It’s been a couple of weeks… and I’m back to talk about USB cables. I’ve bought three quirky and different kinds of charging cable from Amazon. It’s much more interesting than you might think. And even if it isn’t, at least it’ll be a short video! 🙂
For this week’s episode of Tech Tuesdays, I check out a multi-output USB 4-in-1 charging cable from Baseus, a charging cable with LED display that tells you the Voltage and Amps going through it, and a magnetic connector cable that can be used to charge devices with micro-USB, USB-C and lightning connectors.
Links to reviewed products:
Multi-output cable: https://amzn.to/34MHovY
LED display cable: https://amzn.to/3kRd1u7
Magnetic cable: https://amzn.to/3kTKVhJ
(These ones light up: https://amzn.to/327EYGu)
TRANSCRIPT
1
00:00:00,560 –> 00:00:03,946
Before we start this week’s show properly,
just a few bits of housekeeping.
2
00:00:03,946 –> 00:00:07,373
Firstly, yes I am being as quiet as possible.
3
00:00:07,373 –> 00:00:13,162
The reason for that is there is a sleeping baby literally on the other side of that wall behind me.
4
00:00:13,162 –> 00:00:14,720
So I’m going to try and be
5
00:00:15,840 –> 00:00:18,823
as quiet as possible without sounding like I’m whispering.
6
00:00:18,823 –> 00:00:24,423
I may occasionally raise my voice if something seems particularly exciting. It might do. We’ll see.
7
00:00:24,423 –> 00:00:27,306
Secondly, it’s been two weeks since you last saw me.
8
00:00:27,306 –> 00:00:31,387
And the reason for that is that it’s been school holidays here in England.
9
00:00:31,387 –> 00:00:34,956
And, well, it’s not really a holiday for us is it, for the parents?
10
00:00:34,956 –> 00:00:38,564
We generally spend our time cooking, cleaning up after the little ones,
11
00:00:38,564 –> 00:00:44,267
and basically acting like a WWE referee most of the time, it seems.
12
00:00:44,267 –> 00:00:50,160
Your mileage may vary. Your kids may not argue as much as mine. But mine argue a hell of a lot.
13
00:00:50,160 –> 00:00:57,840
Thirdly, you may notice I’m wearing these glasses? I wear glasses about 60%-70% of the time.
14
00:00:58,960 –> 00:01:04,257
And I thought to myself: “you know, do you want to wear these glasses when you do YouTube videos?”
15
00:01:04,257 –> 00:01:10,038
“No! Of course you don’t. You want to look like one of those cool YouTubers that you see all the time, and get yourself some sunglasses!”
16
00:01:10,038 –> 00:01:14,880
And that’s exactly what I did. I ordered some prescription sunglasses off the internet.
17
00:01:14,880 –> 00:01:18,726
They took a hell of a long time to arrive but this is how they look on me.
18
00:01:18,726 –> 00:01:23,120
This is probably going to be the first and the last time you see me wearing these glasses because
19
00:01:23,680 –> 00:01:27,167
they give me headaches.
20
00:01:27,167 –> 00:01:29,356
So I’m sending them back!
21
00:01:29,356 –> 00:01:37,176
The reason for that is that I normally order my prescription sunglasses and glasses from a company called Spex4Less.
22
00:01:37,176 –> 00:01:42,147
They haven’t sponsored me in any way. They’re not paying me to say this. They don’t even know I’m saying this.
23
00:01:42,147 –> 00:01:47,040
But I’ve always used them because their service has always been exceptionally good,
24
00:01:47,680 –> 00:01:51,557
quick, and the quality is exactly what you want.
25
00:01:51,557 –> 00:01:55,285
But this time around I thought “Hey, why not save yourself some money?”
26
00:01:55,285 –> 00:01:58,480
And indeed I did. I saved myself a whole (£5) five pounds.
27
00:01:58,480 –> 00:02:03,430
And what that meant was that I had to wait three times as long to receive them.
