A Google engineer has taken it upon himself to expose faulty USB Type-C cables through Amazon reviews, an important task as more devices utilizing the technology are being released into the market.
Senior software engineer Benson Leung is a part of the Google team that developed the Chromebook Pixel and the upcoming Pixel C, both of which utilize USB Type-C ports. In a Google+ post, Leung said that he has discovered a painful truth behind the fact that more products utilizing USB Type-C technology are being rolled out.
"USB Type-C will only be as good as its ecosystem, and more specifically, the worst of its ecosystem," Leung wrote in his post.
Leung has found out that most of the third-party USB Type-C cables failed to meet the required specs of the technology. As such, most of the cables out in the market today that were manufactured by third-party companies may not charge up the devices of users. In fact, some of the cables can even cause damages to the charger, port or device of the user.
In response to his discovery, Leung started to order some of the potentially damaging USB Type-C cables on Amazon to review them and point out which cables are fine and which ones users should avoid.
Users that are utilizing the USB Type-C cables that come with the devices as they were purchased should not be worried, as these cables coming from the original equipment manufacturers will mostly have no problems. It is cheaper to purchase such cables from third-party companies though, but before buying replacement USB Type-C cables, it would be best for users to check in first with Leung on his review of the cable.
Among the reviews of Leung include positive ones for Belkin, FRiEQ and iOrange-E, with almost everything else as negative ones for not meeting requirements.
Leung also said that the $5 USB Type-C cable offered by OnePlus, while not being sold by Amazon, does not follow the correct specifications, despite being made by a first-party smartphone manufacturing company.
As more devices and accessories are released that work with USB Type-C technology, it is becoming more important to know about the quality of the products that users purchase. Thankfully, Leung is releasing these reviews to help prevent any incidents that could taint the technology.
