If so, is it a proprietary design or standard type of cable?
If it's a standard type of cable, what is the proper term for it?
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A number of times I've had problems with people using Samsung Focus's and not being able to sync if it wasn't the cable that came with the phone. Main phone I've seen problems with. I've done a ton of hackathons and install fests for phone7 and the Focus was the only one I really hit cable problems. – Joe Healy Aug 30 '12 at 18:30
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@JoeHealy Ah, too bad. I hope it's different with the Focus S. I just ordered a generic MicroUSB cable based on the info here. – Louis Aug 30 '12 at 22:49
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if it won't synch or zune wont find the phone, find someone else with a focusS cable that you know came with the phone. see if it synchs/finds the phone using that. main cause of failure I've found for zune not finding phone is a mismatched cable – Joe Healy Sep 4 '12 at 0:16
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@JoeHealy it syncs. I got it so I can charge my phone on the go with a portable battery pack (APC Mobile Power Pack UPB10x521). There was a strange problem where after using that battery pack, my touch screen stopped working. AT&T had me take out the battery put it back, but then the phone thought it was always charging even when it was unplugged. After doing the battery trick a few times it went away. I doubt it's the cable though, probably the battery pack. – Louis Sep 4 '12 at 0:20
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The MicroUSB cables that we use for our phones have 5 pins. Basically, all usb cables use the outer two pins for power, that's why you'll find that they charge your phone, however the inner three are used for data. Windows Phones use #2 and #3 for data transfer.
In the case for Nokia devices, they are known for doing things a little differently, they like to confirm the wiring of a cable before committing to a connection (as seen in this diagram ). Pin #4 needs to be shorted to Pin #5, not all cables do this, so the computer may not detect a Nokia device with that type of cable.
In most cases the cable will work. If it doesn't this is probably why. I haven't tested this with a bunch of cables though, so this is an educated guess from a small set of tests.
[UPDATE]
With the Windows 10 Mobile devices like the Lumia 950 and Lumia 950XL, Microsoft has introduced USB Type C connector. This supports USB 3.1 comms and has fast-charge capability.
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Just FYI, I have tried another Nokia cable which came with an older Nokia E71 smartphone, but it does not work properly with my Lumia 800. – paradroid Aug 30 '12 at 20:46
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Thanks for sharing! Maybe we can create a list here of cables that wont work. We can start with your find. – Lance McCarthy Aug 31 '12 at 13:19
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There's another person who has the same problem as I have, with his Dell Venue Pro windowsphone.stackexchange.com/q/804/157 – paradroid Sep 2 '12 at 23:37
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An N8 usb cable doesnt work with a Lumia 510 I have come to discover. – user3264 Nov 18 '13 at 11:26
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Might want to update the answer, as some of the newer phones now use a USB Type C connector – Rowland Shaw♦ Feb 12 '16 at 9:37
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Microsoft has not shed any light on this USB issue.
The USB cable that works with most mobile devices is known as Micro USB.
After some research I found that the most of the cases phone works normally with any Micro USB but in some cases the computer does not recognize the phone but it only charges the phone.
I found a question at microsoft forum ,asking about USB cable.(you might find this useful)
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There is something different about the supplied USB cable that came with my Nokia Lumia 800, as other cables (or power adaptors with attached cables) fail to recharge the phone once it has run empty.
While other USB cables do work if the battery has not fully depleted, the current supplied is usually a lot less than with the supplied cable (when comparing using the same power source and Nokia Diagnostics).
This situation is annoying, as I want spare USB cables for my car and at work, that perform as well as the supplied one. The Nokia cable cost around £30 last time I looked.
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They use a micro-usb connection
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