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It's easier to click "Quote" and type than to copy and paste from multiple tabs. You know, it just works.

It's not hard to edit your last post. It just cleans the threads up.

It is hard for me, especially if I was posting from my iPhone. Ever try to quote several things using it? It's not pretty.

Multiquote button. Just works.

On topic realistically how much space would be saved in changing to the mini USB connection? Another advantage of the dock connector is that due to its size it can be put in and out one handedly, which is very useful when making phonecalls - one of the most essential features of a phone.
 
On topic realistically how much space would be saved in changing to the mini USB connection? Another advantage of the dock connector is that due to its size it can be put in and out one handedly, which is very useful when making phonecalls - one of the most essential features of a phone.

Look at this comparison between the Apple dock connector and micro-USB:

chargeur-micro-usb.jpg


And here it is with a variety of ports:

Micro_USB_Data_Cable_for_Apple_Iphone.jpg


The micro-USB is the fourth one on the left.

As you can clearly see, the Apple dock connector is HUGE compared to micro-USB. Micro-USB is both thinner and takes up less width than the Apple dock connector.

And for your docking, that's why docks are shaped to guide the phones onto ports. You don't just slam it on willy nilly.
 
Look at this comparison between the Apple dock connector and micro-USB:

As you can clearly see, the Apple dock connector is HUGE compared to micro-USB. Micro-USB is both thinner and takes up less width than the Apple dock connector.

And for your docking, that's why docks are shaped to guide the phones onto ports. You don't just slam it on willy nilly.

I am aware of the difference in size of the ends of the cable (I think both are female IIRC), but not of the space consumed on the interior, after all it isn't space in the outside of the phone you are looking to save - is it. I don't know if micro/mini USB is potentially a larger vertical space within the device, which would limit battery space.

As for docking, I do just slam it on willy nilly, because I have a dock that allows me to. Micro USB docks, such as the one possessed by my camera or PS3 controllers do not allow this - due to the care needed to ensure that the device is going into the smaller adaptor correctly.

Micro/Mini USB also grips within the device very strongly, in my experience, always requiring two hands to separate. I like the fact that when my phone rings I can be pausing music with one hand and answering the phone with the other, but don't have to bring the dock to my face.
 
I am aware of the difference in size of the ends of the cable (I think both are female IIRC), but not of the space consumed on the interior, after all it isn't space in the outside of the phone you are looking to save - is it. I don't know if micro/mini USB is potentially a larger vertical space within the device, which would limit battery space.

Look at this image of BOTH the female and male ends of micro-USB:

esb22.jpg


It is friggin tiny. The Apple dock connector female part is huge (silver part):

iXGZBiPeKlbacnen.medium


The Apple dock connector takes up the full thickness and half the width of the bottom of the phone. A micro-USB port is both thinner and is 1/4 or 1/5 of the width. I rest my case.
 
Look at this image of BOTH the female and male ends of micro-USB:

It is friggin tiny. The Apple dock connector female part is huge (silver part):

The Apple dock connector takes up the full thickness and half the width of the bottom of the phone. A micro-USB port is both thinner and is 1/4 or 1/5 of the width. I rest my case.

You rest your case unfinished; a brave move. Have you considered the components and time required to integrate this with iOS and iOS devices? I suppose they are non-existant? For example consider the first attached image, a female USB connector - it is very small; however all it does is connect the plates of USB to wires and continue the signal; signal interpretation is done elsewhere.

Consider for example. the iPad camera USB adaptor, shown open in the second attached image. If this device is adapting between USB and Dock Connector, the format "understood" by iOS devices, there is a great deal more space required for these adaptions, which must be integrated.

I don't wish to question your intelligence, but if this were a viable economic option (EG regular consumers will not upgrade to a device that their current purchases support, the cost of adapting to a different connector standard when accessories, adaptors, time and programming are considered) and these losses/investments are significantly less than the profits that are to be made by such an action, I'm sure Apple would have made such a move at an earlier point.

