2d ago

When something still uses micro USB in 2025

Ordered a set of rechargeable AA batteries and charger. They're well reviewed and a decent brand. Specifically wanted the charger since it has USB input rather than 120v so I could top the batteries off from my laptop / power bank as they'll be used for my wireless KB/mouse. The product description only said "USB input" and didn't specify what flavor. Being 2025, you expect USB-C.

Received them today, and they use micro USB input. Now I have to keep yet another cable in my bag. Day mildly ruined.

70 comments

Might be because the tech(charger) itself isn't updated for years. I still get micro sometime for some cheapo stuff, that's why i always have the cable on standby.
- Probably, yeah. I was similarly disappointed when my Kobo came with micro USB, but considering I love everything else about it, I gave it a pass. That, and I typically only have to charge it once a month.
  I've got USB-C to micro adapters, but I've only got 4 of them and either keep losing them or they get semi-permanently installed to a Raspberry Pi or something.
- Yep.
  Re-engineering is expensive, and so is the licensing of USB-C (along with the port cost, and revamping the manufacturing process, and sourcing, etc).
  The device would no longer be inexpensive, and it has no need of USB-C capability.
  There's lots more involved than just the port connector itself.
  
  If it's just for charging, a USB-C port is just a different part. The charge controller and everything can stay "dumb" if it's a low power device.
  The USB-C spec is complicated and to take full advantage of it is expensive like you said, but I think just using a modern form factor isn't expensive.
  
  and so is the licensing of USB-C
  Holup, they need licence to use it in their device?
  
  Considering $10 disposable vapes all come with USB-C, I can't imagine the cost difference is really that great.
- Also I have the impression that lifetime of products has increased again over the past decade or so.
  Still rocking my Sony ebook reader from 2011 and a Samsung Galaxy S5 as backup and Whatsapp handy. Both are using Micro USB, so I have a small cable with me anyways.
- I keep one of those little adapters...dont need a whole cable.

Whether or not a product is usb c is make or break for me now. I bought a more expensive mouse to not have to carry around another charger.
- Same. I went all-in on USB-C about 3 years ago. My house is still cluttered with cables, but at least I can grab any one of them and charge any device.
  
  What pisses me off is how even usb type c cables have different types like power only, only certain amount of wattage, hdmi but not 4k, etc., and I can't keep track of it all.

Easy negative review and a return for me in that situation. If they cut corners on the charging port where else did they cut corners?

Somewhat unrelated, but I recently realized, my micro USB devices have never "worn out" the way my USB-C devices have. I remember having to rig things up, just to get one last charge into my USB-C phone that stopped holding a connection to the charging cable. It actually made me nostalgic for the "plug it in, flip it, plug it in again, realize you still don't have it and flip it again" approach 🤷
- Usb-c is really susceptible to dust building up in the port, especially on phones on pockets. They often need to be scrapped out to get rid of the lint.
  
  Removing the phone's belly button lint is oddly satisfying
  A real throwback to cleaning ball mice
- I've had many micro cables get broken, requiring the perfect angle, but never the ports themselves as far as I could tell. I've never had a C port fail either and rarely have cable issues. However, any time the C ports require a specific angle to work, I have found they're packed with lint. It goes with the "click" getting weak as well. Paperclip, Sim card pick, compressed air, a good cheek puff, usually all good after.
  
  @XeroxCool @Entitle9294 I often read of people claiming to have broken many ports and/or cables. I can't understand how they do it.
- Hmm interesting. I work with a bunch of older machines that use micro USB. They are all going on 10 years without a broken port. But my phones USB C port broke recently at about 4 years in.
  
  My Pixel is going strong for 4 years and the USB-C port works like on day one. Comparing that to my old Samsung J7 which I also had for 4 years, that port struggled 3 years in. I think most of my microUSB devices had worn out ports after a year or two of charging.
- Micro B port broke on my JBL charge 3, de-soldered and replaced, works like new.

I just bought an ONN 4K steaming box and the charger is micro USB. Short cable too. Copper is expensive on a $20 box I guess.
- What does it steam? Buns? What does the 4K stand for?
  
  Ham steamer
  
  It's a typo. Bring a fork for the steamy buns. Fork those buns. For-k.