28
00:02:03,430 –> 00:02:07,299
And the ones that I’ve got are basically defective. So I’m gonna send them back.
29
00:02:07,299 –> 00:02:11,001
So, yeah, the lesson here kids is:
30
00:02:11,001 –> 00:02:16,154
stick to the companies that you know and trust to do a good job for you.
31
00:02:16,154 –> 00:02:21,899
Be loyal to them. Because good service, good quality, deserves loyalty.
32
00:02:21,899 –> 00:02:24,920
The other thing I want to mention is …
33
00:02:25,840 –> 00:02:30,960
How does this look? Does this look different? Have you noticed a difference? You should have!
34
00:02:30,960 –> 00:02:36,844
Firstly, this is much wider. A much wider image than you’re normally used to seeing.
35
00:02:36,844 –> 00:02:43,607
Secondly, the colours should be a little bit different to what you’re used to seeing in my videos as well.
36
00:02:43,607 –> 00:02:50,000
You’ll notice that there are a couple of big boxes in the corner and in those big boxes are
37
00:02:50,000 –> 00:02:53,701
a fancy new camera and a fancy new lens.
38
00:02:53,701 –> 00:02:59,396
Because what’s happened is I’ve sold one of my cameras on ebay – got a fantastic price for it –
39
00:02:59,396 –> 00:03:02,877
and this has just arrived.
40
00:03:02,877 –> 00:03:06,958
But if I wanted to get this episode out, I had to use an action camera.
41
00:03:06,958 –> 00:03:11,830
And why not? Because there are so many channels that do use action cameras to make YouTube videos.
42
00:03:11,830 –> 00:03:14,829
So I thought why not give it a go. Let’s see how it looks.
43
00:03:14,829 –> 00:03:21,391
The problem with action cameras is they use these strange wide-angle lenses that make things look funny in the corners.
44
00:03:21,391 –> 00:03:25,191
Look my hands don’t look like this in reality errrrr…
45
00:03:25,191 –> 00:03:28,908
Yeah, you see what I mean? It’s so weird right? Is it weird? Is it?
46
00:03:28,908 –> 00:03:34,724
Do you prefer this? Do you prefer this wide angle look with the bright saturated colours?
47
00:03:34,724 –> 00:03:38,787
Do you? Maybe you do. Maybe this is better. Maybe this is what I should be doing from now.
48
00:03:38,787 –> 00:03:43,135
Leave a comment below. Let me know. Do you prefer this?
49
00:03:43,135 –> 00:03:48,127
Actually, just for comparison, let’s have a quick look at what it was like in the previous episode.
50
00:03:48,127 –> 00:03:50,524
So this is what it looked like in the previous episode.
51
00:03:50,524 –> 00:03:55,488
And back to this episode. Which do you prefer? Let me know… comments down below.
52
00:03:55,488 –> 00:04:01,194
I hate doing this because my hands look so damned weird with the action camera.
53
00:04:01,194 –> 00:04:03,206
Anyway… on with the show!
54
00:04:07,840 –> 00:04:13,398
Whatup nerds? I’m Jay Shareef.
Welcome to another episode of Tech Tuesdays.
55
00:04:13,398 –> 00:04:18,658
Every Tuesday, I make a video about whatever tech or gadgets I’ve bought in the last week.
56
00:04:18,658 –> 00:04:22,620
And I’ve had quite a few packages arrive in the mailbox recently.
57
00:04:22,620 –> 00:04:26,709
Today I’m going to talk about USB charging cables.
58
00:04:26,709 –> 00:04:30,215
Please don’t switch off! Please! Please don’t switch off!
59
00:04:30,215 –> 00:04:34,686
This will be a really, really short video and I do think you’re going to like it OK.
60
00:04:34,686 –> 00:04:41,106
So let’s talk about charging cables. Which can be a lot more interesting than you might realize.
61
00:04:41,106 –> 00:04:47,774
Recently, I’ve been particularly intrigued by three different types of USB charging cable I’ve seen on Amazon.
