MacBooks have it because there's more real estate to work with, but it wouldn't surprise me if iPhones never get USB-C.

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