How important is a USB type C

[Surpuppa]

If I were to buy a phone today, how important would you say it is that it has type C instead of the usual? Linus mentioned in a recent video that it was almost a dealbreaker (as I interpreted it) on the 150 dollar Walmart phone. Is it really that important? I dont plan to keep it for more than 3 years anyway

[Dedayog]

ff you recall right after that he said even the USB C connections use USB 2.0 speeds, so that's not an issue. Plus, I have USB C on my OnePlus 3 and have never plugged anything into it needing C outside of the charging cable.

 

It wouldn't bother me outside of a minor annoyance at making sure the cable was twisted right so it fit, since C isn't directional.

[Wh0_Am_1]

11 minutes ago, Surpuppa said:

If I were to buy a phone today, how important would you say it is that it has type C instead of the usual? Linus mentioned in a recent video that it was almost a dealbreaker (as I interpreted it) on the 150 dollar Walmart phone. Is it really that important? I dont plan to keep it for more than 3 years anyway

The reason why is because USB C is faster, more reliable, and more convenient. Though that reliability part isn't a big deal, since the phone's battery will likely bite the dust way before you would ever have the chance to wear it out anyway.

[Dedayog]

It CAN be faster.  https://www.indiatimes.com/technology/gadgets/how-usb-type-c-has-failed-android-smartphone-users-why-apple-s-lightning-connector-is-best-334628.html

 

For example, OnePlus, even with its latest OnePlus 5T, holds a Type-C port with a USB 2.0 interface. This means it basically is a micro-USB port with the reversible Type-C connector. It lacks all the goodness USB Type-C is known for. Sure it has Dash Charging that charges your phone insanely fast, but it lacks the display sharing capability or even a fast data transfer. 

 

 

[Egg-Roll]

1 hour ago, Wh0_Am_1 said:

since the phone's battery will likely bite the dust way before you would ever have the chance to wear it out anyway.

Not true, my Moto G2 needed its port changed because it started to refuse to charge after 1-1.5 years of use, yet every other phone/device using Micro never had this issue... It comes down to whether or not you get a good unit or a bad unit, and how abusive you are to it, which in my case Moto couldn't withstand it or I just got a bad device.

 

To OP
If you hate or have issues following the dimples that are on most if not all usb-b cables supplied with phones, or are a heavy user of the cable and have had loose wobbly or even had to replace them in the past, buy a phone with USB-C

If you find a phone that actually uses USB 3 buy it if you like it and within your budget

If you don't care about phone to computer transfers or only charge the phone threw it, then it doesn't matter.

 

Linus likes USB-C, so do I, however it isn't as wide spread yet as I would like it to be before I can recommend it as a purchase decision. Basically unless you're buying a top tier phone or market where all phones in that range are USB-C, it shouldn't be a factor unless one of the first 2 points I gave are true about the device.

 

1 hour ago, jstudrawa said:

Sure it has Dash Charging that charges your phone insanely fast

not completely true... Charging isn't really based on USB port sizes but the units ability to accept current vs blowing up in your face. The reason why Dash is faster initially is because of current. One Plus could have used USB-Micro for their phones with the PD USB 2.0 specs using a higher amp at 9V, I think the only reason why they did it is because everyone is making controllers using USB-C ports only, and USB-C is the next thing and gaining traction.

 

While yes with OLED and extra amps it will charge faster, it isn't as fast as you have made it sound. My phone using QC 2.0 (my SoC apparently can use 3.0) I can charge up to 60% inside of 40 minutes or so.

 

Below shows my phone from 5% (booted at 4%), 35 minutes in and when it fully charged. The One Plus 6 claims a 35 min charge to 60% but another 45min to 100% My phone is only 100mah less, and I had the screen off because it is not OLED... I also don't think my phone was charging at max speed either as the most I saw was 2200ma

Spoiler

 

 

 

Basically due to thermal issues phones can only charge so fast for so long. Not to mention what it could do to your battery life in the long run.

[Wh0_Am_1]

22 hours ago, Egg-Roll said:

Not true, my Moto G2 needed its port changed because it started to refuse to charge after 1-1.5 years of use, yet every other phone/device using Micro never had this issue... It comes down to whether or not you get a good unit or a bad unit, and how abusive you are to it, which in my case Moto couldn't withstand it or I just got a bad device.

