Dell Venue 8 Pro bad choice of USB Micro-A socket with USB Micro-B plug. Already broken!

As one poster said upthread, there should be a mfg recall

or remedy available under some kind of "Lemon Law" as with cars...

but a quick search on the topic brings up nothing.

And Dell is now releasing an updated version of the DVP8 with the same problematic OTG connector! Condolences to all the poor saps that bought one of these not realizing it was booby trapped.

See if you can guess when this consumer will buy another Dell product. (Hint: Never).

The tablet is an OTG (On The Go) device, and is required to have the Micro AB connector that we hate so much.  It's not a Dell decision. 

"All current USB On-The-Go (OTG) devices are required to have one, and only one, USB connector: a Micro-AB receptacle. Non-OTG compliant devices are not allowed to use the micro-AB receptacle, due to power supply shorting hazards on the VBUS line. The micro-AB receptacle is capable of accepting both Micro-A and Micro-B plugs, attached to any of the legal cables and adapters as defined in revision 1.01 of the Micro-USB specification. Prior to the development of Micro-USB, USB On-The-Go devices were required to use Mini-AB receptacles to perform the equivalent job."

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB

Respectfully, Jeff, that is horse hooey. It's not the connector itself that is the problem, it's the receptacle that allows the cable to be inserted up-side-down that is the problem. They used a Micro-A socket when they should have used a Micro-B like everybody else on the planet does.   I've got a Nexus tablet, a Samsung tablet and a Playbook that all use the same charge cable but the receptacles are a trapezoid instead of a rectangle and so it is not possible to plug them in upside-down. The DVP8 is the ONLY tablet on the market that uses this particular receptacle and it's the ONLY table on the market that has this problem where you can you plug it in wrong and break it. It certainly IS a Dell decision, and an incredibly stupid one.

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/mobile-devices/f/4586/p/19531607/20491215.aspx

But that's what Jeff is saying:  the use of the problematic receptacle is mandated by the standards committee, for OTG devices.  I don't know if the other devices you mention are OTG devices. 

From Wikipedia: "OTG, is a specification first used in late 2001, that allows USB devices such as digital audio players or mobile phones to act as a host, allowing other USB devices like a USB flash drive, digital camera, mouse, or keyboard to be attached to them."

Certainly my Acer Iconia Windows 8.1 8" Tablet is an OTG device that is very similar to the DVP8 (with carrying degrees of quality) except the Iconia uses a USB connector cannot be connected upside down as I described earlier. (They both use identical change cables and the USB port serves identical purposes. Just this morning, I had a mouse, a keyboard and external drive AND a remote camera all connected to a USB hub that was connected to the Iconia USB port. On both devices the USB port serves exactly the same purpose except only the Dell port is fundamentally flawed.

 My point stands - Dell blew it here and they have no excuse. If Dell had used the same connector receptacle that Acer used, it would have been a perfect device.  Dell chose to use the  booby-trapped receptacle and they have refused to change the design even in the newly released version of the DVP8.

Too bad.

But you are ignoring the point made above:  as stated in Wikipedia (and assuming that this is true), "An OTG product must have a single Micro-AB receptacle and no other USB receptacles."  In other words, assuming this as the case, Dell had no choice.

That being said, I have no knowledge why Dell does this and others do not.  Perhaps an engineering standards type will have further info.

I'm not ignoring the point, I'm saying my Acer Iconia also an OTG, but the Iconia cannot be connected upside down like the Dell.

Are you certain that the Iconica is an OTG device?

I don't know which model you have, but I just looked at the user guide for the W4.  The USB port looks like a Micro B, not the Micro AB required for OTG devices.

Furthermore, I could find no mention of OTG in the Iconica user guide, which says a USB to USB adapter is required, whereas the Dell user guide specifies an OTG adapter.

Ports:

Iconica:

Dell:

Jeff, you are right about the two connectors, but that's the point - the Iconica and tons of tablets and phones support OTG but they use the Micro-B receptacle instead of the Micro-AB that Dell used. To make matters worse, Dell supplied a Micro-B cable instead of a Micro-AB cable. Why did they do that? It's mind-boggling.

Yes, the Micro-AB was dictated by an existing design standard but DELL is the only company that followed the particular standard, because everyone else saw the standard as an idiotic design flaw. And it most certainly is a design flaw. Bazillions of these DV8s have been bricked because of this. My W8.1 Iconica tablet does every OTG function that the DV8 can do via its OTG Micro-B receptacle - except allow you to destroy it by connecting it wrong. If Dell used the Micro-B receptacle like everyone else did, it would have been a perfect device. Instead, they are all virtually doomed.

Here's a tip though for anyone that has not broken theirs yet, get one of these right-angle connectors and then simply remember which way the cable should point instead of having to use a magnifying glass to figure it out. (Painting a white dot also helps).

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003YKX6WC

Here's a tip though for anyone that has not broken theirs yet, get one of these right-angle connectors and then simply remember which way the cable should point instead of having to use a magnifying glass to figure it out. (Painting a white dot also helps). http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003YKX6WC

That's what I've done from the beginning, using a short 4" connector cable.  An extra advantage:  it helps reduce extra stress being put on the connector.

I still don't understand how the other manufacturers have gotten away with offering OTG without obeying the standard (although I don't like the standard, for the reason you've mentioned)-- aren't standards mandatory?

I do find it a bit of an exaggeration to say that all the DV8Ps out there are "virtually doomed," though . . . .  Rather, just greater care is called for.

The standards certainly are not mandatory. If they were, we wouldn't have so many different sizes of garbage bags that don't fit any actually known garbage cans!

:P

As I mentioned earlier, I have an Acer Iconia and a couple of Samsung Androids that support OTG but use the non-standard, but much safer Micro-B receptacle.

And yes, I'll admit it is an exaggeration to say that "all" the DV8Ps out there are "virtually doomed". I do hope that anyone that has a good one should take care and either use the white dot or the short 4" connector cable to preserve their device.

Yes, I did exactly that, i.e. the right angle connector, I even taped it down very firmly, but somehow after a few months, the damn things is going intermittent on charging and feels loose, again.  

I need to hurry and get one more repair in under warranty. I don't think I am alarmist in thinking my unit is doomed. I only move it from bedside table to my lap, but it is clealy dying again.

I guess I will give up on any fantasy that this problem has a fix, as Dell doesn't rally acknowledge the problem clearly. I certainly expect ed to get more use from the DV8P than just the warranty period.

I guess I could have bought a Squaretrade warranty?

At time of purchase I didn't consider it. Big mistake.