Portable chargers: Maybe you have a portable charger with an old USB connection, but a phone that only has a USB-C connection (which is not compatible with older USB ports). You can link the charger to a laptop that has both types of ports, and use it to power up your phone in a roundabout way. Do not try to use your laptop Type C charger to charge your phone directly, not yet. The voltage requirements are too different for most devices currently available, and multi-device chargers are still a nascent part of the market.
Power stations: Stations like the DeX Station from Samsung allow you to connect screens with Samsung phones for greater usability and switching between tasks. The DeX Station includes USB-C connections for charging the latest Samsung phones, along with other ports for connecting various accessories. This “something for everything” approach is popular right now as USB connections enter a complicated phase.
There’s a variant of USB-C that’s a lot more powerful — Thunderbolt 3. Choose a laptop with at least one Thunderbolt 3-enabled USB-C port and you can connect multiple 4K monitors at 60Hz and greatly increase your laptop’s gaming performance via an external GPU enclosure.
Thunderbolt 3 allows for a number of charging arrangements: It can “chain” up to six different devices together and easily charge while transmitting data — at higher speeds than USB-C alone, up to 100W.
Since Thunderbolt 3 uses the same connection as USB-C, manufacturers are quick to label laptop ports if they also have Thunderbolt 3 technology: You can usually tell just by reading their descriptions. However, Thunderbolt 3 connections only work if you use the right cables, so make sure you have Thunderbolt 3 cables if that’s what your ports are.
The future of USB-C charging
There’s a brand-new version of USB on its way that will be even faster and provide even more standardization. Dubbed USB4, we can expect laptops with the new ports to start arriving in 2020 or so. USB4 adds another layer of complexity to the whole USB protocol issue, but here are important points to note:
As if there wasn’t enough headphones news right now, Microsoft may be close to launching its second-generation Surface Headphones.
Thanks to a Bluetooth SIG listing that was first caught by 911 Mobiles, a new version of Microsoft’s over-ear headphones is in the works. The Surface Headphones 2 will have 20 hours of battery life, Bluetooth 5.0 technology built-in, and support for audio codecs like aptX.
There aren’t a ton of other details available in the listing. The design description of the product notes that dial buttons will be able to choose between three different noise cancellation settings and voice assistant integration with the tap of a dial. Beyond that, we don’t know a lot about these new headphones.
The information we currently have, however, is a sign that Microsoft is moving in the right direction. In our review of the original Microsoft Surface Headphones, we had issues with poor battery life from the cans, as well as a lack of aptX support. We found them to be easy to use, but their features left a lot to be desired.
It seems like Microsoft may have listened, at least to an extent. An estimated 20 hours of battery life is better, though it doesn’t compete with the Sony WH-1000XM3 in terms of playback time. We also found the accompanying app to be incredibly flawed, so here’s hoping Microsoft reworked that aspect of the ensemble, too.
A new leak has provided some insight into why Microsoft’s Surface lineup doesn’t feature Thunderbolt 3 ports. The reasoning comes down to security concerns, according to an internal Surface engineering webinar posted by Walking Cat on Twitter.
Per the employee speaking in the video, Microsoft’s Surface lineup doesn’t feature Intel’s Thunderbolt technology because “that’s indirect memory access.” The vulnerability to a direct memory access attack has always been present with Thunderbolt technology, but Microsoft remains the only manufacturer refusing to use it.
Power stations: Stations like the DeX Station from Samsung allow you to connect screens with Samsung phones for greater usability and switching between tasks. The DeX Station includes USB-C connections for charging the latest Samsung phones, along with other ports for connecting various accessories. This “something for everything” approach is popular right now as USB connections enter a complicated phase.
There’s a variant of USB-C that’s a lot more powerful — Thunderbolt 3. Choose a laptop with at least one Thunderbolt 3-enabled USB-C port and you can connect multiple 4K monitors at 60Hz and greatly increase your laptop’s gaming performance via an external GPU enclosure.
Thunderbolt 3 allows for a number of charging arrangements: It can “chain” up to six different devices together and easily charge while transmitting data — at higher speeds than USB-C alone, up to 100W.
Since Thunderbolt 3 uses the same connection as USB-C, manufacturers are quick to label laptop ports if they also have Thunderbolt 3 technology: You can usually tell just by reading their descriptions. However, Thunderbolt 3 connections only work if you use the right cables, so make sure you have Thunderbolt 3 cables if that’s what your ports are.
The future of USB-C charging
There’s a brand-new version of USB on its way that will be even faster and provide even more standardization. Dubbed USB4, we can expect laptops with the new ports to start arriving in 2020 or so. USB4 adds another layer of complexity to the whole USB protocol issue, but here are important points to note:
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As if there wasn’t enough headphones news right now, Microsoft may be close to launching its second-generation Surface Headphones.
Thanks to a Bluetooth SIG listing that was first caught by 911 Mobiles, a new version of Microsoft’s over-ear headphones is in the works. The Surface Headphones 2 will have 20 hours of battery life, Bluetooth 5.0 technology built-in, and support for audio codecs like aptX.
There aren’t a ton of other details available in the listing. The design description of the product notes that dial buttons will be able to choose between three different noise cancellation settings and voice assistant integration with the tap of a dial. Beyond that, we don’t know a lot about these new headphones.
The information we currently have, however, is a sign that Microsoft is moving in the right direction. In our review of the original Microsoft Surface Headphones, we had issues with poor battery life from the cans, as well as a lack of aptX support. We found them to be easy to use, but their features left a lot to be desired.
It seems like Microsoft may have listened, at least to an extent. An estimated 20 hours of battery life is better, though it doesn’t compete with the Sony WH-1000XM3 in terms of playback time. We also found the accompanying app to be incredibly flawed, so here’s hoping Microsoft reworked that aspect of the ensemble, too.
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A new leak has provided some insight into why Microsoft’s Surface lineup doesn’t feature Thunderbolt 3 ports. The reasoning comes down to security concerns, according to an internal Surface engineering webinar posted by Walking Cat on Twitter.
Per the employee speaking in the video, Microsoft’s Surface lineup doesn’t feature Intel’s Thunderbolt technology because “that’s indirect memory access.” The vulnerability to a direct memory access attack has always been present with Thunderbolt technology, but Microsoft remains the only manufacturer refusing to use it.
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