 

To OP
If you hate or have issues following the dimples that are on most if not all usb-b cables supplied with phones, or are a heavy user of the cable and have had loose wobbly or even had to replace them in the past, buy a phone with USB-C

If you find a phone that actually uses USB 3 buy it if you like it and within your budget

If you don't care about phone to computer transfers or only charge the phone threw it, then it doesn't matter.

 

Linus likes USB-C, so do I, however it isn't as wide spread yet as I would like it to be before I can recommend it as a purchase decision. Basically unless you're buying a top tier phone or market where all phones in that range are USB-C, it shouldn't be a factor unless one of the first 2 points I gave are true about the device.

 

not completely true... Charging isn't really based on USB port sizes but the units ability to accept current vs blowing up in your face. The reason why Dash is faster initially is because of current. One Plus could have used USB-Micro for their phones with the PD USB 2.0 specs using a higher amp at 9V, I think the only reason why they did it is because everyone is making controllers using USB-C ports only, and USB-C is the next thing and gaining traction.

 

While yes with OLED and extra amps it will charge faster, it isn't as fast as you have made it sound. My phone using QC 2.0 (my SoC apparently can use 3.0) I can charge up to 60% inside of 40 minutes or so.

 

Below shows my phone from 5% (booted at 4%), 35 minutes in and when it fully charged. The One Plus 6 claims a 35 min charge to 60% but another 45min to 100% My phone is only 100mah less, and I had the screen off because it is not OLED... I also don't think my phone was charging at max speed either as the most I saw was 2200ma

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

 

Basically due to thermal issues phones can only charge so fast for so long. Not to mention what it could do to your battery life in the long run.

Sure if you are rough with it the USB type C port will still fail, but it tends to have a longer life VS. the traditional Micro USB connection, as shown by Linus below, now there of course is a human element to this that LTT did not factor for, and at the time probably couldn't factor for, and test involved too few units to be truly accurate, but what are we going to do about it? 

 

[Egg-Roll]

57 minutes ago, Wh0_Am_1 said:

Sure if you are rough with it the USB type C port will still fail, but it tends to have a longer life VS. the traditional Micro USB connection, as shown by Linus below, now there of course is a human element to this that LTT did not factor for, and at the time probably couldn't factor for, and test involved too few units to be truly accurate, but what are we going to do about it? 

Take another look he was comparing USB-C with USB-Micro B SS plug (which makes the video image super clickbait), which yes I know is USB 3.0, but the phones using Micro USB as most know it don't use 3.0 (just like current USB-C phones). So while the test proves a 80% life for that one cable bought (which brings up many questions about the tests reliability, like did linus buy a cheap B cable?). While the test was interesting one shouldn't use it to conclude the reliability of one port vs another. My Stylo 3 Plus takes more abuse I would say than my Moto G2 ever did in the year or so before replacement, both using the same ports. To this day it is the only phone I've had to get the charging port repaired, I have however needed to replace a few cables due to not properly working.

 

One thing from the video we all should take from it is even if you charge it 10 times a day (really hard to do), or plug it in 10 times a day in the fashion shown it should still last 800 days give or take which is still longer than a 2 year period of the average device(now)... Yet once again it comes down to how abusive the user is, I'm sure inserting USB-C under perfect conditions would last longer, but daily life? Maybe, maybe not, the A5 that uses USB-C, the owner is not an abuser like me so I would expect the port to last the life of the phones usability plus some (the S3s port still works, which was their old phone).

 

One thing Linus didn't (and couldn't w/o destroying stuff worth keeping) test which makes the video "invalid" for phones. The units they were using to plug in where light (according to this amazon page about 45 grams) whereas my phone weighs in at 150 grams and the view 10 at 172 grams. The test could be accurate if you never moved your phone in a weight bearing way on the USB cable (this includes forcing the cable to bend at the port by shoving it into a bag/pocket, guilty ), but the reality is that will happen, and usually more than anyone wants to admit.

[Zodiark1593]

I'm pretty gentle on my ports, and I typically rarely see failures on charging ports and cables, even on my well used 3DS and GBA SP. My Dad and sister go through cables quite quickly though.

 

I'm the only one with a USB-C device in the house though, so I can't vouch for it's durability. Theoretically, it should be more forgiving of how it's inserted before damage occurs.

