Bench Talk

It’s not often in electronics that improvements are made to both the hardware and software of an existing technology. In most cases, revisions to the software outpace the evolution of the hardware. Apparently, USB 3.1 is an exception.

With the ubiquitous speculation and hoopla surrounding the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Trade Show 2015 (CES) now ended, the internet is freshly peppered with technology news and reviews from tech sites hard at work dissecting the good, the bad, and the ugly that CES brought. Titles like, “The Best of CES 2015”, “CES 2015: the Final Word”, and “CES 2015: Our Top 10” clog the internet and magazine newsstands. Not to be excluded, I will add my opinion to the pile.

Similar to years past, CES 2015 did not disappoint (or at least not me). A plethora of new gadgets ranging from sub $1000 4K TVs to mini-drones were on display, but possibly the best news of the show was a simple yet very useful change to an existing technology: USB3.1. Since its introduction in the 1990s the Universal Serial Bus (USB) has become the connector of choice for most consumer electronics (Apple devices being the exception). Everything from laptops, tablets, smartphones, thumb-drives, and a multitude of other gadgets now connects via USB.

I, too, am excited at the prospects of owning a 4K smart TV for just under $1K (4K being the attraction), but the biggest excitement lies with a more practical and daily use of technology - USB Micro-B. In case you don’t know, the Micro-B connector is the one you use to charge your Android phone or tablet.

When it’s 10:30 pm and you’re getting ready to go to bed, like me, you might go through the Android nightly ritual...

“Goodnight everyone, goodnight John-Boy, goodnight Dad.”

...And then you reach out to grab the charging cable on the nightstand and plug your smart phone to charge for the night. But you can’t seem to plug the darn thing in, so you try again but this time you reverse the cable, only to find out that you had it right to begin with but were too cautious to jam it in, and you reverse it again (this might be repeated several times and may involve cussing). You finally manage to plug it in and you hit the sack. This plug-in-fake-out process will be repeated with the same annoyance, which has since driven me to go with wireless charging, which I highly recommend…except if you are not an early adopter of wireless charging, USB 3.1 has come to the rescue.

Good news: USB 3.1 Type-C will finally solve all the stress of trying to connect you smartphone in the dark. Not only will USB 3.1 allow you to charge your devices faster, give you faster data transfer speeds, be backwards compatible with USB 3.0 and 2.0, but it will be reversible.

Finally, no more fumbling around. And wall sockets will be able to deliver USB charging directly.

Here’s what USB 3.1 Type-C will bring to the masses over USB 2.0 and 3.0:

• Faster speeds

• Greater power

• Unisex type connector

 Table 1: For a complete list of specifications refer to www.usb.org.

USB3.1 will give you the ability to power or charge laptops, tablets and cell phones without the use of a traditional wall charger. Your home can be outfitted with USB wall plates, allowing you to charge your electronic devices faster (with up to 100 watts), in addition to enjoying faster file transfer speeds and a reversible connector, all using the same cable assembly. That is what USB Type-C brings to the table.

The USB standard continues to improve and impress. A very simple fix can make such an impact to our daily lives. We should start seeing these connectors in the market very soon. If you’re like me, I’m sure you'll be really happy not having to flip the cable connection in the dark. Chime in and share your trying stories on the subject.

(images courtesy: istockphoto.com, newertech.com, smial, and tomshardware.com)