frause

Just a note for Treo Pro owners with cheap USB-chargers lying around. Bring out your screwdrivers and soldering irons!

The Treo is kind of picky about charging. Or rather it is trying to be friendly, act according to USB-specs and not draw more power than agreed upon.

4 out of 5 of my USB-chargers did not charge the Pro. However with shorted data pins, like a well behaved dedicated USB-charger should have, they do.

I'm not entirely decided upon if this is a good or bad. On one hand standards are good. On the other, NO other device I know about does this and it limits the number of possible "charging points" a bit.

Wikipedia article explaining this.

Stig

That makes me glad I've just ordered the 'official' Palm micro USB cable, albeit at an inflated price!

pdaneophyte

Palm is a member of a dark conspiracy to expose sloppy USB manufacturers

frause

Meh! I just bought TWO 2m cables for about the price of a Palm cable. Of course, there is more shiny stuff on the 'official' cable. We all know shiny is expensive!

Fintan

Good to know this!!
If I have trouble charging I will look this shorting trick up!

For charging I intend to use my nice 50cm cable USB>MiniUSB and a 10cm pigtail MiniUSB>MicroUSB.
Hate all those 5 feet cables in my bag!

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PDAholic

Ugh, why does Palm constantly have to make things difficult for us. I actually returned my 800w because I couldn't find a compatible USB-to-3.5 mm headphone adapter.

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Fintan

You will not have any problems with the TP then

A tip for those having plenty use of MiniUSB (all of you I guess):
Get the Mini->Micro pigtail on ebay - look for SKN6252A - for just a few $.

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PDAholic

Amen! Can't wait to get back to a 3.5mm jack.

Great idea regarding the adapter. HOPEFULLY it will work, but I'm not gonna have big expectations.

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Fintan

It will not be the cable having problems, but the power adapter!
Imho it is safe to assume that every usb-cable will work just fine.

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Me2

Careful. The review over at Brightand says that the Palm connector is not the "standard" Type B Micro USB found on new Nokias and Motorolas, for which this adapter is designed. The reviewed is adamant that his E71 lead won't fit the Treo.

This is the plug socket used by Moto and Nokia. More detail here (warning: PDF)

The "standard" plug looks like just like a miniaturised and flattened Mini-USB, with sloping sides. Whereas the TP's socket looks to be a square shape rather than a trapezoid (click to here and zoom on photo for comparison.)

I see Palm's description for their lead says it fits both the Pro and 800w. Does this mean we do need "special" leads after all, or have Brighthand got it wrong?

Fintan

Yes, it looks different.
This means Palm is ****ing with the USB specs!

It looks like a type A microUSB !

Hope hotlinking this pic works:

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frause

The receptacle on the Treo Pro looks an awful lot like a micro-AB receptacle to me.

There are images for comparison in the USB article on Wikipedia.

In the first google hit for "USB micro-ab", the USB-IF says:
I can't post clickies yet apparantly. Sorry for that. But I can assure you that I have cables bought as USB-A-MicroUSB-B that works just fine.

EDIT: I can't explain why a Nokia-supplied cable doesn't fit, but the reviewer jumps to all sorts of wrong conclusions about different voltages and such.

frause

Sorry.. Still can't post links...

Those are plugs. The Palm-supplied cable looks like the right one in the image.

Me2

.. which looks exactly like the end of my Nokia CA-101 Micro USB cable. Sounds like we might be alright then.

Fintan

So, the TP is prepared for USB OTG?
And as such has a plug fitting both B for old-fashioned operation and A for USB OTG (meaning the device becomes the host).

Is this gist of your story frause?

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frause

No, not really. Just that it has a standard USB socket and not something the Palm engineers designed at the company christmas party. And that it can be charged with a standard, cheap USB-charger, providing the data pins are shorted.

Fintan

Now I am completely confused.
Waiting to try myself what really works!

One thing is for sure... if it does not fit a standard microUSB A plug I will be ****ed off big time - could as well have the bloody athena instead then.

From the wikipedia article:
meaning imho... although it might look like a type A plug it will also take B.

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frause

Yeah... I'm pretty sure the receptacle on the Pro is a micro-AB. It definitely takes micro-B plugs anyway.

daniela

if there's no power at all upon charging
you need to do a soft reset since its on a deep sleep mode when you purchase it.. fyi

LIVE4SPD

all the Motorola microusb chargers seem to be working for me. I have the AC and Car adapters both tested and functional.