[Wh0_Am_1]

1 hour ago, Egg-Roll said:

Take another look he was comparing USB-C with USB-Micro B SS plug (which makes the video image super clickbait), which yes I know is USB 3.0, but the phones using Micro USB as most know it don't use 3.0 (just like current USB-C phones). So while the test proves a 80% life for that one cable bought (which brings up many questions about the tests reliability, like did linus buy a cheap B cable?). While the test was interesting one shouldn't use it to conclude the reliability of one port vs another. My Stylo 3 Plus takes more abuse I would say than my Moto G2 ever did in the year or so before replacement, both using the same ports. To this day it is the only phone I've had to get the charging port repaired, I have however needed to replace a few cables due to not properly working.

 

One thing from the video we all should take from it is even if you charge it 10 times a day (really hard to do), or plug it in 10 times a day in the fashion shown it should still last 800 days give or take which is still longer than a 2 year period of the average device(now)... Yet once again it comes down to how abusive the user is, I'm sure inserting USB-C under perfect conditions would last longer, but daily life? Maybe, maybe not, the A5 that uses USB-C, the owner is not an abuser like me so I would expect the port to last the life of the phones usability plus some (the S3s port still works, which was their old phone).

 

One thing Linus didn't (and couldn't w/o destroying stuff worth keeping) test which makes the video "invalid" for phones. The units they were using to plug in where light (according to this amazon page about 45 grams) whereas my phone weighs in at 150 grams and the view 10 at 172 grams. The test could be accurate if you never moved your phone in a weight bearing way on the USB cable (this includes forcing the cable to bend at the port by shoving it into a bag/pocket, guilty ), but the reality is that will happen, and usually more than anyone wants to admit.

Once again it really doesn't matter, since the end user will probably toss the phone long before either port will reach it's limit, probably due to battery degradation. And if you are rough enough with it the any port will fail, so the main argument in a modern phone (besides the ability for the manufacturer to more easily add 3.0 or 3.1 support) is convenience, esp. in the dark. 

[Darkseth]

The Speed behind it, is not really important. How often do you transfer data over cable? 

 

The thing is, etabling the new standard of this new connector, letting Micro-USB finally die out.

 

USB-C is more robust, symmetrical (no wrong way to plug it in, except 90° wrong... lol), and like i said.. making it a new standard. When you replace your old micro-USB stuff with USB-C, you are more ready for future USB-C products. USB Sticks int he future will change to become USB-C connectored, PCs / Notebooks will further gain additional USB-C ports while having less "regular" USB ports.

Powerbanks will swap over.

 

As there is no technical advantage in the older USB, compared to USB-C - it also takes up more space because it's bigger.

 

 

Thus, see it as future proofing. If your cheap device already has USB Type C, then you probably won't need Micro-USB anymore at all.

[Egg-Roll]

33 minutes ago, Darkseth said:

USB-C is more robust, symmetrical (no wrong way to plug it in, except 90° wrong... lol), and like i said.. making it a new standard. When you replace your old micro-USB stuff with USB-C, you are more ready for future USB-C products. USB Sticks int he future will change to become USB-C connectored, PCs / Notebooks will further gain additional USB-C ports while having less "regular" USB ports.

Powerbanks will swap over.

 

As there is no technical advantage in the older USB, compared to USB-C - it also takes up more space because it's bigger.

 

 

Thus, see it as future proofing. If your cheap device already has USB Type C, then you probably won't need Micro-USB anymore at all.

You do realize it's going to take at least another 1-2 years before USB-C becomes mainstream enough to classify buying something with USB-C "future proofing" right? Plus because phones still run on USB 2.0 speeds there is no benefit less resilience or possibility of it since normal male USB ports will not die out and can't due to many products (like keyboards) still use them, That's why many gaming motherboards still have 1 PS/2 controller input...

 

So unless phones come out with USB 3.0 or all computers magically remove all Type A ports(which they won't ever do, less slim laptops), I would say Micro B still has a position in the market since all USB-C is to phone companies right now is a marketing ploy. C is the future, but till more devices support it and the USB 3.0 standard it simply doesn't matter as a purchasing decision.

[Darkseth]

42 minutes ago, Egg-Roll said:

You do realize it's going to take at least another 1-2 years before USB-C becomes mainstream enough to classify buying something with USB-C "future proofing" right?

You do realize, that it's exactly THIS attitude of yours that prevents USB-C from becoming mainstream right?

If noone goes for USB-C because "it stil ltakes more years to become mainstream" it will NEVER Become mainstream. There has to be a start somewhere.

