Nexus 6P USB Cables Price Increase

[terminator y2k]

So I noticed after the Pixel phones were announced, the USB C to A cables went up in price from $14 to $25 and they also changed color from black to white, because it appears this "newer" cable is for the Pixel phones... and I don't know what's the difference from the "old" cables to these new ones.

So I was just wondering if anyone knew why this happened and or if the other cables can still be purchased from Google. Nexus 6P is my first USB-C cable so I've been slowly buying cables and chargers and for Google to jack up the price from $14 to $25 (almsot double) is not cool... I had no idea this was going to happen, if I did I would have picked up a few cables beforehand. And I want to stick to the Google cables bc I don't want to risk damaging my phone.

 

[terminator y2k]

Couldn't upload picture on original post

 

[GSDer]

That's quite a ripoff.

 

[terminator y2k]

That's quite a ripoff.

Yup.

 

[markst]

Just bought the same ones from Amazon for 7.99. 3.5 ft

 

[neo905]

Wow, Google IS really trying to be like Apple now...LOL

 

[bjrosen]

Who buy's cables from Google? There are lots of C-A cables on Amazon and Newegg for less than $5.

 

[terminator y2k]

Who buy's cables from Google? There are lots of C-A cables on Amazon and Newegg for less than $5.

I do. Don't mind paying $15 for a phone that costs $500 + wouldn't want to risk it with cheap cables that may damage phone. But $25 for a cable is a little ridiculous.

 

[PGrey]

I don't know, if you stay with reputable brands, like Anker, PortaPow or similar, I think you're going to get at least as good a quality as the Google cable (which is undoubtedly made by one of them anyway).
I've always used 3rd party cables, for many, many years, across tons of devices, expensive and not, and have had zero issues (with any type of damage).

Worst-case, a cable might be a little flaky, a cheapie, but then you toss it in the recycle pile, and move on, I would say this is maybe 2-3% of the cables I've purchased...

It is annoying though, and does seem like they're going the "Apple way", with the advent of the Pixel line, abandoning the older devices faster, etc. Particularly irritating because I just moved to the 6P, after having had WinPhone from in inception, and was finally getting used to the interface, when all this garbage started with 7.1 and such, and the Pixel lineup.

 

[markst]

Looks like 7.1.1 cleared up my Pandora Bluetooth problem..

 

[edwin walke]

I have always used eBay for cables and chargers and have not been disappointed -- Just make sure you know what you want and read the product description carefully and generally be prepared for longer free shipping times.

 

[terminator y2k]

I don't know, if you stay with reputable brands, like Anker, PortaPow or similar, I think you're going to get at least as good a quality as the Google cable (which is undoubtedly made by one of them anyway).
I've always used 3rd party cables, for many, many years, across tons of devices, expensive and not, and have had zero issues (with any type of damage).

Worst-case, a cable might be a little flaky, a cheapie, but then you toss it in the recycle pile, and move on, I would say this is maybe 2-3% of the cables I've purchased...

It is annoying though, and does seem like they're going the "Apple way", with the advent of the Pixel line, abandoning the older devices faster, etc. Particularly irritating because I just moved to the 6P, after having had WinPhone from in inception, and was finally getting used to the interface, when all this garbage started with 7.1 and such, and the Pixel lineup.

Yeah I'll buy other reputable brands, for example, I have an iPad as well and I'll pick up extra USB cables from Caselogic, Belkin, etc. I actually have a dual usb wall charger from Anker that I've had for about 1 year and I haven't had any issues with it.I keep a micro USB and a lighting cable plugged into it so when people come over they can easily change their iPhone, Android. So I'm okay with buying 3rd party brands but since USB C is a new spec I've read different things online in which some cables may damage phone, etc.

 

[PGrey]

My setup would be frightening then, I have a random Qi receiver I bought direct from China (only one I found reviewed that puts out close to actual 1.0A), and I don't think I ever actually took my USB-C cable out of the box, from my 6P, I already had several aftermarket around ;-]

Thanks for adding Belkin and Caselogic, there are really a bunch of good ones out there.

Where did you read about a USB-C cable causing damage? Not saying it couldn't happen, if mis-wired, just haven't seen anything. I tend to keep up on quite a bit (less Android though, admittedly, catching up now that I have a 6P, and not just a tablet) on some forums, when I can...

