Plug and Play? No Way!

Haven't connector designers ever heard the word 'standard'?

Contributing Editor Stephen Manes is cohost of PC World's Digital Duo, a weekly series broadcast on public TV stations throughout the country.

It won't sell as well as those spring-break videos, but someone should offer a series called "Connectors Gone Wild!" Just when the industry seemed to be embracing genuine standards like USB and FireWire, proprietary connectors as long-lived and useful as moths are back with a vengeance.

Take my PalmOne Treo 600: When I bought the thing in 2003, I ordered a clever folding keyboard that attaches to the connector on the bottom. But in a policy that can be viewed only as planned obsolescence, Palm-One installed an incompatible connector on the upgraded Treo 650. If I want the new model, I'll have to buy a "universal" infrared keyboard (no doubt the day before the company releases a Treo without an IR port). Cue up "Won't Get Fooled Again."

Then there's my wife's not-that-old Sony notebook. When the power brick died, Sony couldn't sell us a replacement, thanks to a plug that evidently never appeared on another product. I finally found a big, ugly, slightly scary third-party unit that won't work unless you insert it just right.

You may think that you're playing it safe with a "standard" connector, but new tricks can still turn your peripherals into worthless bits of wire. The other day I was testing a new cell phone and decided to try it with a headset I like. I popped open a cover on the phone marked with a headphone icon, and found not the familiar round connector, but something that looked more like a Mini USB jack. That's one phone I'm not likely to buy.

Even USB isn't truly standard. When I tested Sony's PlayStation Portable, which comes with a Mini USB jack but no cable, I ransacked the house and found lots of USB cables equipped with various small connectors. But only one fit the PSP.

When it comes to arcane power connectors, phones and cameras are among the worst offenders. As manufacturers provide juice to slimmer and slimmer products, every model seems to use a different plug. Occasionally I consider buying a "universal charger" designed to help you avoid toting around multiple power bricks. But every time I search for one, something I own turns out to be off the charts. So much for universality.

At the AC prongs, things are improving. Increasingly, power bricks and battery chargers are designed to take up only one power-strip socket. But the other end of the wire is a different story.

A round plug for the cable that comes from the power brick eliminates any chance that you'll put it in the wrong way. That's brilliant design. So why are some new plugs square with odd flanges, giving you just a 25 percent chance of orienting things properly the first time?

All this makes you want to cut cords and cables entirely and demand wireless Bluetooth connections for everything. But I don't think a power charger based on Bluetooth is likely to appear anytime soon. Besides, the moment it hit the market, a bunch of clever engineers would proudly reveal something "even better"--and totally incompatible.