This is an open request to any and all consumer electronics manufacturers out there.
If you are designing a product that might, for any conceivable reason, be connected to a personal computer, please make your connection via a standard USB cable. Mini-USB, in particular, is a wonderfully common, compact connector capable of carrying both high-speed data and power.
Now, the latter point is particularly important. I am absolutely sick of having a separate, incompatible power adapter for every damn gadget I own. In addition to the clutter and confusion of determining which cable goes to which device, I have to live with the annoyance of either unplugging them after every charging cycle, or knowing that I’m literally throwing away energy as they sap power out of my wall sockets.
So, if your total battery capacity is such that charging can be completed over the afore-mentioned USB cable, by all means, allow me this luxury.
As an example of a device which does this properly, I offer my new smartphone, the BlackBerry 8320 (a.k.a. the T-Mobile “Curve”). It has a single mini-USB port on the side which is used for both tethering and charging it. Furthermore, when tethered via this cable, I can see the internal flash storage as a standard external USB disk device, which makes transferring MP3s, photos, and other data on and off the device stupidly easy.
Going partway there, but stopping just sort of this sort of nirvana is my point-and-shoot camera, the Canon SD800 IS. It’s a wonderful little picture-taking device, and does use a standard mini-USB port for data transfer to a computer. Unfortunately, it does not support charging over USB, or indeed charging the battery while inside the camera at all. Instead, I have to remove the battery and place it into a wall-mounted charger which has approximately the same volume and mass as the camera itself.
Finally, in the “snatching defeat from the jaws of victory” department, we have my music player, the 2nd-generation iPod Nano. It connects to the computer via high-speed USB, and charges at the same time, which is great. Unfortunately, it uses a totally proprietary cable; even worse, the cables Apple manufactures are thin, cheap pieces of junk, and cost something like $20 apiece to replace. For shame, Apple; after more or less single-handedly bringing USB to the masses, you turn your backs on such a useful standard in favor of a single-device solution?
In case it’s not apparent, I have recently had to replace a number of these stupid proprietary cables and chargers, despite having a half-dozen or so standard USB cables lying around. My wallet and desire for simplicity and compatibility between my devices both cringe every time I see a non-standard connector.
USB is not well suited as a power port. It seems to be the latest trend. But, people will regret it a year later.
Its a fragile connector, which breaks easily. Not only that, its an expensive part to repair.
For one thing, its highly NON-standard connector.
Its call “universal”, yet there are so many mounting styles of usb connectors. Some have different leg placements. Some have a longer body than others. This means although the interface looks the same, the way it connects to the board is different. This means a repair shop will have to order several different styles to be able to fix a USB problem.
Also, it’s non standard because manufacturers can add components in order to activate the USB function. So, one particular device has a reisistor in the USB plug, and this is NOT compatible with plain USB connectors.
Visually, both USB connectors look the same (unless you open the cover). This can make troubleshooting USB connector problems very confusing, and such a tiny part is difficult to repair. I have fixed the resistor before, but I could have easily broke it. If I broke it, I would have to buy a new one (which is expensive to do).
Also, I did not break the USB connector, it came loose very quickly. I work in a repair shop, so I can fix it rather then send it back. Many customers are complaining about broken USB connectors after using their device normally, and the manufacturers are denying the repair under warranty claiming the customer broke it when it was poorly manufactured.
Now people believe its Standard, but there are so many variations in case styles and external resistors required. Even voltage difference, which further adds to confusion. People should just know what a connector looks like, associate it with that function, and it should work. With the voltage difference, this is not the case.
And, the USB connector standard will change. First mini-USB, then micro USB. So, compatible devices will be harder to find.