Mini - Micro USB

USB, Mini, Micro – What is what?

Posted by Chris Leckness  

I am not ashamed to admit it, but I have thought all along that a certain connector was micro USB this whole time, but I was wrong. I did a video last night of Sprint’s Samsung Intrepid Windows Mobile phone and I accused the phone of having a proprietary connector. I was corrected, I disagreed, I was corrected again and now I know. This whole time, I have thought the wrong connector was micro. You live and you learn. That said, I am going to educate others that might not know!

One of my complaints over the years has been all the different chargers and the lack of standardization in charging in general. That all seems like it might be changing with some of the groups pushing the industry for a standard. About 8 months ago, the GSMA announced a push towards making micro USB that standard. More recently, Zealot posted a story on the same subject where some major manufacturers are planning to get with the program in 2010.

Under Monday’s accord, phone makers Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Apple, Motorola, Research in Motion and others will introduce the single charger by next year.

Well read on to learn more about the micro USB connector.

Like a mentioned about, I have actually used a micro USB connector and didn’t even realize it. I have a couple devices with a really small connector that looks just like a mini USB connector, just smaller. I thought this was the micro USB connector. I am very used to the mini USB connector since it’s all HTC has been using for the past couple years, but micro hasn’t been used a lot in the mobile phone world.

When I was unboxing the Samsung Intrepid, I looked at the charge/sync cable and the wall charger and saw a thin, blade like connector and quickly dismissed it as the same old blade like connector that Samsung had been using. I have several Samsung phones that use that connector. I didn’t even notice the size difference until I was corrected by a viewer. Upon further look today, it’s clear that it is definately the micro USB connector that the GSMA and others are pushing towards.

Now, the question is, what is this connector that I thought was micro USB?