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Lightning is so much better than micro/mini USB - why are ppl complaining?
- Thread starter AlvinNguyen
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Apple has used the same plug since 2001 while the rest of the industry has gone from USB > Mini USB > Micro USB. Based on past transitions we can expct the successor to Micro USB in a couple of years.
If Apple went to Micro USB, as soon as the next standandard, Nano USB perhaps, was adopted you would have the same outrage because everyone would need adapters.
Taking into consideration that it was a foregone conclusion that Apple would stay locked down, using a proprietary connector, this is just fine.
This whole discussion is moot. Micro-USB doesn't have enough connectivity to handle the iPhone, period. Apple had 2 choices, develop a new connector or stick with the old one.
Lightning is still smaller, and can go in right side or upside down. USB 3.0 can't - micro or not.
its still odd with the headphone jack on the bottom. i go to plug mine in and look for it on the top still
Oh no, there are no advantages, I mean it's not like the lightning dock connector can do music, video, audio out, etc... Oh wait, it can, and its reversible and far more durable (so far, it seems) than Micro-USB. Micro-USB simply allows for charging and transferring files to/from a computer, which the lightning connector does as well, and more. Sure, at first glance it may seem that Micro-USB was the way to go, but it's not. You can't do video out, audio out, etc. through Micro-USB.
Better is always subjective. Why are you worrying over those that are complaining?
There really seems to be a lot of confusion over what the lightning connector is and is not capable of.
The lightning connector (in two of its four flavors) uses USB. It's nothing different. The other two lightning connectors are UART and power-only, so there's nothing magical about it, no secret interface that lets you transport anything else.
So, as of right now, anything you can do over lightning is limited to anything you can do over USB. (or UART, which would never be used for high speed data.)
When you say that micro-USB simply allows for charging and transferring files, that's exactly all that lightning is capable of as well.
I think it has more to do with cost of entry for this new plug. If it was like Thunderbolt; 10X faster and able to be daisy chained with no loss of speed, it would have been less panned (or some sort of like innovation for example; faster charging, etc). But as it is Lightning only does exactly the same as (some would say less) the 30-pin dock did, only smaller. No speed increase, no real technological advancement.
And no I would not call an ambidextrous plug an innovation... nor a Digital to Analog Converter for that matter.
The only real benefit of this cable is so Apple can make the iPhone thinner. It's really to appease their own superficial goals and makes no technological advancements. So to charge the large sums that they ask for it is quite ridiculous. That is why people complain. If they were to have eased the consumer into this chain with free or cheap adapters it would have been a different story.
I'm not complaining mind you... just answering your question.
Apple themselves said that it is capable of digital audio/video out. Also, the lightning connector does do more than Micro-USB. Micro-USB only has 4 pins. 2 ground, 1 for charging, and 1 for transferring files (correct me if I am wrong). The lightning dock connector has 8 pins; 9 if you count the metal exterior which acts as a ground. This allows for more functionality than your standard Micro-USB connector.
They've figured out audio/video over USB.
http://www.startech.com/AV/Converters/Video/MHL-Adapter-Converter-Micro-USB-to-HDMI~MHD2HDF
Don't know anything more that a Google search couldn't tell you though. I just remember reading about it a month or 2 back.
It's just as capable of digital audio/video out as any other USB device.
The lightning connector has more pins for future expansion, and active circuitry to re-map the pins based on functionality.
As of right now, there are exactly four flavors of the lightning connector available to MFi partners (I'm reading the spec right now, updated 9/20/12).
-USB Host Mode
-USB Device Mode
-Serial
-Power Only
Anything can stream video/audio over USB, it's essentially just a file transfer. The accessory just has to have enough horsepower to process the raw data, just like watching a video off of a flash drive that's plugged into a tv.
As of right now, a lightning connection in no way whatsoever has more functionality than a USB connection, because it is, in fact, a USB connection.
Edit: a minor correction to your pinout, it's 1 power, 1 ground, D+, and D-.
It's also a completely different plug than any other device.
All your pros are cosmetic. Function wise it has no advantage over micro or mini. Ultimately it'll allow for a smaller iPhone, but to the user for now it just equals more $$$
I don't mind the new connection, but I do understand other people's annoyance with it. Like the OP, I've had Mini/Micro USB cables/ports crap out on me. The port would basically get loose.
I really wish they would've pushed USB 3.0 though and actually take advantage of it.
I really wish they would've pushed USB 3.0 though and actually take advantage of it.
Ahh, I see. That future expansion is key, though, as it'll allow Apple to add more functionality over time. The same cannot be said for USB. Thanks for the corrections, though.
You're confusing USB 3.0 which is a data transfer standard and Micro USB, a connector.
What is there to handle? Charging? MicroUSB does that. Sync? MicroUSB does it. Audio/video? MHL (Same plug as MicroUSB) does that.
Only advantage to user is reversible, and the fact that Apple will charge licensing fees for allowing manufacturers to make iPhone docks and stuff like that.
Another advantage to Apple, it keeps it Apple. For example, if Apple adopted MicroUSB, then maybe next year, decision to switch to another device such as Android or Windows Phone would be much easier. But average person would think "But I already have Apple-only accessories, let me get Apple again"
USB has 4 pins and Lightning has 9, that ought to tell you something.
This article explains pretty well why USB won't work for the iPhone/iPad etc..
http://www.cultofmac.com/178093/the-future-of-apples-dock-connector-feature/
Apple will never adopt Micro-USB, not out of spite or trying to "control" everything. It just plain can't handle all of the devices/accessories it needs to communicate with or control.
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Are you being serious??
DropBox
iMessage
I mean, that's just a few off the top of my head.
Nice try though.
