How 'universal' is USB?

So, a few days ago I posted about my new laptop. I also mentioned how connectivity was limited to one micro USB port and wondered why they went with micro USB rather than USB-C.

[What, two technology posts in a row? Wasn't this blog supposed to be random ramblings?]

Well, this has lead on to a number of issues with USB.

Now, I have (perhaps rightly) been critical of Apple in its upgrade cycle for changing ports. Apple obviously eschews anything universal. But it means that since the iPhone has existed there have been two different connectors - 30pin and Lightning. Now they have removed the 3.5mm socket (I may address this on another occasion). There is a joke in the tech community that Apple sell more adapters than they do phones. At one count there were 17 different adapters available to buy on the Apple shop - whether the 3.5mm headphone socket, Lightning, Thunderbolt 1, 2 or 3 or charger - there were many (there was an article on this by a tech news site but I can't find it as it is lost in a lot of other more recent tech news posts telling us of all the many new adapters which have been developed for various Apple products as they recently released a new iPad and iBook both of which need adapters).

However all of this suggests that USB is perfect. It isn't. Far from it.

So, there are the main ports - USB-A. This is the standard 'slot' style where you put the cable in, but it won't go in so you have to turn it over and try again.

Standard.

Only it isn't.

There is USB1.0, 2.0, 2.1, 3.0 and 3.1. Each of these are identically sized allowing for backward compatibility and 'universality' of cables (after all, the U of USB stands for Universal). Each of 1, 2, 2.1 and 3 allow for different data transfer rates - 1.5 Mb/s, 12, 480, 5Gb/s. USB 3 also allows for a higher power transfer- 5A instead of 2A or 0.9A or 0.5A.

But these all look identical - universal. Well, if you look in the middle of the USB socket there is a piece of plastic. This is the bit that gets in the way when you try to insert the plug the wrong way round. The idea was that this was supposed to be black for USB 1, white for USB 2, and blue for USB 3. But not all manufacturers have followed this, particularly on power sockets where because you are plugging into the mains and not transferring data they simply don't think you care.

Then you've got the other ports. They had pretty much settled on Mini and Micro. There had for a short while been a different style of micro - smaller still, more square shaped - but that seems to have died off; and some manufacturers decided they wanted proprietary ports (usually digital camera manufacturers). Cool

Only now they've decided they needed to shake things up again with USB-C. This is mostly to address data speeds and charging capacity, however it does resolve the age old issue of putting-it-in-the-wrong-way-around-and-having-to-turn-it-over.

Good.

Only, manufacturers are being really sluggish to adopt it. Still there are new devices being designed and released with micro-USB ports (mini seems to have died off as it was only slightly larger than micro). Indeed, that was one of my moans in the previous Yoga Book post.

What this means is that we have to have cables. A lot of cables. Or adapters. On my keyring for emergency charging I have a tiny USB-A-to-micro-USB cable and a micro-USB-to-USB-C adapter.

Ah yes, the cables. Anyone will tell you - not all cables are created equally. Some cables only transfer data, not power; some (strangely) do power but not data; some do both. Some will only charge at 2v, some at 5v (assuming that the port you are using supports 5v). Some support fast data transfer, some only slow (again, depending on which port you stick it in). But to look at a cable you can't tell what it supports.

Whilst USB-A ports have the coloured inserts, the cables have no such indicators. So this means I have cables all over the place, some of which will charge my devices, some won't. And if I take my phone (USB-C) and my Yoga Book (micro-USB) or wireless headphones (almost all of these are micro USB) and my battery powerpack (2v - enough just to keep my phone at the same charge, but not enough for my Yoga Book) I also have to carry an assortment of cables and adapters.

I know that the USB foundation is somewhat frustrated by the slow uptake of USB-C and eventually sees the day when everything will be USB-A 3.0 and USB-C, but until then we have to cope with these multiple form factors and capabilities.

Which doesn't seem very universal, really.