CRAP DESIGN: THE USB
§ Have
you ever tried to plug a USB cable in, only to find yourself turning it around
several times before managing to get it in?
§ Have
manufacturing companies lost sight of the importance of usability for
technological functionality?
§ Why
have these issues existed for so long, and why have they not been addressed
satisfactorily?
What is worse than a bad design? A crap design that
stays around for fifteen years over a wide variety of updates, upgrades, and
changes. USB plugs have been a thorn in the side of consumers for years and
while we have seen many updates, our pain remains. How do we plug these things
in correctly? The designers should have been listening to some of our
suggestions to avoid
If you think about what is at the bottom of your desk
drawer, most people have piles of old USB cables from different standards,
speeds, shapes, and sizes. The Mini-USB cords which charged most phones 10 years
ago are collecting dust today, while the current Micro-USB and lightning cables
are beginning to be phased out in place of USB-C. It is not unusual to expect
to need different cables over time, though the constant development of
smartphone technology has caused the rapid adoption and improvements of
different types of cables. In this article, we will review a few of the design
choices of the USB and how those have affected us every day.
THE GOOD – USB STANDARDS
The Universal Serial Bus (USB) connector was created in the
mid-1990’s and was rapidly adopted as the most popular connector cable for
almost all computer accessories. The USB connector replaced a wide variety of
ports such as serial ports, the PS2 ports for mice and keyboards, and parallel
ports for printers. It is now one of the most widely used interface ports in
the world used with; power transfer, storage drives, input devices like mice
and keyboards, and even display outputs. Now, this one type of port has
replaced a dozen different types of plugs and ports that were previously used.
One strong feature is the compatibility between versions, as
the interface and hardware have been upgraded all the way up to version
3.1, the cables and connectors have not changed drastically and a USB 3.1 port
will be compatible with a 1.0 cable and vice versa. The USB standard spread
quickly, was widely adopted, and is incredibly versatile, however, its design
is not without fault.
THE
BAD – DIRECTIONALLY CHALLENGED USB
From the beginning, the USB cord had a major issue, the plug
itself. Theoretically, there are supposed to be identifying markings on the
cable that identifies which direction is up, but what happens if the port is
turned vertically? One of the USB’s major weaknesses comes from its rectangular
design, there is no easy identifiable way to identify what the correct
orientation is. An example of a better design is the Displayport, while it has
a similar shape, there is a unique identifying notch on the side that helps you
identify the correct orientation.
The biggest issue with the USB and its many iterations are
the asymmetric designs. Cables that are used every day should be incredibly
easy to identify the correct orientation and then very easy to plug in.
THE UGLY – AN UGLY MESS OF USB PLUGS
Standards are important, standards are important, standards
are important… Now taking a look into our drawers again we can see where
confusion sets in, as you pull out cables you see: Type-A is our standard
rectangular plug that is present on one side of most USB cables
§ Type-B
is typically found on printers or external hard drives
§ USB
Mini A/B used to be widely used on phones and portable devices
§ USB
Micro A/B is the current most popular cable interface on phones
§ USB
Type-C is the newest design which is reversible
The hardest part, is there are about a dozen other different
USB end connections that have been released and shortly retired. Making it very
difficult to know what cable you are holding sometimes.
Now amongst this mess of different wires is another issue,
while the end connectors are standard, the capacity of the cables can vary from
manufacturer, you can buy a cable and it won’t charge your phone, or you can
buy a cable and it could destroy your phone (though unlikely as it is). If a
cable has a much lower amperage than your device requires it could spell
disappointment when you plug them it in only to see it not charge. Asking the
end users to keep track of what specific amperage their phones require is
difficult, thankfully most cables and plugs now are being sold at higher
amperage ratings to handle the bigger batteries and quicker charging. It is
advised to look up the charging requirements of your specific devices and try
to match them, but never a bad idea to test any cable you buy to see what
amperage it actually delivers.
THE FUTURE
Several companies have released their own versions of a
reversible USB plug (e.g. the MicFlip), the major issue here is you will now need their
proprietary reversible cables and ports. But the new standards are making
headway, while Apple’s Lightning Cable was praised for its reversibility and
ease of use, however, it was Apple’s proprietary standard so we would never see
it show up on a Samsung phone. The new Type-C USB cables are a full overhaul to
the old connections, being fully reversible and about a third of the size, the
only issue is it isn’t backward compatible with the old Type-A port without an
adapter. Some newer computers are already implementing both Type A and C ports
on their sides!
In any case, the USB plugs we know so well aren’t going away
anytime soon. With all of the different varieties and standards it will take a
long time before any new technology can fully replace them, so we can safely
say that these standards will be around for a long time.
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