62
00:04:47,774 –> 00:04:52,886
Now we all know what USB cables look like. On one end they have the standard USB connector.
63
00:04:52,886 –> 00:04:56,547
This is officially known as a USB-A connector.
64
00:04:56,547 –> 00:05:00,148
And then on the other end you have various different kinds of connectors.
65
00:05:00,148 –> 00:05:09,241
Popular versions include: mini-USB, micro-USB, USB-C, and of course the lightning connector for Apple devices.
66
00:05:09,241 –> 00:05:15,704
Now the first USB cable I’ve bought this week has been designed to deal with this multi-connector problem,
67
00:05:15,704 –> 00:05:20,655
because it’s a cable that can connect to several devices at once.
68
00:05:20,655 –> 00:05:26,449
And here it is. This particular version is by a company called Baseus.
69
00:05:26,449 –> 00:05:29,372
Or maybe it’s supposed to be “Base US”.
70
00:05:29,372 –> 00:05:34,141
So here’s how it works. You plug one end into a charger or computer as usual.
71
00:05:34,141 –> 00:05:37,824
However, the cable then splits into multiple outputs.
72
00:05:37,824 –> 00:05:45,004
So this version has four outputs: a lightning connector, a micro-USB, and two USB-C connectors.
73
00:05:45,004 –> 00:05:51,750
Now eventually all devices will use USB-C as standard – even Apple devices – which is great.
74
00:05:51,750 –> 00:05:57,797
Until that happens though, this multi-output USB cable is incredibly useful.
75
00:05:57,797 –> 00:06:04,428
Because if, like me, you have multiple devices, then being able to charge them all simultaneously is fantastic.
76
00:06:04,428 –> 00:06:08,002
Right, let’s do this! So i’ve got an iPad here.
77
00:06:08,002 –> 00:06:12,906
Yes, it is in a rugged, waterproof, military case because obviously it is.
78
00:06:12,906 –> 00:06:20,332
I’ve got children. I’m going to put all my precious and expensive devices in as rugged a case as I can.
79
00:06:20,332 –> 00:06:24,052
So that plugs in nice and snugly. That’s my iPad there.
80
00:06:24,052 –> 00:06:30,787
An android tablet. Again in a rugged case, so the brats can’t break — sorry, “the children” can’t break it.
81
00:06:30,787 –> 00:06:36,139
Micro USB is there. That’s plugged in there.
82
00:06:36,139 –> 00:06:43,045
I’ve got my phone here and I can use a USB-C cable to plug that in.
83
00:06:43,045 –> 00:06:51,177
And, finally, I’ve got my action camera, which I can also plug the second USB-C cable into.
84
00:06:51,177 –> 00:06:56,800
So… four devices. Will this work? Hopefully.
85
00:06:57,440 –> 00:07:01,086
Oh that doesn’t look good… dusty.
86
00:07:01,086 –> 00:07:03,822
Let’s see what happens when I plug this in.
87
00:07:07,200 –> 00:07:11,716
Multiple devices charging at once!
There we go. That’s charging.
88
00:07:11,716 –> 00:07:14,322
That’s charging.
89
00:07:14,322 –> 00:07:17,448
This is also charging.
90
00:07:17,448 –> 00:07:22,241
And my Apple device, the iPad, is also charging.
91
00:07:22,241 –> 00:07:24,720
Which is fantastic.
92
00:07:24,720 –> 00:07:30,577
So what we have here is one charger, four devices. How efficient is that?
93
00:07:30,577 –> 00:07:37,992
Obviously this is a brilliant innovation. But you do need to keep in mind that this USB cable is for charging only.
94
00:07:37,992 –> 00:07:42,620
You can’t use it as a data cable to connect your computer to your devices.
95
00:07:42,620 –> 00:07:46,763
So it will never replace dedicated single device cables.
96
00:07:46,763 –> 00:07:50,923
If you want to transfer pictures from your action camera to your laptop
97
00:07:50,923 –> 00:07:57,030
then you still need to use a standalone USB-A to USB-C cable.
