Nearly every software/hardware engineer can do this. This is standard. Students do that in their free time. Oh yeah, it comes from Apple so it must be complicated, and the average customer thinks complicated = good.
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Apple's Lightning Connector Uses Adaptive Technology to Dynamically Assign Pin Functions
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You don't get it, clearly. This cable can do a lot more than charge on both sides. Very, very intelligent solution. Your pencil story is not equivalent.
Speaking as an electrical engineer, you missed the point entirely. The innovation isn't in the fact that the cable is reversible. The innovation is in the hardware and software that allows the function of the pins to change depending on the requirements of the device that is connected.
Maybe you should have read the article and previous posts before you jumped in trying to impress us with your degree.
Thank you for seeing my point. You need to use a protocol designed for smartphones for multiplexing a digital video signal onto a single pair and adaptively switching it with the USB OTG signal. My money is on Apple having gone with MHL's biggest competitor, MyDP.
The USB 3.0 Micro-AB connector is roughly twice the size of a USB 2.0 Micro-AB. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Connector_USB_3_IMGP6033_wp_.jpg
Or did you need an example of the fact that this whole USB 3.0 thing might take off in the next few years?
Apple does not need to increase the size of their connector in the near future, they can support VGA output for projectors, they don't have to pay a licensing fee to Silicon Image...
Speaking as an electrical engineer, you missed the point entirely.
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And the speed of the flash memory in iDevices is...?
i work in a large engineering research organisation and most of my colleagues were impressed by the magsafe in my macbook. its a simple technology, nothing complicated. but its amazing, convenient and beautifully executed, down to the color of the LED and their placement on both sides of the adaptor. thats what set apart apple from the rest of the so called 'genius' pack
...compatible with you ??
Perhaps he's looking for love? Mrs. Retrofire was incompatible?
It's not just HDMI. It also needs to talk to DisplayPort and other protocols. Trying to shoehorn them into MicroUSB will just create more and more inefficiency and incompatibility.
MicroUSB was not designed to handle future scenarios. It is just a cheap connector, which is fine too. Then again, over time the new Lightning cable will be cheaper too.
I don't know why I feel the need to post it here, but the folks (idiots) over on DVICE seem to think this chip is meant to prevent 3rd parties from making the cable. That the chip is an authentication device. I tried to post a link to this article in the comments to show that the chip is in fact necessary to accommodate dynamic pin reassignment It was initially posted but 30 mins later my entire post was deleted. Gotta love the lack of fact checking and lack of admitting that they are wrong on tech blogs these days. MacRumors is one of the few good ones left.
On a side note, I was happy to discover that my Alpine head unit doesn't need the 30-pin adapter. It has a female USB cable that used a 30-pin to USB sync cable to run my old phone. I just popped the new lightning cable into the USB and it work just as well. If anyone has a car kit that is nothing more than a non-apple sync cable into a USB port, try the new cable first before ordering the 30 dollar adapter. You might be able save a few buck. I assume the real use for the adapter is all those docks with fixed 30-pin plugs.
On a side note, I was happy to discover that my Alpine head unit doesn't need the 30-pin adapter. It has a female USB cable that used a 30-pin to USB sync cable to run my old phone. I just popped the new lightning cable into the USB and it work just as well. If anyone has a car kit that is nothing more than a non-apple sync cable into a USB port, try the new cable first before ordering the 30 dollar adapter. You might be able save a few buck. I assume the real use for the adapter is all those docks with fixed 30-pin plugs.
I do, since that's it's only purpose at this time. I'm sure every other iPhone 5 user does as well.
I'm guessing you don't....which is perfectly fine since I'm also guessing you didn't purchase an iPhone 5.
Electrical engineer, eh? Then hopefully you understand that reversible connectors are NOT the only innovation here, right? More like the ability to be compatible with (almost*) every conceivable accessory using (almost*) every conceivable standard.
*accessories/standards that can be made to work using ≤ 9 pins, of course.
...I don't even know what to say to this. See what I wrote above.
Can you tell us what love has to do with incompatible interfaces on Apple devices? I think you do not have any arguments.
Sounds like that's the case! I actually found a thread on the Apple forums where people are discussing the Alpine IDA series HUs ... iOS 6 seems fine on 4/4S, iPhone 5 with the L>>USB cable does not (no surprise), and everyone is waiting on their L>>Dock adapters to arrive to test.
Apparently, Alpine can't confirm operation, but did say they would have their own cable (to replace their USB>30 pin pigtail).
If you are James D. then your post is still on dvice. What a BS article too....
But people need stuff to complain about. I was cool with the back-and-forth between Android people and Apple people but this complaining because Apple changed a 10 year old connector for the better is really pathetic.
It's a phone charger.
Apple fans: Not just ANY phone charger, it's a revolutionary phone charger the likes of which our phones have never seen before! It's incredible and lightning fast!
Apple fans: Not just ANY phone charger, it's a revolutionary phone charger the likes of which our phones have never seen before! It's incredible and lightning fast!
Can you tell us what killed your sense of humor?
Every interface in the world is incompatible with something, so I'm not sure what it is you're trying to get at. Perhaps you're one of those people that think we should be using a 30-pin connector 20 years from now?
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The connector on almost every mobile device out there is more than a phone charger. That statement alone shows your inability to grasp the situation.
*Sigh* wrong.
Go back and actually read the article. Otherwise, go troll somewhere else.