this post was submitted on 19 Jun 2025

29 points (96.8% liked)

Casual Conversation

801 readers

176 users here now

Share a story, ask a question, or start a conversation about (almost) anything you desire. Maybe you'll make some friends in the process.

RULES

Be respectful: no harassment, hate speech, bigotry, and/or trolling.
Encourage conversation in your OP. This means including heavily implicative subject matter when you can and also engaging in your thread when possible.
Avoid controversial topics (e.g. politics or societal debates).
Stay calm: Don’t post angry or to vent or complain. We are a place where everyone can forget about their everyday or not so everyday worries for a moment. Venting, complaining, or posting from a place of anger or resentment doesn't fit the atmosphere we try to foster at all. Feel free to post those on !goodoffmychest@lemmy.world
Keep it clean and SFW
No solicitation such as ads, promotional content, spam, surveys etc.

Casual conversation communities:

Related discussion-focused communities

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

BoozeOrWater@piefed.social

BoozeOrWater@lemm.ee

Just cleaned out six years of crud from my phone's charging port (lemm.ee)

submitted 1 week ago by Tyoda@lemm.ee to c/casualconversation@piefed.social

15 comments fedilink hide all child comments

For way too long now I have had to plug it in and not let a breeze pass it lest it stops charging. I went at it and it quickly got a lot better where I didn't have to wiggle it around to the right position to start charging.

But I kept going, dug out a lot more stuff than I expected, and when I tried it again, get this, it actually went in. It doesn't just slightly penetrate to establish contact. It proper locks in.

Charging while on the go has been impossible for a long time, but I think it should now be easy as ever.

USB-C btw

all 16 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] Bags@piefed.social 10 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

I am so glad that the USB people got USB C right... I have so many memories of the micro-USB ports on my old phones being the most absolute asinine garbage.

I remember seeing my very first USB C port in 2015, it was on a friend's new Google Nexus 6P phone, and we were sitting in a hotel room in Florida somewhere... I ended up buying a 6P in August 2016. it was my first smartphone.

What phone do you have? It's nice to see people who keep their phones around. It's crazy how much progress was made in the phone world from ~2015 to 2019, but my phone from 2021, a similar 4 year age gap, feels just the same as phones made today. Truly a massive plateau.

Also, 2019 being 6 years ago is giving me serious vertigo lol

[–] Tyoda@lemm.ee 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

It's a Redmi Note 8T. Hardware-wise there is nothing wrong with it. Even the battery is still decent, though it does drain a bit faster now of course.

Software, on the other hand... It seems like the company dropped support back in 2023, but I had already moved to LineageOS by then. Except they also dropped support for the device when Android 11 reached EOL and nobody had the drive to make an Android 12+ port for it. So that was over a year ago now... I think there might be alternatives but reinstalling my main phone isn't on the top of my "fun things to do" list.

[–] JayGray91@piefed.social 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I am so glad that the USB people got USB C right.

In some sense, I kind of wished they are shaped as a straight jack like Apple Lightning instead of what we have. Type C male end is a jacket of sorts going into a port that has a thin wafer. A big ass hole like the Apple Lightning, while would make it collect more crud easier, is also easier to clean because it's a big hole. Not having to work around the thin thing inside.

Despite this particular complaint, and all the confusion of power rating and data transfer speed, I'm still glad Type C exists.

[–] Bags@piefed.social 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Part of me wonders what's next... But that likely won't be for a very long time, as USB C seems to be pretty good (at least for power-delivery and some decently high speed data transfer), lacking in customer complaints (as far as I'm aware).

I remember getting my first wireless charger with my Galaxy S10e and thinking "This is the future, you'll never have to plug your phone in again!"... But that certainly hasn't come to fruition, so I'll refrain from making bad predictions lol.

[–] JayGray91@piefed.social 2 points 1 week ago

Yeah wireless charging is a lot more fragmented. Mainly because many Chinese brands have their own protocol. Like Oppo, Xiaomi, Huawei have ones that somehow achieves 50W or more. But then again, even wired charging some of them don't support USB Power Delivery and will get some basic 5V 2A if not using their proprietary charging block and cable.

Wireless charging helped me from throwing away a phone lol. My LG Wing port is broken and nobody wants to take a crack at it to repair it locally, and I'm not about to take a crack at it to repair it. But with wireless charging I got to still use it.

So it's imperative that I have wireless charging in my phone. And that's what I got to replace it. I don't trust Google's past and current Tensor chip to survive my equatorial climate (local forums seems to validate that). Maybe in 5 or 6 years after they change to TSMC, if we survive that long. So I got a Galaxy S24U on sale BNIB. It is at least US and Korean spyware, not Chinese spyware 🤐🤐🤐

[–] Blaze@piefed.zip 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

On an unrelated note, OP are you aware that lemm.ee is shutting down in 10 days?

https://lemm.ee/post/65824884

https://lemmy.zip/ is a solid choice. Similar moderation policy than lemm.ee.

Monthly reports: https://lemmy.zip/post/39959863

Lots of lemm.ee users moving there: https://lemmy.zip/post/40323214

[–] Tyoda@lemm.ee 3 points 1 week ago

yep, I'm thinking piefed.social

[–] projectmoon@forum.agnos.is 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

How did you clean it out? With a toothpick? I have the same issue and it's been a while since I cleaned out the port.

[–] Tyoda@lemm.ee 2 points 1 week ago

@t_berium@lemmy.world It's not like i looked up how one should do it so don't just listen to me... I tried a toothpick but it was too thick and prone to leaving itself behind. Then I moved on to an Exacto Knife that already had a bit of the tip broken off, and I used the dull edge to push the scraped out stuff up and out. I had to do these scoop maneuvers around the middle bit to make good progress. I assume you could easily damage something or even shock yourself if you just dick around in there, so maybe don't.

[–] Blaze@piefed.zip 4 points 1 week ago

Quite satisfying to do too

[–] Lyra_Lycan@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I recommend, for lower maintenance, either a pack of rubber port covers like these or, if you don't mind regular charging speeds, a magnetic cable like this

[–] Blaze@piefed.zip 3 points 1 week ago

Good call

[–] JayGray91@piefed.social 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Magnetic connectors are highly not recommended; it can and have damaged devices. It's not USB spec compliant.

Sorry for the reddit post but that's where I learned about it. It has a few citations why it's a bad idea.

https://safereddit.com/r/UsbCHardware/comments/motlhn/magnetic_usbc_cables_are_not_recommended

[–] t_berium@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

What did you use to clean the port? I have the same problem and my toothpick doesn't seem to do the job well enough.

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 week ago

I don't wanna be that guy, but please let me. I moved to Qi charging more than a decade back (mophy cases before a nexus5) and it changed my life. That's why I'm that proselytist here.

I mention this only because I have a rubber plug on my charging port. I remove it exceedingly rarely as I've charged this phone off another phone's donated power and vice-versa rather than use a cable when I can. Dirt and munge is not even a thought anymore, though.

I've charged (I think it was) a Samsung watch for my panicky wife off the power-sending Qi setup on an S10 and it worked with no added gear or cables: phone, watch, hero. Trip not ruined despite lost watch-charging dongle.

It's a good thing. Please consider it.