Apparently we're on twitter too
Ok, please tell me I’m not the only one who’s been annoyed by that thing since the day I got my Vita.
You know how innovative hardware companies like Apple designed cables that almost plug themselves into the device, or stuff that can charge without even being plugged in, or, recently, data cables that can be plugged both ways without any issue?
Well, the Vita has such a great system, with one minor detail: it’s not actually a feature, it’s a design bug, oh, and obviously, one of the sides will not work. I heard this issue was fixed with recent models (not sure they fixed the cable or the units…). But, please, tell me, am I completely dumb, or is everybody else constantly running into the same issue?
A typical session will go like this:
- Plug in cable to PC and Vita
- Run the Content Manager
- Content Manager complains that I am not connected to any computer
- Check that the content Manager client runs fine on the PC
- Make sure that I didn’t mess up my OpenCMA install
- Check that the cable is actually plugged into the PC
- Reboot the console
- Try again…
- Realize the cable was plugged in the wrong way
- Yell some 4 letter-word, and promise myself I’ll write a blog entry about how a multi million dollars hardware company can’t even get a cable design right. Well, at least that one’s done.
Hopefully the video below will show you I’m not completely making that up… How wasn’t that tested?
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UNOOO!! lol
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To be honest, never had the problem.
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me too
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just get the cradle, that is what i did, but isn,t the ps symbol a dead give away.
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I had the same problem. I can actually only load home few on my Vita through my wife’s laptop, as my PC got the Vita drivers so screwed up that the only way to get it connected would basically be a full windows reinstall, which is more work than transferring what I want over on a flash drive every time.
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Home brew that is, thank you autocorrect.
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I have the same problem yours. I can really only carry a few in my home Vita through my wife’s laptop (I do too), my PC has the drivers Vita so screwed up that does not work, only through wifi.
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Yea itz a issue but if u look close the side with the ps sign is the correct side thts wht i just remember when I go about pluging the vita…
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That’s what i do…. and i’ve never had any problems.
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I don’t care, they should have designed it in a way that I can’t be mistaken, even in the dark. What serious company comes up with such a flawed hardware design nowadays besides Sony?
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On the newer model, they added a metal lip so you can’t fit the cable the wrong side, so… Guess you’ll have to buy a newer model!
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agree, the dark is actually the problem where I have to use my fingers like a blind guy to determine the position of PS sign and yet I mistake in most of cases.
also, “4-letter words” is the best case… we have 3-letter words here in Russian, lol
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“innovative hardware companies like Apple”
I lol’d.
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Pun was intended
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“Innovation through litigation”. Saw that somewhere and had to require it here.
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Require = requote lol.
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I always end up plugging it in the wall to charge at night so it’ll be 100% when I wake up. Well I always wake up to a dead unit cause I put the cable in upside down.
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well.. it actually got a arrow on the top side to identify the correct direction..
and first you have to plug the device, then the usb, this for security shocks.. like all electronics devices.. mini usb would have been much better. you can find a usb\mini usb almost everywhere, into a house or even a car.. but if you have not your ps vita cable around with you then could’t recharge it on the go, thats annoying -
Not really… the manual says to have the PlayStation logo on the USB cable facing the front when connecting, which is the correct way. I admit, its kinda tricky to see in the dark, but aside from that, its simple enough
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I never had this problem and I have a launch day Vita…the side that faces forward has a Playstation Logo on it =/, cant really see how you could plug it in the wrong way!
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The playstation logo is black, the cable is black. It is not the easiest thing to see, and even if it was glowing in the dark I’d rather not even have to ask myself the question. Take a regular USB cable, it is technically *impossible* to plug it incorrectly.
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Regular USB cables are the hell. You have to turn it 3 or 4 times until it decides to fit into the PC. Regular USB cable is the worst in my opinion.
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Yeah a regular USB cable is technically impossible to plug incorrectly but they are also practically impossible to plug correctly on the first try, or the second
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The logo is ingraved into the plug, so you should be able to feel which side the logo is on with your finger
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this happens to me way to much xDD
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To Wololo, in answer to your question : They changed the cable later, not the console. I bought a replacement cable a few days ago, and it only goes in one way, while my stock cable would happily go in whichever.
