I strongly disagree that reversibility is a small feature. Whenever Plugging the chargers to new iOS devices is effortless the same way as headphones jacks.
Non-symmetrical connectors are an affront to usability.
I agree. I don't even have a device with the connector (yet?), but it seems like a major advantage.
Who are all these people popping out of the woodwork wanting a wired connection from their phone to their TV? I'm sure some people do this sometimes, but so many? Why would you even do that? Perhaps this is uncharitable, but it makes me think that most of the people complaining here have never done it, never will, probably never even thought about doing it before, but are now outraged at the thought that the connector is not 100% perfect for this one uncommon use-case.
The only two use cases I can think of is playing a video you recorded on your phone at a family gathering, or for playing Netflix on your TV without needing to hook up a Roku or similar.
Edit: third use case, hooking this up to a monitor to turn your smartphone into a desktop computer.
Thanks, that's the first use case that I could actually see using myself. Don't think it's quite enough to get me to go buy a cable, but I can see it being handy for that.
It's especially strange because if you want to do that, you can Airplay the video to the TV, and not have to deal with a cable from your phone to your TV.
Asymmetric connectors weren't bad, it's when you have asymmetric connectors in rectangular plugs that it becomes a problem. I never tried to put FireWire 400 in backward, but USB is awful.
In 2074 days of owning an iPhone and 1065 days of owning an iPad I have never used or wanted an HDMI output.
I'd say they made the right tradeoff.