Any Insight into the strange USB options

[Pessoa]

I'm curious as to why Motorola, or is it standard in the Droid domain, has four different options for USB configuration.

It is a bit of a pain to remember you have to switch from one mode to another in the case of CompanionLink.

Any reason for this?

 

[BroidDrionic]

I only really use two of them, but I could see how all four would be useful. Charge only is self explanatory, USB mass storage mode is for file management kinda stuff, PC mode is a little redundant, but it makes it super easy to move pictures and videos from the device, and Windows Media Sync makes it super easy to move music to and from the device. *shrug* I only ever use the USB mass storage and Charge Only modes.

 

[Pessoa]

Agreed, but why four different one while one should be enough to handle any of the software demands? Not that Apple's iPhone is across-the-board better, but one connection implicitly handles all you need to do; even if you do not use iTunes.

 

[steeveegee]

I'm curious as to why Motorola, or is it standard in the Droid domain, has four different options for USB configuration.

It is a bit of a pain to remember you have to switch from one mode to another in the case of CompanionLink.

Any reason for this?

just my 2 cents but if you cant figure out what choice you need to select for what you are trying to accomplish then maybe an android phone is not for you.
maybe the iphone is more your speed
no offense intended

 

[TisMyDroid]

just my 2 cents but if you cant figure out what choice you need to select for what you are trying to accomplish then maybe an android phone is not for you.
maybe the iphone is more your speed
no offense intended

I have had four Android phones, starting with the og Droid. None of them had four options for USB, only two (charge only or mass storage). Personally I think the four USB options are a little redundant. I understand Android well enuf that I was able to successfully root my og Droid but despite am frustrated over what appears to be unnecessary USB options. Frustration or confusion over the purpose for each USB option does not make one not suited to own an Android.

A more useful post would have been listing what the advantages are to having four USB choices over two. Personally, I don't see the advantages.

Sent from my DROID RAZR MAXX using DroidForums

 

[Sydman]

I can see having the charge only mode so you can still access contents of your SD card while plugged into your computer. But the other seem like they could all be lumped into one, but again it is not hard to just choose the one I want to work with at that time.

 

[Pessoa]

The intent of the question had nothing to do with deciding which option to use, but rather to understand why Motorola/Droid/whomever chose to have four options instead of problematically making that decision.

Ultimately I will make a decision as to what phone is best for me.

just my 2 cents but if you cant figure out what choice you need to select for what you are trying to accomplish then maybe an android phone is not for you.
maybe the iphone is more your speed
no offense intended

 

[steeveegee]

sorry if i offended anyone that wasn't my intent
but all i am saying is its pretty self explanatory and actually makes sense if you look at it is all
comparing it to other os's seems to be like comparing apples to oranges
maybe i should have worded things better

 

[JRParsons]

I agree with the OP, every other phone/pocket pc/pda I've used was just "plug and play", once you plugged the device into your computer you could then do whatever you wanted, the device would charge, you could drag and drop, and sync all without changing any setting on the phone. Android's system isn't all that complicated, but unnecessary.

Also, it creates a situation where one action is excluded in favor of another. So if I want to drag and drop files onto my SD I can't listen to music while I do so. Sometimes android makes me feel like I'm in 2007.

I would love to see a O.S. that took the best things from ios, google, msoft, and rim and stuffed them all together. Of course then we could all argue or discuss which things were best and which things weren't.
Thanks for reading this, it was my morning rant, tomorrow ill pick a different forum.

 

[Pessoa]

JR makes the point better than I should have about the implementation.

I continue to be puzzled as to why they made the decision to do it this way. There has to be a reason; and hopefully a valid one.