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So it’s a design flaw because you can’t plug it in correctly…right? Hahahaha. Good times, good times. I’d hate to see how you handle putting on your shoes in the morning. ;-p
Sorry lolo, but I can’t say I’ve ever once had a problem plugging something in. I typically look at it first before doing anything. I believe it’s called common sense or something like that. OH too easy. I’m giving you a hard time man no offense. Thanks for the laughs.
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You just have low standards for quality expectations.
If Apple came up with such a stupid design, they would have to provide public apologies within a week of the release. Name ONE other device that has such a stupid design flaw that it allows you to plug a cable backwards
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100% Agree with you Wololo. I noticed all these flaws & commented here months ago. It’s unbelievable when Sony makes such a dumb mistake. Definitely it’s not designed by the PSP design team, but some amateur designers.
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Its only you.. YOU IDIOT!.. haha!.. youre DUMB!..
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*you’re, stupid idiot
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God save America!!
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Same issues here man, though since update 2.02 I never connect to pc anymore with the cable, only to charge… I transfer everything through wifi…Btw, apache webserver on your network without index.html and netfront browser are your friends, I have a shared folder to the same folder that has the webserver.
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i guess its not that bad…
only thing that kinda annoys me now is the girl (or boy) who says “UNO!!” when trying to play Yoshi Island… LOL
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i’ve had this issue to, i am constantly in the dark and plug it in the wrong way, its rather annoying
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happened to me too.
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wow!! i didn’t even know that it is possible to plug the cable on reverse
it didn’t happen to me even once
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Just rub the PS Logo.
Then you’ll know the right position even in the dark -
always doing this, yet i have to re-check because i still fail
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I had this problem the first time i want to charge the Vita. And, for hours i was crazy that i had a defective unit. Of course the manual says that the logo has to be up. But, who reads manuals to connect stuff?!. Like wololo says, nowadays every cable has been designed to be attached one way, or, if it has several ways to be connected, it works in every direction. So, why read the manual?!?!?!.
Its a weird design decision, at least.
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dont have this prob.i can plug the cable only in good way.
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Blame the Vita designer, he was the original walkman designer so expect to have some old school designs thrown in or limitations….
I also know for a fact they went through several designers but there was a technical fault like heat issues, size, weight etc… So they tried the original walkman designer and used his knowledge of compacting cassette player, he was able to achieve a design that worked…. My guess is he wasn’t the arrogant pig that most designers are and say that my design and for the engineers to make it happen, he actually spoke and listened to the engineers and kept making changes to the design before he went to production.
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did the US vita had the cable as the ones in the japanese vitas? thats sad……I heard some of the vitas were burnt it self because of the wrong way of plugging when charging.
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Sorry if I’m not on topic but I’m too lazy to ask on the forums. Ok first I’m a noob when it comes to programming terminology but, what does the whole leaked psvita sdk documents mean for the scene and hows it helpful? If its real that is.
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Shouldn’t have pushed the cable so hard. Mine will only fit one way unless I force it and I’m not willing to do that.
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It looks like I’m forcing but that’s because I’m also holding the camera and facing the device in a weird position. I swear I don’t have to force anything to put it the wrong way. As a matter of fact, the wrong way goes in much smoother than the right one
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Yeah, you dont really need to apply much force to insert the cable the wrong way. I do think there is some resistance when doing it though, but not enough that cant lead to a mistake.
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yeah i have the same issue too… Hope that will not destroy the port itself one day…
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rofl yeah had this issue a few times when i first got my vita. thought it wasnt charging and i panicked that it was faulty. XD
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just feel the usb/ps logo, if it’s facing up, you are doing it right, that;s the rule of thumb for allll usb
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I’ve had my vita 2 weeks before official launch date and I have never ever encountered this problem
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It should a design that will be not connected if it’s upside down?
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LOOOOL I had this problem the first time! I connected the cable the wrong way xD
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I never plugged it in the wrong way around, there are some stripes on the metal of the plug that need to face down too.
Then again, the plug should have been designed that it can’t go in the wrong way/up side down, gotta agree with that.
But as it isn’t, just pay a little attention, it is very doable to recognize the right side up to connect… Not a very big deal and worthy to write a blog post about, or is news slow these days hehe
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I have the newer system so it only plugs in one way. I never checked this before the article as I’ve just got in the habit of inseting the plug | | side up (you can feel those two little bumps very easily in the dark.)
