Hacker News Reader

Comment by harha | Hacker News Reader

I would have much preferred a USB-C plug for all my devices.

It’s nice that it’s wireless on the new iPhone and all, but it’s still an extra cable (or puck) to carry around.

Much like the headphone cable, I think that things like charging could be done in such a simple way, that the alternatives that are presented just don’t make the users lives easier and generate unnecessary waste.

View on HN

I find myself thinking that at some point they'll be moving to an iPhone with no ports at all, and aren't bothering with USB-C because they'll have a transition to entirely wireless charging instead.

but then they should ship a wireless charger in the box. Now they totally dropped the charger from the box, which is odd for the price tag.

They could potentially include the USB to wireless puck without the AC/DC wall plug adapter?

Which almost doubles the size of what I need to carry along to simply charge my phone and more than doubles what needs to be on my table. I’d rather have a single cable on my desk, in my car etc. that ideally works across generations (from a slow ebook reader, charging headphones and power packs to connecting video and storage) and manufacturers (pretty sure the MagSafe connector won’t be available for non-licensed devices).

You can still charge it with any Qi Wireless Charger.

It comes with a usb c to lightning cable. Plus any of the bajillion chargers/cables most of us already have will work.

Yes that seems to be the direction. I'm really trying to vote with my wallet here, so I'll hope the cheap iPhones will keep the port and luckily in my city repair vouchers are out as part of the local corona relief program, so I'm giving my iPhone 7 another year or two. In fact USB-C would have been the primary reason to upgrade for me.

I would have moved to an Android device with a headphone jack and USB-C port, but I prefer to stay away from Google products as much as I can.

Going wireless with everything where it isn't necessarily needed is just a bit overrated in my opinion: - The biggest driver in network speed to me was adding all devices I could to wired connections - there's 20+ different networks in my area and some of the devices use old Wifi standards, so I avoid all of that for devices I don't move around. Homeplug devices with higher speeds than my internet connection were necessary here to make the experience better than wireless (compared to laying new cables wireless is better to me, but I hope devices like TVs keep their LAN port) - In the car: it's just a constant pain to switch the connected device (when more than one person is present), especially when a call comes in, simply using the headphone plug would be much quicker. - When working: switching the devices the headphone is connected to when a call comes in between phone and laptop is equally painful, again, switching plugs would be simpler (though here at least I can walk around with the headphones, so there is a bit of a benefit).

Check https://grapheneos.org/

Google hardware without Google software. With USB-C and headphone jack, for now at least.

I was thinking about that. I often sit on my couch using a phone plugged in to a small cable that rises from the power bar by the couch.

To do the same you’d then need a large puck by the couch? And a second charger/cable as well? It all seems rather inelegant.

I've been using a anker stand for the past few years for wireless charging my iphone 8 and that works fine. Just plop the phone in place and it stands up and you can read it if it lights up.

The one thing that happened when I got that is that I never bought another lighting cable.

if it was me, I'd skip straight to Qi-only just to avoid the amount of whinging they would have to endure (here would be among the worst) about "omg another cable change!!11" for their...second cable change in two decades.

Which isn’t much better than any other phone in the industry. The difference is that other phones have been using standard cables that inter operate with each other and non phone devices as well.

So we’re now in a ridiculous situation where you have to carry fewer cables with a MacBook + Samsung setup than a MacBook + iPhone one.

all of the issues stemming from charging can be solved by having bigger battery.

Why cant they make device 1 or 2 mm thicker and have device survive a day longer. Then I just plug it in at the nightstand and dont have to worry about yanking phone as I dont have to top up charge. No need for spare cables at your car/work/relatives.

Most cars have supported wireless charging of iphones for years already. I just keep a cable in the glovebox just in case.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com