Phone charger cables..... I thought they were standardised.

[mcshroom]

At least with usb-c the cable works either way up, which means it's only the usb-a end that you'll need to plug in 3 times to get the right way up.

 

[gunja99]

There was a standard, and they've replaced the old one with a new one. it's Apple that has their own. Think all new non apple phones for last 3 years come with the C connector, and yes either way up is awesome!

 

[tyred]

At least with usb-c the cable works either way up, which means it's only the usb-a end that you'll need to plug in 3 times to get the right way up.

My first proper job after leaving college was testing and fault finding Dell laptop motherboards which had been returned under warranty.

The bare motherboard was set in a test rig and all connectors had something plugged in for testing purposes.

This included not only USB but in those days the serial and parallel D-type connectors, PS/2 mouse connector, the VGA monitor connector and also obviously thinhs like IDE connectors for the HD and CD drive, internal mouse and keyboard and floppy disc k drive all needed to build a working PC.

It is amazing how a little practice meant it was possible to plug all these varied connectors in correctly orientated without even looking at them and do it in a second or two whereas to begin with it took ages to get it assembled.

Also amazing how many boards came back with bent or damaged pins, especially the 9 way serial connector and the PS2 which caused shorts and was probably why someone's computer had stopped working!

 

[Sterlo]

I even had it with Garmin. The old 200 was a basic micro USB, the 130 seems to be ever so slightly different and again the cable is very short, no more than 12". I have a long 2mtr micro USB cable which is great but doesn't fit the 130

 

[winjim]

You may find that your new cable charges the phone at a completely different speed so it's not all disadvantages to the original. A new one might be a bit or a lot slower. Samsung generally are very slow at charging due to being very conservative with charging tech, so it doesn't make much of a deal for me (wireless charging).

Well they did get their fingers burnt with the Note 7, so to speak.

 

[marinyork]

Well they did get their fingers burnt with the Note 7, so to speak.

I never used fastcharge on my S7 and kept it 3 years. I was sceptical about the bold claims made about battery but without fastcharge it held up fine. If they don't go nuts with pushing it I think it'll be fine. It's personal preference, if dave wants to use fastcharge things have been learnt since then (qualcomm fast charge 4 and 5 which samsung doesn't use is quite a clever tech). Samsung have implemented USB PD and PPS for some phones now but not Dave7's, so in future some of the cable issues I've talked about which he may encounter (I do) won't happen. It won't happen for me either.

 

[si_c]

Micro USB which is the old standard has a number of limitations - not least the amount of power which can be delivered over the cable. Most new phones now use USB-C and this will become more so over the next few years, a few cheaper phones still use Micro USB but they're becoming fewer in number.

USB-C has a number of advantages starting with letting you plug it in either way around and ending with USB power delivery standards allowing you to charge at a faster rate. Most laptops now also come with USB-C and allow you to charge that way so all rechargeable devices are moving towards a common standard meaning just one cable for everything. Of course Apple will be late to the party.

 

[figbat]

Of course Apple will be late to the party.

Thunderbolt 3?

 

[si_c]

Thunderbolt 3?

USB C, currently they're protecting their licensing income from their own connector rather than using an open standard.

 

[marinyork]

USB C will be awesome when everything has PPS and PD and nearly everything uses it.

 

[Dave7]

@marinyork I had no idea there was a setting to stop fast charge......I assumed the phone was simply a faster charging model.
Do you think it is something I should do?

 

[marinyork]

@marinyork I had no idea there was a setting to stop fast charge......I assumed the phone was simply a faster charging model.
Do you think it is something I should do?

Up to you. You should probably ask samsung fastcharge users that and not me. My thinking of never using it was I am wary (less so) of non-removable batteries and would like the phone to last 3 years before replacement. Got 3 years out of last phone. 17 months into this one, so far so good.

 

[fossyant]

Amazon - Search For Anker cables. - Just got 6 for £9.99. We have a mix of USB C and Micro USB, so I bought a pack of 5 Micro USB to USBC adapters. They come on a little chain that you clip to the cable, so you can charge both types.

It will be USB D next week.

 

[Darius_Jedburgh]

Amazon - Search For Anker cables. - Just got 6 for £9.99. We have a mix of USB C and Micro USB, so I bought a pack of 5 Micro USB to USBC adapters. They come on a little chain that you clip to the cable, so you can charge both types.

It will be USB D next week.

I used those adaptors. For some reason they always stopped charging on either exactly 80% or 90% charged. I even went back to the Samsung store and they had no idea why. I ditched the adapters and bought proper cables. No further problems.

 

[Archie_tect]

I switch my phone to airplane mode to charge faster.... there are adapters and cables on ebay to connect anything to everything else these days... might not work but they still sell them.