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General discussion

My opinion of the new apple Lightning connector

Sep 17, 2012 3:47PM PDT

OK, I sell cell phones, and I have to say I like what I have seen of the new connector design. Why? Because it takes away the most fragile part of a phones standard data and power port... that freakin little tongue of plastic and multiple contact wires that get all chewed up, bent, and broken. I have people bring in phones with micro-usb connectors to my store all the time, complaining of "charging" problems. I check the port, and find that little tongue of plastic bent over, or the wires wrapped around it mangled and bent out of their correct position.

I'm stunned by this frequent hardware failure problem because the port will only accept the plug being pushed into it in one direction. People have to work hard at shoving the micro-plug into the hole in the wrong orientation, in order to screw up the port as badly as I have seen. In other words, people are stupid.

I point out the obvious problem, and customers will then play dumb and swear that they could not be responsible for the damage. The old iPod connector has a tongue that is 10 times as wide as the small tongue in a micro-usb port, and it can get the same wear and tear. I have seen iPods and iPhones where a third of the tongue inside the port has been broken out.

This new port connector looks to be less fragile, can be pushed into the device in 2 directions, and has no fragile, wire wrapped tongues to be bent or broken.

One last point... the old connector is not obsolete until people quit buying the iPhone 4 and 4s which will still be on the market for at least 1 more year. Tech bloggers are blowing the whole question of the new connector being a financial burden on apple IOS users way out of proportion.

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