I do agree with you that the original design could have been better but I think sony’s lack of titles for the system are hurting it far more than this sort of thing (also I realise you never compared these things.)
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The newer system? Isn’t there only one version of the PSVita yet?
Haven’t heard about any redesign being done, not even on the connector….
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Honestly I thought the same. I only read about the newer system in the vicsidious’s comment above and what do you know? Turns out with my wifi model bought in september the cable won’t plug in upside down but it will on my older 3g version.
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They should’ve taken note from Apple with the new Lightning Bolt cable for the iPhone 5. It’s small, can insert any way and has extremely high data transfer rates.
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Impossible to reproduce on european PSVita imho, got mine on 23rd february 2012 and it was working perfectly already.
That’s what it costs to be the firsts (Japan) in the world getting a product, beta-testers lol -
I had this problem with the psp go as well. And as the console gets older, the problem is more annoying.
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How in hell could you put a mini USB connector on the original PSP up side down? Lol that can’t be done
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Psp “GO”, can you read before answering?
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i didn’t have a problem like this either
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Plugged mine the wrong way too the first time I got my Vita and thought that my unit or cable was busted. I mean, it kinda fit flush and this was like the first time I ever made such a mistake when it came to plugging in cables. Guess I was not alone after all lol
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I have bought one on the release. But never had a problem with it.
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I dont think it is the worse design ever, but i have to admit i find it a bit weird that they allow the USB cable to be connected both ways into the Vita. I always remember to check if the Playstation icon on the plug is faced up when i connect it
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When i came in here, i thought you were going to complain about the positioning, haha..I never ran into that issue. There’s a PS logo on the correct side of the USB (at least mine, not sure if all have that) so it’s not easy to accidentally plug in the wrong way for me. D: Also, Erwan, eh?
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Yeah..Wololo, in the video (watching it a second time) It has that logo, man..That’s like..Mixing up L and R headphone buds, not looking at em and then saying it’s bad design
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bah, sorry about that face, i always mean it as a hushed face but for whatever reason : x means angry face x.x
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I dont even see the point of them letting you plugin it in both ways but one doesn’t work. That was just a stupid idea.
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Mine only fits in one way (UK) so they probably realised the design didn’t work and made it only fit one way.
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Yeah it will go in the wrong way but it takes a lot of force.
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This entire post made me lol. Thanks for the morning laugh wololo.
I have never had this problem with my vita….but now that you’ve mentioned it, I know it’ll happen all the time. Haha:) -
What really bothers me is that if you wanna charge, you need to turn off the PS Vita
Really? Every device that’s exists in this year and age can charge from USB without needing to compleatly turn off the device, that’s just atrocious.
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i can charge my vita even it still on
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@ wololo
apply a thick sticker/label or a dot of hot melt glue or melt the connector abit as a marking. u r not gonna miss the connection even with ur eyes closed.
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you can actualy stick your USB cable into the Vita in reverse???
Mine never did!
What they have done with mine (i just tried to plug it in backwards again then
) is they’ve added a groove onto both the cable and the Vita, so it will only ever plug in one way.Still….. if Sony forgot that with the very first Vita’s…. Dude that’s just pathetic R&D!
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I find the cartridge slot flap more annoying! Anybody agree?
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yes! you need nails! or a specialised opening tool or something!
Hey! The memory sticks and game cartridges go in both ways! another design flaw too
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The new cable is just stupid. Another cable you need to be carrying around.
ALSO the charger…It’s standard 5v usb, why can’t I use it to charge other USB devices (because that stupid notch it has)? I will just remove it with a cutter, but WHY I should need to do this.
And the PSV won’t charge if plugged to the iphone charger (but a kodak charger I have DO works).-
Because Sony wants you to buy their brand name stuff, and not some “cheap” (cheap as in it costs slightly more than what it took to make it rather than production costs + brand name fee of 80%) generic product.
You can get the Sony cable to charge just from USB, you have to have the Vita TURNED OFF completely tho.
If you want it to charge properly you need to do some cabling work, see here : http://www.snapturtle.com/wp/2012/02/22/ps-vita-usb-charging-solved/
I just turn mine off to charge… and carry a USB battery charger in my bag just incase, it’s a Sony one tho so it works with itself…. :S
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Uhh? I can charge mine while its on.
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Or you can, y’know, just plug it in.
They do charge while switched on, just a tad slower.
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