You also failed to address my second point; the convenience of one handed docking/undocking - do you perhaps not have as much first hand knowledge of day-to-day use of mini/micro usb plugging and unplugging as you seem to claim
 

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You rest your case unfinished; a brave move. Have you considered the components and time required to integrate this with iOS and iOS devices? I suppose they are non-existant? For example consider the first attached image, a female USB connector - it is very small; however all it does is connect the plates of USB to wires and continue the signal; signal interpretation is done elsewhere.

Consider for example. the iPad camera USB adaptor, shown open in the second attached image. If this device is adapting between USB and Dock Connector, the format "understood" by iOS devices, there is a great deal more space required for these adaptions, which must be integrated.

I don't wish to question your intelligence, but if this were a viable economic option (EG regular consumers will not upgrade to a device that their current purchases support, the cost of adapting to a different connector standard when accessories, adaptors, time and programming are considered) and these losses/investments are significantly less than the profits that are to be made by such an action, I'm sure Apple would have made such a move at an earlier point.

You also failed to address my second point; the convenience of one handed docking/undocking - do you perhaps not have as much first hand knowledge of day-to-day use of mini/micro usb plugging and unplugging as you seem to claim

Here is your precious Apple dock connector:

uqZjXXmPiqe5XZCV.medium


Note the ginormity? You also committed an error in logic by showing a picture of a USB port with circuits used for picture and file processing attached when you don't question what it would look like with an Apple dock connector.

I don't wish to question your intelligence, but I'm not paying Apple $20-$30 for each friggin cable.

And as Steve Jobs would say: You are docking wrong. I plug in regular, mini, and micro USB cables all the time. I have all three with me right now.
 
Here is your precious Apple dock connector:

Note the ginormity?

I don't wish to question your intelligence, but I'm not paying Apple $20-$30 for each friggin cable.

And as Steve Jobs would say: You are docking wrong. I plug in regular, mini, and micro USB cables all the time. I have all three with me right now.

Yes, it is quite wide, but relatively low in profile, note how yours is quite tall. I admit an error in logic, but if that were the case, would the SD card connector not also have these connections? For reference it does not appear to.

You don't need to pay Apple $20-30 for each cable, you have realised you get one with each device and can unplug and transport this yes? In-car to USB adaptors are prevalent and cheap.

Would you say you note a difference in the speed of pushing in the USB device - which is after all - designed to remain in the device, compared to that of the gravity based connection of a docked iPhone/iPod/iPad? This is the difference I refer to.
 
Yes, it is quite wide, but relatively low in profile, note how yours is quite tall.

You don't need to pay apple $20-30 for each cable, you have realised you get one with each device and can unplug and transport this yes? In-car to USB adaptors are prevalent and cheap.

Would you say you note a difference in the speed of pushing in the USB device - which is after all - designed to remain in the device, compared to that of the gravity based connection of a docked iPhone/iPod/iPad? This is the difference I refer to.

Sheesh, your Apple bias is showing. You like to compare a USB port with graphics chips attached to just a dock connector port? Let me pull up that George Bush photo on the aircraft carrier......

I don't carry an Apple dock connector cable and adapter in my pocket every where I go. That's what a $1 micro-USB cable is for......if it is wasn't Apple. I leave the extra cables at the car, work, etc....

Maybe there is a difference in your docking "feel". But have you tried the Palm Pre charge stone? It's no resistance at all!!!
 
Wirelessly posted (iPhone 4: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

The dock connector provides audio and video out, line in, serial data communication between the iOS device and the accessory, USB and accessory identification. How do you propose Apple provide that level of functionality through a 4 pin micro USB connection?
It's big for a reason...
 
Wirelessly posted (iPhone 4: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

The dock connector provides audio and video out, line in, serial data communication between the iOS device and the accessory, USB and accessory identification. How do you propose Apple provide that level of functionality through a 4 pin micro USB connection?
It's big for a reason...

Ever heard of DisplayPort? Micro-USB can do audio, video, line in, serial data, and what not.
 
Sheesh, your Apple bias is showing. You like to compare a USB port with graphics chips attached to just a dock connector port? Let me pull up that George Bush photo on the aircraft carrier......

I don't carry an Apple dock connector cable and adapter every where I go. That's what a $1 micro-USB cable is for......it is wasn't Apple.

