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  • paulockenden
    Automated Home Legend
    • Apr 2015
    • 1719

    #16
    Originally posted by DBMandrake View Post
    It is not just a method of connecting to a USB host such as a PC.
    For most people it's simply a way to charge their phone!

    P.

    Comment

    • WiteWulf
      Automated Home Jr Member
      • Mar 2016
      • 40

      #17
      Originally posted by DBMandrake View Post
      If you think Lightning is just an over expensive USB-like interface you need to read the technical specs.
      Oh, I'm well aware of what it's capable of, it's just not necessary (imho) for the vast majority of users who just want to sync and charge their iDevices...

      It can do vastly more than USB, even OTG USB. For example can you output a full HD HDMI signal over USB ? Nope... You can with lightning.
      Well...it *kinda* can...as you've suggested, the Lightning cable is a clever little beastie. The chip in the HDMI end of the video adapter is essentially a miniaturised Apple TV on a chip. The iPhone or iPad doesn't stream Full HD, but actually transcodes to a 1600x900 h264 stream and uses a hybrid of the Airplay protocol to send the data over the Lightning connection, whereon it's decoded and sent out the HDMI connector by that teeny-tiny AppleTV. By contrast, the old 30-pin video adapter outputted a true 1920x1080 uncompressed video stream. Apple cleverly took the hardware (that most people didn't use) required for video mirroring off the phone and outboarded it to an expensive (and some would say inferior) external device, thus reducing production costs and freeing up space inside the device.

      Rumours suggest they're intending to do the same with the 3.5mm headphone jack. Let's see how that works out for them...

      Comment

      • rotor
        Automated Home Guru
        • Aug 2015
        • 124

        #18
        Apple is known for selling products "that just work". The reason (I believe) they want the lightning connector to be licensed is so they have control over the quality and design of accessories for Apple products. I think that is a reasonable and fair objective, and I don't think they do it to make money (e.g. Amazon Basics lightning cables sell for £4.99). The huge benefit of this programme is that I know that if I buy a lightning cable, it won't burn out my iPhone. I have no such guarantee with USB cables (especially USB-C, see below).

        I agree that most people just want to charge their device, but would that mean that each Apple device would need to have two connectors (a charging one and a data one)? Micro-USB is an absolutely awful design, and there is zero chance that Apple would have ever adopted it. USB-C seems like the perfect competition to lightning, but I don't know enough about it to know if it can do everything that lightning can.

        Even if USB-C could replace lightning (from the technical capability point of view), there have been quite a few stories about rogue USB-C cables causing permanent damage to devices, so again, I doubt Apple would go down that path.

        Android is the wild west and Apple is a tea party on the lawn of Buckingham Palace -- each has its target audience. Neither is better or worse, they are just different.

        Comment

        • paulockenden
          Automated Home Legend
          • Apr 2015
          • 1719

          #19
          The last bit I agree with - you'd like my mug: http://www.moretvicar.com/collection...ct/android-mug

          Comment

          • neilk
            Automated Home Jr Member
            • Jan 2016
            • 15

            #20
            Has anyone tried this ? https://github.com/luc-ass/homebridge-evohome I have used homebridge with some success with the Indigo module but not spent too much time as HomeKit itself is flaky and beyond the Siri novelty I didn't really find it that useful.

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