WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.160 USB is a giant lie. 00:00:03.160 --> 00:00:06.640 The U in USB stands for universal, 00:00:06.640 --> 00:00:09.920 but with the confusing naming schemes, inconsistent port colors, 00:00:09.920 --> 00:00:14.560 and varying power delivery capacities, just saying something is USB 00:00:14.560 --> 00:00:19.320 feels about as universal as speaking Esperanto. 00:00:19.320 --> 00:00:23.240 And the infuriating thing is, it doesn't have to be this way. 00:00:23.240 --> 00:00:28.440 Take, for example, the issue with port colors, we just mentioned. For a while, things were relatively simple. 00:00:28.440 --> 00:00:32.600 The OG USB version 1.1 had white ports. 00:00:32.600 --> 00:00:37.160 The faster USB 2.0 used the color black, and once 3.0 rolled around, 00:00:37.160 --> 00:00:40.920 those ports usually got colored blue. That wasn't too hard to remember, 00:00:40.920 --> 00:00:44.840 especially since quite a bit of time passed between those three original revisions, 00:00:44.840 --> 00:00:48.120 but it didn't take long for things to get more complicated. 00:00:48.120 --> 00:00:52.000 We got teal for 10 gigabit per second USB 3.1, 00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:55.960 and red for 20 gigabit USB 3.2. 00:00:55.960 --> 00:01:01.180 There are also colors that often indicate that the port either supports fast charging or stays on 00:01:01.180 --> 00:01:07.500 when the rest of the system is powered down for charging purposes. These are usually warmer colors like yellow, orange, or red, 00:01:07.500 --> 00:01:12.280 so that red port on your PC might not actually be 20 gigabit. 00:01:12.280 --> 00:01:17.660 Then you have other colors that indicate support for some form of proprietary fast charging, 00:01:17.660 --> 00:01:21.060 such as purple for Huawei or green for Qualcomm. 00:01:21.060 --> 00:01:26.460 And you now have to re-memorize what color stands for what USB version 00:01:26.460 --> 00:01:29.580 since everything that isn't USB 2.0 or older 00:01:29.580 --> 00:01:33.380 has been rebranded as USB 3.2. 00:01:34.860 --> 00:01:39.460 What? The point here is that there's actually no standardization 00:01:39.460 --> 00:01:43.700 on anything to do with USB port colors. It's all just conventions 00:01:43.700 --> 00:01:47.060 that different hardware manufacturers may or may not follow. 00:01:47.060 --> 00:01:50.460 I mean, some companies just do whatever the heck they want for the sake of aesthetics, 00:01:50.460 --> 00:01:54.220 which you'll know if you've ever bought anything from Razer. 00:01:54.220 --> 00:01:57.900 But even if you've never thought much at all about the color of a USB connector, 00:01:57.900 --> 00:02:03.580 you can't exactly ignore its shape. Nowadays, we have the reversible USB-C connector, 00:02:03.580 --> 00:02:06.700 which has really taken off, but it's still a long way 00:02:06.700 --> 00:02:10.860 from displacing that old-school rectangular USB-A connector completely. 00:02:10.860 --> 00:02:16.740 And there's still plenty of confusion surrounding USB-C, with a popular misconception being that USB-C ports 00:02:16.740 --> 00:02:20.540 always support the same features or are always faster. 00:02:20.540 --> 00:02:23.740 This definitely is not the case, 00:02:23.780 --> 00:02:28.020 as many USB-C ports only support the older five gigabit spec. 00:02:28.020 --> 00:02:32.140 And making matters worse for those trying to sort out what USB-C products to buy, 00:02:32.140 --> 00:02:36.980 there are quite a few cheaply made, non-compliant USB-C cables out there 00:02:36.980 --> 00:02:41.660 that actually can damage your gadgets. And the really sad part is that even with all the things 00:02:41.660 --> 00:02:46.260 you have to watch out for with USB-C, it's arguably still better than the mishmash 00:02:46.260 --> 00:02:52.340 of other USB connector variants we've had in the past, including Mini, Micro, and this funky looking thing 00:02:52.340 --> 00:02:57.780 that came out when they literally just had to glom on more pins to support USB 3.0 speeds. 00:02:57.780 --> 00:03:03.820 And we haven't even gotten to the number one thing most of us use USB for these days, charging. 00:03:03.820 --> 00:03:06.940 We've actually done a full video on this that you can check out up here, 00:03:06.940 --> 00:03:11.460 but for now, we'll point out that there's a huge amount of variation in how quickly a port 00:03:11.460 --> 00:03:17.140 will charge up your phone or laptop. The USB power delivery standard does help somewhat, 00:03:17.140 --> 00:03:22.820 but there are still a few different flavors of it, and client devices can't all fully take advantage of it yet. 00:03:22.820 --> 00:03:26.980 But there's some good news on the horizon. As confusing as USB has been, 00:03:26.980 --> 00:03:30.940 the new USB 4 standard could make things simpler 00:03:30.940 --> 00:03:35.980 in the near future. It has to use USB-C and support a high speed connection 00:03:35.980 --> 00:03:40.940 of either 20 or 40 gigabits per second. And yes, there's an or in there, 00:03:40.940 --> 00:03:45.700 but combined with an increasing number of devices that support USB power delivery, 00:03:45.740 --> 00:03:49.620 I hope that USB does become more universal soon. 00:03:49.620 --> 00:03:54.980 But in the meantime, please be sure to read reviews or spec sheets of gadgets you're interested in 00:03:54.980 --> 00:03:58.980 and know exactly what their capabilities are before you buy. 00:03:58.980 --> 00:04:02.380 Otherwise, I just wasted all this time ranting for nothing. 00:04:02.380 --> 00:04:07.460 And nothing grinds my gears more than... Hey guys, thanks for watching this video. 00:04:07.460 --> 00:04:11.780 Go ahead and give it a like if you liked it. 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