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Old 02-23-2013, 08:01 PM   #45
KentE
...still a Zealot
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Posts: 268
Karma: 319949
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Kansas City, Kansas, USA
Device: Palm Pixi & PC
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fluribus View Post
While all microUSB cables should be interchangeable, "should" does not always equate with reality. On the other hand, I doubt that device manufacturers are including expensive custom-built cables. .....
I would also make it very clear that using any other cable would unleash the forces of hell upon you.
I agree. After reading up, it sounds like there are perhaps 3 "certified" USB-compliant variations possible: charge-and-data, charge only, and charge-via-high-capacity-charger, and none should cause damage if the wrong type is used-- it just won't do what you expect. There is, as Fluribus points out, nothing that prevents a manufacturer from deciding to use a non-compliant cable if the certification doesn't matter to them, or the same connector for a different purpose. (I've certainly seen this happen with other "standards", with Apple being a prime candidate). Since the "compliant" cables are manufactured in such huge numbers, and cheap as a result, one would think that a manufacturer would need a pressing reason to require custom cables. There are also variations in "compliant" cables that may be important. (For example, a lot of camera cables have an added ferrite ring to block interference-- these should work no problem to replace a non-ferrite cable, but not necessarily vice-versa.)
Re: the warning about the "forces of hell"-- the unfortunate thing is that I see this warning repeated all over the place by manufacturers using standard compliant cables, so it's kind of like "crying wolf" if it is really important.
KentE
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