Maybe there is a difference in your docking "feel". But have you tried the Palm Pre charge stone? It's no resistance at all!!!

I haven't, but I admit that I would welcome induction charging as a vastly superior method to both. However your $1 cable was $1 more than the cable I carry with my computing equipment, which came packaged with my first iPod. Also, does your micro-USB cable charge your iPhone, because I thought that was one of the issues we were discussing.

My Apple bias may well be showing, I wear it on my sleeve. But I would suggest that you are now resorting to an ad hominem to prove the validity of your preference of cable, seems a little foolish to me.

Could you clarify a few points for me?
  1. if the "graphic chips" are so essential, why are they not present on the SD card adaptor
  2. what does "it is wasn't Apple." mean?

With regards to your displayport comment, Mini Displayport is still a 20/30 pin connector and far fatter than the Dock connector.
 
I don't think that Apple has to change anything with the dockconnector as the other end of the cable is standard USB, and very well capable of charging the device.
 
I haven't, but I admit that I would welcome induction charging as a vastly superior method to both. However your $1 cable was $1 more than the cable I carry with my computing equipment, which came packaged with my first iPod. Also, does your micro-USB cable charge your iPhone, because I thought that was one of the issues we were discussing.

My Apple bias may well be showing, I wear it on my sleeve. But I would suggest that you are now resorting to an ad hominem to prove the validity of your preference of cable, seems a little foolish to me.

Could you clarify a few points for me?
  1. if the "graphic chips" are so essential, why are they not present on the SD card adaptor
  2. what does "it is wasn't Apple." mean?

With regards to your displayport comment, Mini Displayport is still a 20/30 pin connector and far fatter than the Dock connector.

Hey, that $1 micro-USB cable came with one of my phones and now I have plenty that I keep stocked every where. And yes, micro-USB charges the phone. Sheesh, that should be obvious.

And you do show Apple bias because you compare a micro-USB port with graphics chips attached to a plain Apple dock connector port, which is still bigger yet you don't show them sided by side in the same picture. And saying someone is biased is not an "ad hominem". Otherwise, I would have "ad hominem"ed thousands of historians in the past.

Why don't you show some pictures of the rest of the device?
"it is wasn't Apple." was a typo, it should be "if it wasn't Apple".

As for DisplayPort, that is an example of the data throughput you can have with micro-USB.
 
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/12/29/standard_charger/



It's about time, the Apple dock connector is so stupid compared to micro-USB. The Apple dock connector is such a waste of space, it is ginormous and is proprietary for the sake of being proprietary. Virtually every other phone on the market uses either mini or micro USB, which are the logical choices. But I bet you Apple will renegade from it's promise.....

The Apple dock connector was a poor design 6 years ago and is even poorer now. Why is the friggin connector so HUGE??? Just look at the small size of mini and micro-USB. Heck, even regular USB is smaller than the Apple dock connector. Every other device uses USB, but Apple just uses it's own dock connector to screw you over into buying useless accessories that won't work with anything else.

Considering that Apple signed it in mid-2009, it will have had plenty of time to remove it in the iPhone 5. For how much hardware is packed into the iPhone 4, the Apple dock connector is a real waste of space and an eye sore.

For the amount of space the dock connector takes up, you could put in huge stereo speakers or an even bigger battery. Look at what a waste of space it is on the iPhone 4 (silver part at bottom):

We get it...you don't like the dock connector

I see the Apple dock connector is the new Windows XP.

Everything Apple looks like the new Windows XP to you...might want to have those eyes checked out.


PS-Note to all other posters, the OP is notorious Apple hater, so forget about trying to have a decent discussion with him.

This thread is a non-topic, Apple had already committed to microUSB in future devices ages ago. There is no news here....just the OP looking for another opportunity to whine about something Apple.

Is microUSB more convenient than the dock...arguably, Is the dock as bad as the OP is dramatizing it to be...nope.
 
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Hey, that $1 micro-USB cable came with one of my phones and now I have plenty that I keep stocked every where. And yes, micro-USB charges the phone. Sheesh, that should be obvious.