98
00:07:57,030 –> 00:08:00,979
Speaking of which, here’s a quirky set of cables that will do exactly that.
99
00:08:00,979 –> 00:08:05,023
At first glance these nylon braided cables look pretty normal.
100
00:08:05,023 –> 00:08:10,249
Obviously the nylon braiding on the outside helps them last much longer than ordinary plastic cables.
101
00:08:10,249 –> 00:08:13,488
And that’s one of the reasons I bought these.
102
00:08:13,488 –> 00:08:23,174
However, they do have a party piece and it’s hidden on the USB-A side where it has a little LED panel.
103
00:08:23,174 –> 00:08:32,478
As soon as I plug it into a power supply it starts telling me the amount of Current and Voltage going through this wire.
104
00:08:32,478 –> 00:08:37,441
Under normal circumstances the Voltage should always be showing at around about five Volts.
105
00:08:37,441 –> 00:08:40,630
If it’s showing anything else then that suggests something is wrong.
106
00:08:40,630 –> 00:08:46,609
And, when it’s connected, the current should normally be showing somewhere between 1 Amp and 3.5 Amps.
107
00:08:46,609 –> 00:08:50,374
This is showing as less than half an Amp.
108
00:08:50,374 –> 00:08:52,833
0.4 Amps.
109
00:08:52,833 –> 00:08:55,931
That’s probably down to the phone that it’s connected to.
110
00:08:55,931 –> 00:09:02,163
Because how much comes out is also dependent on how much this device is asking for.
111
00:09:02,163 –> 00:09:06,009
So, obviously this device is asking for a lot less current than 1 Amp.
112
00:09:06,009 –> 00:09:10,747
But, normally, somewhere between 1 Amp and 3.5 Amps is what you can expect.
113
00:09:10,747 –> 00:09:15,514
Now some of you might be asking “what are Amps?” Very quickly then…
114
00:09:15,514 –> 00:09:17,902
“Amp” is short for “Amperes”.
115
00:09:17,902 –> 00:09:21,923
The Amp reading here tells you how much Current is flowing.
116
00:09:21,923 –> 00:09:25,329
Basically, how quickly energy is being transferred.
117
00:09:25,329 –> 00:09:30,432
The bigger the number of Amps the more energy is going through this wire every second.
118
00:09:30,432 –> 00:09:35,510
So, hopefully, now you could broadly understand what this little LED is telling you.
119
00:09:35,510 –> 00:09:38,188
And this is a really neat little
gimmick.
120
00:09:38,188 –> 00:09:42,498
But, in all honesty, it’s never once come in useful to me.
121
00:09:42,498 –> 00:09:48,106
It’s an interesting curiosity. But most of you can easily live without this knowledge.
122
00:09:48,106 –> 00:09:53,670
So feel free to buy one of these because it’s a quirky, nerdy thing to own.
123
00:09:53,670 –> 00:09:58,057
But don’t expect that you’ll actually get any useful information out of it.
124
00:09:58,057 –> 00:09:59,840
I’ve never got any useful information out of it.
125
00:10:00,480 –> 00:10:04,375
And, finally, I bought a couple of magnetic connector cables.
126
00:10:04,375 –> 00:10:10,308
And these ones might have a practical value beyond the nerdy delight that they provide.
127
00:10:10,308 –> 00:10:14,879
Each cable has the standard USB-A connector on one end.
128
00:10:14,879 –> 00:10:18,566
On the other end, however, it doesn’t have a specific connector.
129
00:10:18,566 –> 00:10:26,320
Instead, you’re supplied with these multiple interchangeable connectors – magnetic of course.
130
00:10:28,320 –> 00:10:32,906
So, I’ve got one here that connects to my iPad.
131
00:10:32,906 –> 00:10:36,040
One that connects to my smartphone.
132
00:10:36,040 –> 00:10:41,653
And one that will connect to my Android tablet. There we go.
