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B2FiNiTY

macrumors member
Nov 28, 2011
58
0
And everyone who says "why risk your phone?" - that's not a valid argument. USB voltage won't damage it, worst case scenario is it won't work.

totally valid argument. I've tested loads of "chinese" cables that have inferior materials and specs that have resulted in burning out the usb hub, phone, battery, etc.

standard usb voltage won't damage it but the cable itself could cause short circuit, over voltage, and other conditions.
 

BeyondtheTech

macrumors 68020
Jun 20, 2007
2,146
715
I received my two Lightning cables from Fasttech rather quickly, considering it was shipping from Hong Kong. Unfortuntely, one cable didn't work at all and the other one only worked on one side.

I contacted Fasttech and they responded with an apology and shipped out two more cables, ensuring me that these two new ones were properly tested, and to discard the old cables.

They're not anywhere near the same build as Apple's Lightning cables, but I never expected it to, but at least that their customer service is responsive and accommodating.

We'll see the final result of my experience when I receive these two replacements.
 

xXxDieselxXx

macrumors member
Nov 18, 2012
63
2
I received my two Lightning cables from Fasttech rather quickly, considering it was shipping from Hong Kong. Unfortuntely, one cable didn't work at all and the other one only worked on one side.

I contacted Fasttech and they responded with an apology and shipped out two more cables, ensuring me that these two new ones were properly tested, and to discard the old cables.

They're not anywhere near the same build as Apple's Lightning cables, but I never expected it to, but at least that their customer service is responsive and accommodating.

We'll see the final result of my experience when I receive these two replacements.

Did you get the replacements yet? I'm about to pull the trigger :D
 

DGPMaluco

macrumors regular
Nov 16, 2012
178
0
Where are you guys getting those prices? 1,5€ a normal 30 pin cable, around 3€ for a lightning
 

xXxDieselxXx

macrumors member
Nov 18, 2012
63
2
Thanks for the replies. I actually ordered the gold plated cable on Nov 27. from FastTech

It shipped the same day I ordered so they seem pretty quick. I'll let you guys know how the gold member behaves :D

EDIT: got the cable and it's working just fine. Quality is not bad but not even close to the original.

So far it does everything and it's reversible as well.
 
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Irishman

macrumors 68040
Nov 2, 2006
3,388
842
Not old enough to remember SCSI drives, eh? A SCSI cable and a terminator would set you back more than this. WAAY more.

I see this connector and its associated technology as an acceptable transition to a future-proof(ish) design. What did you guys want? Mini/Micro USB? And what? an HDMI port on top of that? and an SD slot? and a VGA port... and...

The old giant connector limited their hardware designs and was cumbersome to work with. The new connector is small, elegant, and effectively transmogrifies to be whatever they need it to be; possibly adapting to connection standards that aren't even out in the wild yet.

Yeah, it sucks that if you want to buy the new devices, you need to move to the new connector. If that's having such an impact on your life that it is a major concern, I'm sorry.

My $.02.

Ahhhh, SCSI daisy chains.

The good ole days.
 

Irishman

macrumors 68040
Nov 2, 2006
3,388
842
The problem is SCSI wasn't designed for regular folks, at least it wasn't adopted by regular users. Cost was one of these reasons. Regular folk had PATA, which was cheap.

The Lightning connected is like Parallel cables in your comparison; it's for regular folks, not for enterprises. The Lightning cable doesn't even have fast connectivity.

So yes there was a time where cables were expensive, but those were for enterprises and non-consumers. These are very expensive.

SCSI was a standard among Mac folk back in the 90's. my Power Mac 8600/250 had a SCSI interface as the ONLY hard drive interface, and the ONLY external drive interface. It was faster than IDE back then, but pricey.

There was no PATA in Macs back then.
 

Irishman

macrumors 68040
Nov 2, 2006
3,388
842
MicroUSB would have been nice... Sound data can be transferred over USB for any docks or cars which want to be able to change songs. With MicroUSB you could also attach an external SD card reader so you can take photos from a camera to upload onto Facebook on the go.

I don't understand why they couldn't have used MicroUSB. Anything can be done over that data connection...and with USB 3.0 you'd be able to stream HD video to a TV.

I know the answer to this:

Micro USB cannot handle charging duties for an iPad. It can't pass the voltage required to do that.

And, on the streaming to a TV part - no, you can't pass content from a USB device to an HDMI port without having some data conversion happening along the way.
 

Acorn

macrumors 68030
Jan 2, 2009
2,642
349
macrumors
I remember that when the lightening adapter was first released they were saying that the cable had a mini computer like electronics in it that could be flashed to make fake adapters no longer work. so you might get an update for your device then suddenly the fake cable will no longer work. so your out the 15-20 dollars or whatever. I wonder if that is still the case.
 

BarryL

macrumors 6502
Dec 2, 2012
368
77
monoprice.com has official supported lighting cables finally.

They start around $11.76 for 3ft, to $12.50 for 6ft.

Not bad.
 
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