 

The World isn't becoming magically clean just because i throw my Coke Can into the recycling trash instead the River. But you gotta start somewhere.

 

And completely replacing the typical USB format (doesn't matter if 2.0 or 3.0 or 3.1 type A), will still take anotehr 10 years, maybe even more. See like VGA still exists.

But on the other hand.. Modern graphics Card have completely ditched VGA, and that's a good thing. Useless connection that noone needs anymore. Also Monitors mostly don't have it anymore these days. it took a long time, but it finally dies. And that's what will happen to DVI in the Future.

 

But you just gotta have tos tart somewhere, and some products NEED to jump over in order for that to happen.

 

Even if it's 2.0 speed, USB-C has advantages. More robust, you can plug it in either way, it can offer a stronger power delivery, it can give out analoge Audio signals if made right, etc.

(like i said, how often do you transfer stuff? i did it 1 single time on my SD Card, that's it. Anything else, i put into my dropbox/gdrive, and download it on my phone, because it's more convenient for me, than plugging my cable out of my charger, and plugging it into my Computer lol.)

 

It's not a gamechanger to buy a phone with still Micro-USB. But it's not a disadvantage at all to go for USB-C.

And i would rather have USB-C connection with USB 2.0 speed, than Micro-USB connection with USB 3.0 speed, anytime of the day.

And the reason that it's better to just plug in, is reason enough for me to prever USB-C on a smartphone. This reason alone.

[Egg-Roll]

1 hour ago, Darkseth said:

Even if it's 2.0 speed, USB-C has advantages. More robust, you can plug it in either way, it can offer a stronger power delivery, it can give out analoge Audio signals if made right, etc.

(like i said, how often do you transfer stuff? i did it 1 single time on my SD Card, that's it. Anything else, i put into my dropbox/gdrive, and download it on my phone, because it's more convenient for me, than plugging my cable out of my charger, and plugging it into my Computer lol.)

 

It's not a gamechanger to buy a phone with still Micro-USB. But it's not a disadvantage at all to go for USB-C.

And i would rather have USB-C connection with USB 2.0 speed, than Micro-USB connection with USB 3.0 speed, anytime of the day.

And the reason that it's better to just plug in, is reason enough for me to prever USB-C on a smartphone. This reason alone.

More robust is just theoretical, because anything can fail. Micro can push out 60 watts of power in specific cases, for phones however currently neither offer superior charging abilities due to safety limits of lithium.

 

In that case why not save the port forever and use wireless charging?

 

It's still not a game changer to buy USB-C at USB 2.0 port speed... Yes the port is easy for people who can't (aka refuse) learn how to check before inserting, or those who physically can't due to medical issues. However you're going on about Micro B with 3.0 speeds which no current phone provides, I HATE USB 3.0 Micro, it has no business being on any device. USB-C on a phone unless it provides USB 3.0 or other useful USB-C exclusives next to ease of use and possibly lasting longer than the Micro version used, it provides no extra benefit to the user. Just remember Linus tested USB Micro B SS not USB Micro which is used instead, yes they both should function the same with the same resilience but the fact he used what I would call a dead port is not something to go based on. Not to mention 8000 plugins to make it fail under simple conditions? It's a shame they didn't keep going to find out when the C died, because it could have died at 8001...

On 7/19/2018 at 11:41 PM, Egg-Roll said:

If you hate or have issues following the dimples that are on most if not all usb-b cables supplied with phones, or are a heavy user of the cable and have had loose wobbly or even had to replace them in the past, buy a phone with USB-C

Only reason I see in buying a USB-C phone because beyond that it does not matter, if gives absolutely no benefit. A friend with a UBS-C phone would have to use their own cable or do without because I don't own anything with one. This means if you don't know you still have to bring a cable. Where as everyone has a Micro B cable, and at least one...

 

Yes C is the future but till phones in the $200 range and above start producing them it's not going to be wide spread. It took Micro a good 5 years to take over Mini in the sense everyone has at least 1 or 2 devices with it, we are in year 2/3 for USB-C. The Stylo 4 has USB-C so we are getting there, like I said another year or 2, but till then or till they bring USB 3.0 it shouldn't matter what port, unless they have had a very poor experience with the ports, aka more than just one unit out of dozens failing like me.

 

My next phone will likely have USB-C, I'm fine with that even if it's only USB 2.0 but the Type A port will never die, because it can't. Spaces on PCs might become limited but we will always have 3-4 at least on any desktop.