Adapter or Die: Must-Have Dongles for Your iPhone 7, Android and Laptop
DOW JONES & COMPANY, INC. 2:17 PM ET 10/12/2016
It's time to talk dongles, those tiny, dumb, easy-to-misplace plastic adapters that are suddenly accumulating in your life right now.
First, let's get a few things out of the way: 1.) "Dongle" is a funny word. 2.) Dongles are your only hope for connecting your shiny new phones and computers to your favorite older accessories. And 3.) Boy, these things are the worst.
When Apple(AAPL) closed the headphone jack on the iPhone 7, consumers were forced to rely on that single Lightning port for listening to music and charging. Meanwhile, Android phones, Windows laptops and MacBooks began shedding beloved traditional USB ports and other connectors for new, faster USB-C sockets.
These streamlines move us closer to a wireless utopian future where our cloud-borne devices no longer communicate or charge using spaghetti-like cords. There's just one tiny problem: We're living in the present, with collections of perfectly good headphones, peripherals and chargers that don't belong on the Goodwill pile just yet.
No wonder the dongle trade is booming.
"It's a good time for us," says Steve Malony, vice president and general manager of Belkin, one of the world's most popular tech accessory brands. "We are optimistic going into the holiday season." (Nothing says "I love you" like a USB adapter.)
I've spent the past few weeks testing dozens of these little time machines that bridge your past tech to your future. With a little skill, you can tell a good bargain from a bad product. In the aftermath of incendiary Samsung Galaxy Note 7s, now isn't the time to be playing Russian Roulette with our gadgets.
For iPhone 7 Owners
Apple's (AAPL) accessories are generally better made than cheap competitors, but like many other Apple(AAPL) products, they sell for significantly more than they cost to make. Apple(AAPL) charges $19 for a Lightning cable that costs about $2 to make, says IHS analyst Wing Lam. Yes, the Apple(AAPL) tax is very real.
An exception is the new Lightning-to-audio adapter, which hangs out of your iPhone's Lightning port like a bungee jumper so you can plug in regular 3.5mm headphones. IHS estimates it costs Apple(AAPL)$5 to build it, and recent X-rays reveal that it's built to deliver great audio quality. Apple(AAPL) will sell you one for $9 (not even a 100% markup!) and also includes it with every iPhone 7, in case you don't want to use the included Lightning headphones.
Its biggest downside is how easy it is to lose: Best Buy employees at two locations tell me that people have accidentally tossed it in the garbage, hidden as it was in the headphone packaging.
If you want to charge the phone and listen to music at the same time, you'll need a different dongle. Belkin's $40 Lightning Audio+Charge RockStar adapter, which goes on sale this week, could be a savior for car and train commuters. It has two Lightning ports -- one for a pair of Lightning headphones and another for charging. The new Lady Gaga song sounded great and there was no impact on charging speed.
What happens if you're some crazy person who wants to charge the phone and listen to music through your old headphones? Double dongle, that's what happens. Plug both of the above adapters into each other.
The dream is a single dongle that does it all. I had high hopes for FStop Lab's$25 Lightning-to-3.5mm adapter, which has a Lightning port, a headphone jack and even volume control. But the audio quality is inferior, and it isn't yet certified by Apple's(AAPL) MFI program, which requires quality and safety testing. FStop co-founder Mike Lin says the quality is constantly improving.
The extra $15 you pay for the Belkin buys you 24/7 customer service, a two-year warranty and stringent device testing. The product is certified by Apple's(AAPL) MFI program and it's sold in Apple Stores. Apple(AAPL) says all adapters sold in its stores are rigorously tested for functionality and safety. It warns that counterfeit or even just noncertified Lightning connectors could damage your phone -- or worse.
For Android Phone Owners
Android phone makers are following Apple(AAPL) and moving to a single connector for audio, charging and more. Lenovo's Moto Z has already nixed headphone and Micro USB jacks for a single USB-C connector. And like Apple's(AAPL) proprietary Lightning adapter, USB-C is similarly reversible: No more feeling like an idiot, shoving a cord in the wrong way.
Many new Android phones -- including the Google Pixel and LG G5 -- have a USB-C port for charging, but also still have headphone jacks.
The best thing you can do if you've just bought a phone with the new port is pick up a Micro USB-to-USB-C adapter. Attaching the Chiclet-sized gizmo makes a new cord out of an old one -- no need to toss it on the e-waste pile. Anker sells a two-pack for $8.
For Windows and MacBook Owners
With laptops, it's port Armageddon. Everything you're used to -- traditional USBs, HDMI, Ethernet, even Apple's(AAPL) Thunderbolt -- is being replaced by USB-C. Apple's(AAPL) new MacBook, HP's Spectre and Dell's newest XPS 12 are early examples of this shift.
The simplest option, a USB-C-to-USB adapter, allows you to plug regular USB cords or devices into your laptop. Apple(AAPL), Google(GOOG) and Dell offer them for around $20. (HP courageously priced its identical one at $40.) However, Anker's $9 option performed just as well in my tests, transferring a 1GB file of photos from an external hard drive in the same amount of time as the others.
What you really want is a multiport super dongle. Apple(AAPL) charges $80 for one with an HDMI port, a standard USB port and a USB-C port. I also really like the $50 Sanho Hyperdrive 5-in-1 hub, with two USB ports, a USB-C port and SD and MicroSD slots. With the gold or rose-gold Hyperdrive attached, you can still charge your laptop, though at a slower rate. It took my MacBook about twice as long as usual.
These USB-C products are all compliant with the USB Implementers Forum's safety and specification requirements. This is very important, as noncompliant products have caused severe device damage, pulling or pushing too much power.
When shopping, look for the "Certified USB" logos; if you don't see it on the packaging, you can also search the USB-IF website. Jeff Ravencraft, USB-IF chief operating officer, says stores like Best Buy and Staples are committed to carrying products that are approved by his organization. Earlier this year, Amazon added USB-IF compliance as a requirement for USB-C products.
"If you're buying a USB cable or adapter that costs less than a bottle of Coke, you need to scratch your head and think about it," Ravencraft says, reminding us that you pay for quality.
Look at it this way: Maybe the more you spend on a dongle, the less likely you'll be to lose the darn thing. Maybe the best ones will eventually come with location tracking. Who knows what lies ahead, along the frontiers of dongle- vation?
Write to Joanna Stern at joanna.stern@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-12-161417ET |
