Actually what would have made it ingenious would have been to make it a mag safe type connector. As well as the lightning.
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Apple's Lightning Connector Uses Adaptive Technology to Dynamically Assign Pin Functions
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I would wager the cables would hold up quite a bit better simply because you can insert the cable either way. Unlike (micro) usb there's no wrong way to put in. I've seen devices trashed because people try to put the connector in the wrong way and finally figure out they need to flip the cable. Do that a couple times and you've now bent pins or loosened up the connector a bit.
Yes. Your phone doesn't charge when doing a wireless sync (unless you have it plugged in to the wall, which would obviously require a wire anyway).
Often when I need to charge my phone I'll just plug it in to my computer and kill two birds with one stone: it syncs and then I just leave it in to charge.
I'm pretty sure you generally get faster speeds via wired connections. Large devices transferring large files can take a while. I don't prefer transferring movies via wireless. It takes too long.
Potential advantage?
The engineering is very cool. But my biggest question is what is the tangible advantage to using this over, say, micro USB? I don't think being able to plug it in either direction is that big of an advantage, so there must be something else right?
The engineering is very cool. But my biggest question is what is the tangible advantage to using this over, say, micro USB? I don't think being able to plug it in either direction is that big of an advantage, so there must be something else right?
What are you on about. It's a standard PDMI connector.Amazing. When does the Samsung version come out?
Note: I do love Samsung TVs but sometimes the things they do just make me laugh. It will be extra funny when they do adopt it because they just bashed it in their printed ad.
EDIT: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDMI
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I can't wait to buy one of the new cables, not least because I the appointed iPhone guru and Support Desk for an extended family that owns lots of iPhones (I'm still on iP4S) and other tech devices.
I can't stand the mini/micro-USB cables -- I have to keep cables with different connectors on the ends: one with a standard connector, one for Nokia phones, one for Nikon/Panasonic dSLRs.
And they say Apple is the non-conformist? The 30-pin dock connector works on all iDevices (I preferred the early firewire version) and the new connector will work on all new devices here-on-in. Future peripherals will also use the same connector, and I for one would like to see a reverse-adapter which will allow me use my iP4S with newer peripherals (I wonder if the Camera Connection Kit will allow this?).
I can't stand the mini/micro-USB cables -- I have to keep cables with different connectors on the ends: one with a standard connector, one for Nokia phones, one for Nikon/Panasonic dSLRs.
And they say Apple is the non-conformist? The 30-pin dock connector works on all iDevices (I preferred the early firewire version) and the new connector will work on all new devices here-on-in. Future peripherals will also use the same connector, and I for one would like to see a reverse-adapter which will allow me use my iP4S with newer peripherals (I wonder if the Camera Connection Kit will allow this?).
Its just a pity that Apple dont seem to care about their customers; and honour its commitment to supply the early buyers of iPhone 5, the promised Lightning to 30 pin adaptor, rather than simply say it was a mistake and hide behind their extensive pages of small print?
It has been revised 2 times since they dropped Firewire as far as I know.
I have chargers, docks and radios that are not compatible with my 4S and older 3G.
Has there been any info about what kind of voltages and currents the cable can handle? The iPad 3 takes forever to charge due to USB power limits. Hopefully the iPad 4 will have a 35W Lightning charger or higher.
If you charge the Li-Ion batteries too fast they'll heat up too much and heat is bad.... I'd be surprised if they can go much faster without harming the life of the batteries.
We can test this theory pretty easily... Insert into the phone with a piece of paper covering the pins. Then remove the paper. If his theory is true, the phone shouldn't start charging.
Either way, this is really, really, really cool, especially if you're an engineer. The amount of work that went into designing this must have been quite extensive, to say the least.
magsafe is great for power
but dangerous for data
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then we need an evolution in battery technology
Think about how you combine USB OTG and HDMI output signals over a single 8-pin + shield Lightning or standard 10-pin + shield USB 3.0 Micro AB connector...
There's not enough pins to map them 1 to 1. Even if you dynamically switch signals, there's still not enough to fully support HDMI. The easiest way to do this is to multiplex the signals, dump them through a high-speed SerDes, and then sort them out on the other side.
The two competing technologies for doing exactly this for smartphones are MHL and MyDP. MyDP is based on DisplayPort which Apple is fond of, is royalty free, and does not specify a physical connector... Gee, I wonder what Lightning is?
I don't think you realize just how amazing this is. It's a lot harder than you might assume, and goes way beyond just "mapping it out." You also need to be able to detect what kind of device is detected, where power needs to go (don't want to be sending power over data lines), etc, and being able to do this on the fly is pretty remarkable.
This is NOT "basic evolution of the plug."
Forgive the phrase but....DUH!
Yeah, battery technology is definitely not keeping up with the rest of technology advancements.
I have this head unit.... http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0039YXNVC/
and it works great with it. Just as it did with the 30pin cable
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