133
00:10:41,653 –> 00:10:47,076
All you have to do is literally just push them in to the end, like so.
134
00:10:47,076 –> 00:10:53,614
And then when I want to charge any of these devices, I just connect one end to the device, like so magnetically.
135
00:10:53,614 –> 00:10:55,719
Works really well.
136
00:10:55,719 –> 00:10:59,840
And the other end into any charger, like so.
137
00:11:01,920 –> 00:11:06,960
So we’ve got this cable that lights up a lovely shade of blue, and it’s got this moving effect here.
138
00:11:06,960 –> 00:11:10,160
Really brightens up your day, of course.
139
00:11:10,160 –> 00:11:16,153
But… imagine one of these running
in your bedroom throughout the night.
140
00:11:16,153 –> 00:11:19,521
Actually, let’s turn off the light so you can see what that would look like.
141
00:11:21,200 –> 00:11:25,868
So I’m not sure how much of this you can see. But a couple of things…
142
00:11:25,868 –> 00:11:30,626
Firstly this is very, very annoying. In the dark, in particular.
143
00:11:30,626 –> 00:11:35,434
And, secondly, blue light is proven to disrupt human sleep.
144
00:11:35,434 –> 00:11:38,359
They really didn’t think this through, did they?
145
00:11:38,359 –> 00:11:42,580
Apart from this one, annoying, very major design flaw,
146
00:11:42,580 –> 00:11:46,113
this cable does seem to work on almost any device.
147
00:11:46,113 –> 00:11:48,015
Let’s turn the lights back on.
148
00:11:48,015 –> 00:11:51,237
Right, so obviously this is charging my smartphone just fine.
149
00:11:51,237 –> 00:11:54,408
I can remove this end of the cable and now
150
00:11:54,408 –> 00:11:58,080
let’s plug it (magnetically) into my iPad.
151
00:12:00,240 –> 00:12:03,227
Yep, there we go. Works just fine on the iPad as well.
152
00:12:05,680 –> 00:12:09,840
And, finally. let’s give this a go on the Android tablet.
153
00:12:13,360 –> 00:12:16,640
Oh, it actually worked! It didn’t work when I was practicing earlier.
154
00:12:16,640 –> 00:12:21,289
But it seems to work just fine on the Android tablet as well. So excellent.
155
00:12:21,289 –> 00:12:25,899
Charges multiple devices. No need to constantly plug it in either.
156
00:12:25,899 –> 00:12:31,732
It will magnetically attach itself to the device.
157
00:12:31,732 –> 00:12:37,101
The only problem is you’ve got to leave this bloody connector thing in your device constantly
158
00:12:37,101 –> 00:12:40,268
to take advantage of the convenience of this.
159
00:12:40,268 –> 00:12:46,237
So that’s three different types of USB cable. What’s my final verdict?
160
00:12:46,237 –> 00:12:48,771
Well, basically, it’s this:
161
00:12:48,771 –> 00:12:55,841
Do not buy ANY of the gadgets (cables) I’ve discussed today, with one exception.
162
00:12:55,841 –> 00:13:01,201
The multi-device USB charging cable is a fantastic and useful product.
163
00:13:01,201 –> 00:13:04,938
Especially if you need to pack light while you’re traveling.
164
00:13:04,938 –> 00:13:10,806
Everything else I’ve talked about today just isn’t worth the money. Simple as that.
165
00:13:10,806 –> 00:13:16,829
So there you have it. As usual. Valuable consumer advice from another episode of Tech Tuesdays.
166
00:13:16,829 –> 00:13:22,960
There are links in the description, as usual, if you do want to buy any of the products I’ve mentioned in the show.
167
00:13:23,520 –> 00:13:26,434
This has been another episode of Tech Tuesdays.
168
00:13:26,434 –> 00:13:29,283
I’ll be back again next week with more.
169
00:13:29,283 –> 00:13:31,161
Later nerds!
Be First to Comment