There is a type of magnetic usb cable that is easy to switch between different USB standards, you can even have the micro USB tip always connected and just connect the cable when you need to, might be a good solution? That way you can have one cable and just buy a bunch of "tips"

mini usb is superior
- I could not disagree more lol. Everyone likes to shit on micro USB, but of all the form factor I've used over the years. the mini connectors always seemed to wear out the fastest.
  
  okay yeah you're right. USB B for the win
- If USB-A and micro USB had a child.

Just clip a few USB port adapters to the end of one of your cords. Standard travel bag gear.
- I have 4 of them, but they keep getting lost or semi-permanently attached to Raspberry Pis or ESP-32 boards. The rest of my micro-usb devices have largely been phased out.
  
  If you want to talk about shitty USB standards, how about the Pi5 which requires 5V5A USB-C to run correctly, a standard that doesn't exist anywhere else.

Ugh... just bought some new Bluetooth headphones and my god i wish they'd let these little chargers just die already.

Yeah, that stinks.

I have a theory that somewhere in China there's a warehouse with a trillion of these damned things. Want to make a cheap product? Grab a truckload!

My headphones are at least 10 years old (August EP650), I'd highly recommend them if they didn't use micro USB. So does my portable mini-fan. Life ruined.
- https://www.amazon.com/USB-Adapter-Micro-Connector-High-Speed/dp/B0C9WR4TWP
  
  I appreciate the thought but I can manage and I'd rather avoid buying even more shit that'll be entirely obsolete in a few years. :)

I am using this charger https://www.liitokala.com.cn/charger/LiitoKala-Charger/324.html it is a few $ on AliExpress, it is USB-C and can basically charge anything, it exists in 1 channel or 4 channels too. For AA batteries I am using IKEA LADDA, made in Japan, by Eneloop.

get a cable with a dongle that is tethered to it, then you only have one cable with a silly thing hanging on it
- I have C->Micro adapters though they aren't tethered. I'm just spoiled by only carrying C cables in my bag and being able to just grab any cable without looking or digging (they're all 100W and video-capable except my 10ft one).

Plug USB-C in and return it as defective.

I frequently have to deal with USB C, B mini and B micro, and assume that this will be for quite some time. Most USB using modules on the net still have B-style connectors.

You could be a boomer and just mash that gas station USB-C cable into the micro USB port anyway. “They just don’t make these new cables work like they used to.”

Why are people so against this old standard?I have lots of perfectly useful older equipment around that uses it. Why would I just throw away old power banks and buy new ones just because it uses a different cord? I don't get it.
- No one is talking of old things that still work. Op just bought something new that still uses micro USB though, that would ruin my day too tbh.
  
  Sounds like a real first world problem.
- Because OP wanted to plug the charger into their laptop. When's the last time you saw a laptop with a micro USB port?
  
  Is this bait?
- Because the cables are difficult to plug in and break constantly. What was most frustrating about the standard was that the previous one, mini-USB, was considerably better by an order of magnitude. The connection wasn't flimsy as hell, for one.
  The robustness of USB-C reminds me of mini-, which is the main reason why prefer it. I also appreciate that you can plug the cable in any direction and it'll always work, every time. You can even plug it in reverse and it will still work, something we've never had in a USB cable before. Micro- sucks so much ass that I can't believe that anyone would prefer it to over mini- or -C.
  
  I prefer the new standard too, but are you actually getting rid of perfectly functioning old stuff because of the connector?
- I"m not so much against it (it was good enough in its time). I've just come to appreciate the mostly "universal" aspect of USB-C and being able to grab any cable from my bag without looking or digging and have it be the correct cable (all my cables are 100W and video capable, so no matter my need, it will be the right cable).
  In a lot of ways, I now see anything with less than USB-C as being like the old, oddly-sized barrel jack connectors. Yeah, it works. Yeah, it's fine. But it's also now an oddball cable I have to carry around.
  I'm old and resist the future in a lot of ways, but USB-C isn't one of them lol.
  
  Well I like the new standard as well but the old one doesn't feel that old to me. It strikes me as another symptom of a throw away society that no one else has any older items anymore since I have so many. I have a few power banks of different sizes, Bluetooth speakers, a bore scope,a couple of action cameras and a couple of pieces of test equipment. They haven't died. I just assumed most other people still had some things too. But the prevalence of people hating on the older standard leads me to believe people just throw away working items because only because they performed then as old.
  Anyway, that's the basis for my comment. You do you.
- My brother work on your information literacy and seeing the forest from the trees because this is just like the most cluless response I’ve ever read

70 comments