Kuo: AirPods, MagSafe Battery Pack, and Other Apple Accessories Also to Switch to USB-C in Future

[timmodugdale]

? I have is when does it warn you, and is the warning hard to miss? My MS BT mouse doesn't warn me until 5%, and I think it is really less because it dies fairly quickly once it warns me.

Yeah. Same here. It doesn’t warm me until it is almost empty and I have to stop and charge.

 

[CarlJ]

Why the charging port isn't at the top of the mouse (allowing you to charge AND use it) is a mystery to me.

The answer is very simple, and unsatisfying: Jony Ive. Famous for years of making every device thinner. He wanted "as simple and elegant as possible". Charging is an inconvenience he'd rather not think about. A design with the cable attaching at the nose, or even on the side (the latter presents the problem of which side), would have been much more usable, but it would have interfered with the beautiful elegant lines of the mouse. Because, after all, when you purchase a mouse, looking pretty is your primary consideration.

 

[tomtad]

Not very often, but when it runs empty, I must stop working while the stupid thing charges. Why the charging port isn't at the top of the mouse (allowing you to charge AND use it) is a mystery to me. I shouldn't have to keep a close eye on my mouse to make sure it is charged.

The simple reason is it was a cheap fix. The Magic Mouse used to be powered by 2 AA batteries which sat behind a panel under the mouse. When they moved to it being rechargeable they simply swapped this area under the mouse for a rechargeable battery with a port to charge, the rest remained identical. Adding a charge port to front of the mouse so you could also use it while charging would have required a redesign of the mouse as there isn't any way to place it.

Had the Magic Mouse been conceived as a rechargeable device from the start it would likely have been designed differently.

 

[CarlJ]

Right in front of me on the back of the seat in front of me was a USB-A connector for charging my phone. If I only had the USB-C to lightning cable that comes with newer iPhones, I wouldn't have been able to use it to keep my phone charged. Luckily I always travel with a couple USB-A to lightning cables.

In either case, you may want to consider plugging it in through something like this: PortaPow USB Data Blocker, to make sure that the only it can do is charging your phone.

 

[SmugMaverick]

Really hope they hurry up and give us the AirPods Pro with USB-C, only reason I'm holding out right now.

Other than that, I have USB-C for everything else now except iPhone obviously.

 

[timmodugdale]

The simple reason is it was a cheap fix. The Magic Mouse used to be powered by 2 AA batteries which sat behind a panel under the mouse. When they moved to it being rechargeable they simply swapped this area under the mouse for a rechargeable battery with a port to charge, the rest remained identical. Adding a charge port to front of the mouse so you could also use it while charging would have required a redesign of the mouse as there isn't any way to place it.

Had the Magic Mouse been conceived as a rechargeable device from the start it would likely have been designed differently.

Agree completely. Only now is the time to right that wrong, IMHO.