And you do show Apple bias because you compare a micro-USB port with graphics chips attached to a plain Apple dock connector port, which is still bigger yet you don't show them sided by side in the same picture. And saying someone is biased is not an "ad hominem". Otherwise, I would have "ad hominem"ed thousands of historians in the past.

Why don't you show some pictures of the rest of the device?
"it is wasn't Apple." was a typo, it should be "if it wasn't Apple".

As for DisplayPort, that is an example of the data throughput you can have with micro-USB.

Micro USB charges the iPhone! whoa!

...Wait a second... you don't own an iPhone do you? You are just complaining about this for the sake of complaining!

I have admitted my Apple bias freely, people who know me in person know me as "the Apple guy". There is no need to show the two devices side by side in order to compare as both have been shown, and the size is known to remain consistent; this is how a standard works.

Daneoni has beautifully pointed out a vast variety of situations in which you have resorted to insulting the device rather than presenting any substantial statements about the comparative qualities of the two standard.

I believe you have it backwards, DisplayPort is capable of USB throughput.
 
Micro USB charges the iPhone! whoa!

...Wait a second... you don't own an iPhone do you? You are just complaining about this for the sake of complaining!

I have admitted my Apple bias freely, people who know me in person know me as "the Apple guy". There is no need to show the two devices side by side in order to compare as both have been shown, and the size is known to remain consistent; this is how a standard works.

Daneoni has beautifully pointed out a vast variety of situations in which you have resorted to insulting the device rather than presenting any substantial statements about the comparative qualities of the two standard.

There's is such a thing as a non-Apple phone, yah know? BTW, want me to post from my iPhone 4 instead?

And you are just too lazy to research up those pics showing the comparisons to support your biases.

And I haven't insulted the iPhone anywhere in this thread, only the Apple dock connector.
 
There's is such a thing as a non-Apple phone, yah know? BTW, want me to post from my iPhone 4 instead?

And you are just too lazy to research up those pics showing the comparisons to support your biases.

And I haven't insulted the iPhone anywhere in this thread, only the Apple dock connector.

The device I referred to was the dock connector, the one you were insulting.

The comparisons are present in the thread already. Also "you are just too lazy", thought you didn't resort to ad hominem?

There is clearly be such a thing as a non-Apple phone, there is no need to question my intelligence, however this discussion relates to the future of the iPhone, and based on your previous complaints with regards to the device, I presumed that you were using one on a day-to-day basis and that said complaints were born of fustration from using the device.
 
The device I referred to was the dock connector, the one you were insulting.

The comparisons are present in the thread already. Also "you are just too lazy", thought you didn't resort to ad hominem?

There is clearly be such a thing as a non-Apple phone, there is no need to question my intelligence, however this discussion relates to the future of the iPhone, and based on your previous complaints with regards to the device, I presumed that you were using one on a day-to-day basis and that said complaints were born of fustration from using the device.

Now you are just arguing for the sake of arguing.
 
Now you are just arguing for the sake of arguing.

I'd say based on your posts that you have been doing this for at least a page.

Do you or do you not own and regularly use a Dock Connector based device on a regular basis? I would say the validity of your complaints and ferocious defence of the micro-USB model depends on this.
 
Whilst I completely agree that there should be standardisation in charging connectors, I'd assume the Dock connector will be around for a long while yet, simply because:

  • Can I get a clean line-level analogue stereo output from a Micro USB?
  • Can I get analogue 1080p HD component video or 480i composite video output from a Micro USB?
  • How would my in-car FM transmitter work without a line-level audio output.
  • In my office of 60 people, 40-odd have a Dock-to-USB lead stuffed in their bags or hooked up to their PCs. None have a Micro USB lead.

And, as has been mentioned, the Dock connector is designed for docking. The Micro USB connector is not.

Micro USB plus a Mini Display Port would just about cover the functionality of the dock connector. However, you'd then have two mechanical/electrical interfaces, and MiniDP would make the video cables more complex (requiring intelligence to configure the MiniDP output for the required output signal).

Just to repeat - a standard would be great. But Micro USB is not a functional equivalent of the dock connector. You could not replace the dock connector with Micro USB without losing features -- they're just not designed for the same purpose.
 
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