Nexus 4′s Glass Back, the Worst Idea Since the Last Phone With a Glass Back

Re:Nexus 4′s Glass Back, the Worst Idea Since the Last Phone... by Osmium on Wednesday November 28, 2012 @09:05AM (#4842545)

> just use a well designed cable

Regardless of what you do with it, there's no way a USB cable can be called "well designed." A square connector is still a square connector, and no amount of embossing will change that. Attempts to make USB connectors reversible* are well-intentioned, but will always be more fragile and expensive than a connector that's either designed to be reversible from the start or breaks the symmetry such that you can't even attempt to put it in the wrong way.

*e.g. http://www.flipperusb.com

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Nexus 4′s Glass Back, the Worst Idea Since the Last Phone... by Tichy on Wednesday November 28, 2012 @09:19AM (#4842609)

The Micro-USB connector is not square.

With normal USB, true, it can be annoying to find the right orientation, but they still seem to be zillions of times more sturdy than the cables before them. Remember PS2 with those tiny pins inside?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Nexus 4′s Glass Back, the Worst Idea Since the Last Phone... by Osmium on Wednesday November 28, 2012 @11:13AM (#4843227)

Agreed. The fact that we managed to get a versatile, standardised cable is a miracle and one I'm grateful for. But just because PS2 was bad, doesn't mean USB couldn't be better.

Sadly, every micro USB cable needs a "normal" (Male A) USB connector at the other end.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Nexus 4′s Glass Back, the Worst Idea Since the Last Phone... by Tichy on Wednesday November 28, 2012 @03:18PM (#4844473)

Sure, I have nothing against improvements :-)

[ Parent | on HN ]