PSA: HTC's ExtUSB Works with Regular MiniUSB

By WC Staff
last updated

Now that the Sprint Touch Diamond, Sprint Touch Pro, and HTC Fuze on AT&T are out, we have a quick Public Service Announcement that may strike some as unnecessary and others as essential. These devices (and others including the T-Mobile G1) have a port that HTC calls “ExtUSB,” which stands for “Extended USB.” It's a special kind of MiniUSB port that happens to have some extra pins in there for audio-out and (in some cases) video out.

Here's the PDA: Standard MiniUSB cables and chargers work just fine with ExtUSB, even though it doesn't look like it when you look at the port on the phone. We've been getting reports from people that these plugs sure don't look compatible and we don't blame them, because it's true that they don't necessarily look it. But they are, just plug that MiniUSB in and away you go charging or syncing.

WC Staff
WC Staff
13 Comments
  • Yes, a standard mini USB will work when connecting to a computer. However, you need a an adapter if you want to listen to music through the extended USB port. Also, a note on chargers. I have used many HTC devices with the extended USB port for charging. You can use a standard cable to charge from a computer. You cannot use a standard cable to charge from an AC to USB adapter. It will charge if the device is completely off, but will not if the device is in standby. This is similar to the Motorola RAZRs and such. Blackberry devices are also this way. I have a USB cable that I purchased that I can use on HTC, Blackberry and Motorola to charge from an AC to USB adapter. This cable is the only one I have seen that works on all three brands.
  • I discovered this by accident a few days after I bought my Diamond (:
    I'm sure this will help a lot of people.
    I spent a bunch of time actually trying to find an "HTC" charger DOH!
  • @fireman54, I am using the AC charger that came with my Moto Q (regular mini-USB port), and it charges my HTC Touch Pro both when it is off and while the phone is in standby.
  • @regression
    Did I not say Motorola is similar?
    Yes, you can use the Motorola charger to charge an HTC device. I tagged the RAZR because that's when the charger wars started. :P
  • @fireman54, sorry, I didn't understand what you were trying to say there ;-)
  • Found a company that sells just the Connectors http://www.podgizmo.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=29
  • I can confirm that a BlackBerry Bold AC charger works fine with the HTC Touch HD (on or off)
  • I would disagree. When I use the cable that came with my HTC Touch Pro to tether my laptop, it works fine. However, if I use a mini-USB cable instead, the data connection drops after about 1/2 minute. There is something different between the cables when using them for data connections. Both work fine if all I need is to charge my HTC.
  • Thank you for saying this. I was beginning to be crazy. There is something different and the mini usb does not work on every Sprint HTC Touch Diamond.
  • After being wow gold informed of wow power leveling the problem, wow power leveling their daughter's date said he could get the peanut out.wow power leveling With that, Wow Power Level the pilot dog clothes threw open the door and jumped from the plane.flyff power leveling the young man's Atlantica power leveling sunburn started power leveling acting up again. He asked to be excused, went into Age of Conan power leveling the kitchen power leveling The executoner said that if this happens warhammer power leveling a second archlord power leveling time throws out a grenade and says, buy wow gold "i'm in the army,age of conan gold i can get these dog clothes whenever i need them."so they all land safely
  • Actually I used a mini-USB cable on my G1 to charge it and it fried the main board. The G1 no longer accepts any chargers and several of the keyboard buttons do not work, like 'p' and 'del'. I took it to some locals for repair. They were emphatic that the HTC phones take different voltages as input.
  • I have HTC HERO (Sprint). I've tried 2 miniUSB cables. One only charges when connected to PC. The other charges, and tries to connect for syncing, but fails. Looks like there's nothing like having the original cable.
  • THANKS Fireman, your post was a vacation saver (about to leave and was going to bring cables that I now find wouldn't have worked!) For my HTC Imagio, sync works with a normal Mini USB cable, but just as you said, the phone will not charge when powered on. (I'm testing now to verify that it charges when powered off.) If not for this wrinkle, the extUSB would be great. Unfortunately, my Garmin Nuvi also requires a proprietary cable -- looks just like a Mini USB cable but different resistor connecting pins 4 & 5. ARRGH! The great thing about standards is that there are SO MANY of them!