 

[terminator y2k]

My setup would be frightening then, I have a random Qi receiver I bought direct from China (only one I found reviewed that puts out close to actual 1.0A), and I don't think I ever actually took my USB-C cable out of the box, from my 6P, I already had several aftermarket around ;-]

Thanks for adding Belkin and Caselogic, there are really a bunch of good ones out there.

Where did you read about a USB-C cable causing damage? Not saying it couldn't happen, if mis-wired, just haven't seen anything. I tend to keep up on quite a bit (less Android though, admittedly, catching up now that I have a 6P, and not just a tablet) on some forums, when I can...

There's been some articles here that get into all the technicalities of USB C, bc there's rapid charge, quick charge, and due to all these technicalities different chargers may work different with USB C bc USB C can charge at a higher output (not sure of the technical term) but the charger has to support this, otherwise it can be overloaded. Like I said, USB C can get very technical. Lol

 

[PGrey]

True, but some USB 2.0 implementations did the same.
However, usually a "handshake" is done over the data line before the "faster charge mode" is enabled, for this reason. The same is (supposed to anyway) be true on 3.0/3.1, where if they don't get an acknowledge on the handshake, they only charge at the low/basic rate.
Granted, I suppose something really weird could happen with a phone and it falsely acknowledging the handshake signal, but I'd say the odds are low, like probably better chances of getting a lightning strike or something...

I should mention that I owned both a tablet and a 2-1 that did this using 2.0 chargers, but the handshake would enable 20V charging over a second pin.

I tried to find an instance of an issue with 3.0 cables, do you have any pointers?

I worked on some of the early USB 3.0 specs, since I was writing some I/O and sleep-state tests at the time, believe me, I went to a couple of tech-talks early-on, before release, USB 3.0 definitely got more "interesting"... ;-]

 

[PGrey]

Interesting, I found this article today:
What to look for when buying USB-C cables and adapters | Android Central

You're right terminator_y2k, mea culpa, the type-c thing has really thrown things off, since I last read a spec. Unfortunately, not everyone is paying attention to the right resistors, or following the common handshake, but this article does point to a known good set of mostly aftermarket cables/chargers, which is handy.

It also seems like the USB Consortium didn't do the best job on the charging side of this, whereas under 2.0, the sort of "one-off" handshake cables were fairly well defined, to prevent problems like this. What a mess.

Edit: I decided to see what the consortium had actually done, and really they did do a decent job of laying things out, there are test methodologies and all, but it seems as if they're not being followed (above article), depending on the cable/charger source: http://www.usb.org/developers/compliance/usbcpd_testing/USB-C_Product_Matrix.pdf

It's a frightening time to be implementing USB-C on a device, it would seem. I would say I've gotten "lucky", in terms of my aftermarket purchases, in terms of cables, all mine are on the "list" in the article above...

 

[Ry]

Thanks Google.

 

[Cant Miss]

That's quite a ripoff.

It's a "premium" cable!

 

[terminator y2k]

Interesting, I found this article today:
What to look for when buying USB-C cables and adapters | Android Central

You're right terminator_y2k, mea culpa, the type-c thing has really thrown things off, since I last read a spec. Unfortunately, not everyone is paying attention to the right resistors, or following the common handshake, but this article does point to a known good set of mostly aftermarket cables/chargers, which is handy.

It also seems like the USB Consortium didn't do the best job on the charging side of this, whereas under 2.0, the sort of "one-off" handshake cables were fairly well defined, to prevent problems like this. What a mess.

Edit: I decided to see what the consortium had actually done, and really they did do a decent job of laying things out, there are test methodologies and all, but it seems as if they're not being followed (above article), depending on the cable/charger source: http://www.usb.org/developers/compliance/usbcpd_testing/USB-C_Product_Matrix.pdf

It's a frightening time to be implementing USB-C on a device, it would seem. I would say I've gotten "lucky", in terms of my aftermarket purchases, in terms of cables, all mine are on the "list" in the article above...

Yeah it can be a bit confusing.

 

[PGrey]

Yeah it can be a bit confusing.

Yeah, bizarre, really, given how well instrumented the USB 3.0 rollout was, back in the day.

I think the biggest problem is the cheaper cables, mostly, where the testing hasn't been done, or they haven't even been built to spec. Stick to a known brand, or that list in the article, and you should be okay.

It's too bad, really, but I don't know how the USB consortium is going to handle some random eBay seller, offering "sketchy" cables from who-knows-where. It's really a customs problem, but I bet they've largely given up too. I did do some reading on the CPSC site, and they have a blanket law that covers it as well, but again, who's going to enforce it, given the breadth...