the problem is the plug is rectangular (has exterior rotational symmetry) AND not reversible - if the plugs were L shaped it would be clear by both feel and brief glance which rotation was correct
TL;DR: its cheaper that way,
And i value that decision
I can bet you it’s incompetence. They failed upwards. Sure, protocol is great and universal, but connector is atrocious and it has nothing to do with cost. Few points in favor of this hypothesis:
- Plastic inside of the connector was initially black. Why chose hard to see color? Go with something easier to see;
- Connector is perfectly rectangular and only distinguishing feature they made hard to see. Don’t make ti symmetrical if it’s not reversible, basic design principle;
- Connector is perfectly rectangular making it difficult to insert. There’s a reason why most connectors have rounded corners, they are self-correcting, even TypeC does this;
- They made various different connector types but pushed for the only one with these issues. No one ever had doubts how type B or mini B or micro B go in.
No one ever had doubts how type B or mini B or micro B go in.
I agree with most of your post, but micro B is a step too far. That fucking plug was always inserted with the following procedure:
- Try to plug it in.
- Flip the side and try to plug it in again.
- Flip it again because you had the right damn side the first time.
Always, always, always.
D
The worst thing about USB is that it always takes 3 attempts on average to get the fucker in if you don’t know the orientation of the port.
Which proves that is has 4 dimensions of space!
That would explain why they were able to fit so many gigs into such a small little device and sell it for like, 20$.
