The case today is an HTC Evo MicroUSB Cable.
This is the same cable that came with your HTC Evo and it may be the one that you still use.
STOP USING THIS CABLE ASAP – IT WAS POORLY ENGINEERED AND MIGHT BREAK YOUR PSU OR COMPUTER!!!!
I can say this because this is NOT the first time I have seen this same thing happen. You see, this is my Boyfriend’s HTC Evo MicroUSB cable and not mine. Mine had the same issue, except I caught it right when it happened as it burned my hand when I was getting ready to plug in my phone at work 3 weeks ago!
This Cable was not engineered properly because of the MicroUSB Connector Chosen. Instead of using a proper MicroUSB Cable Mount style Connector as seen in the picture below, they went with a panel mount/board mount hybrid connector (cheapest as it uses board mount parts) as seen above.
What happens is that since the connector shield/metal outside part is not secured beyond two small points, any movement of this shield can cause a temporary dislodging and have the GROUNDED shield touch the 5V power line on the USB cable. Most Modern laptops and desktop computers put out between 500-1000ma of current at 4.5-5.5V which means that you could be having as much as 5.5Watts burning through those cable lines and melting the crap out of some rubber as in this case. This would not have happened is HTC had decided to go with the larger isolated and secured connector or if they simply had chosen to use a Hard ABS plastic instead of flexible rubber to secure a metal part.
What this can Harm:
– Burn out the Power IC for your USB on your Laptop/Desktop making that port useless (did not burn out my BF’s Thinkpad W510 as it is controlled)
– Burn your fingers/hands as it did to me causing a blister.
– Burn out your USB Receiving Chip on your laptop/desktop
– Burn something ( a lot of us have a bunch of papers right next to your computer).
Why this matters:
No way in H3LL is HTC going to pay to fix your laptop or build you a house or pay medical bills. They will likely redirect you to the company that designed and manufactured the cable which is likely Shisterific and very hard to sue in the US.
Spend some money on a nice BlackBerry or Motorola or basically any proper cable. $5 for piece of mind is worth it.
EDIT: For those deny that my cable burned my finger 3 weeks ago, I still have some discoloration on my finger where it got burnt. Best to understand how it was burnt there is to hold the cable between your thumb and forefinger with your thumb on top like you would before you plug it in. My thumb was fine because he pads are thick there, but the side of my forefinger was not so fortunate. Pic taken 4/21/11.
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