Google engineer says avoid USB Type-C cables and adapters

“The OnePlus USB Type-C cable and adapter are compliant with USB 2.0 and Type-C 1.0 protocols”. Not even two weeks after his unfavorable Amazon reviews of certain third-party USB Type-C cables made waves online, Benson Leung is taking OnePlus to task for its cables.

Leung also warned against buying the OnePlus USB Type-C adaptor for Google’s Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P smartphones, as well as its Chromebook Pixel, as it too uses the wrong identifier resistor. While a few of them have been positive, there are several negative evaluations out there, mostly because cable makers are cutting corners and not designing their parts based on the certified standard laid out by the USB Implementers’ Forum (USB-IF), a non-profit founded by the group of companies that developed the USB specification. This weekend, he included the accessory from OnePlus, saying that it uses a different identifier resistor, a tiny electronic device created to resist passages of an electric current.

“Oneplus needs to get the message that their accessories are out of spec…” he said.

Google’s Chromebook Pixel was one of the first devices to feature USB Type-C charger. The problem, as Leung has explained in the Google+ thread, is that OnePlus’ Type-C adapter – which is meant to convert Type-A or micro/mini connectors to the new Type-C connector – can not convert the power to 3A.

Leung claims that because the adapter does not allow for power delivery of up to 3A, and because the device will attempt to draw that amount of power, it could end up potentially damage it, thus leading to his post.

“However, it’s still not cool to keep that cable around because the next phone or tablet or laptop computer you buy might support 3A fast charging, and if you forget that cable is bad, you may damage a charger sometime in the future”, he wrote in a comment.

One might say that Leung is testing against Google’s products that do have USB Type-C ports and could be having tunnel vision on those. The “riskiest state” would be if a phone that supports quick charging is plugged into the wall using the OnePlus cable and charged from near-empty.