Lost the stock cable, now I need some input before I waist my money...

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I went on a trip to a friends place, 400 miles away, and I seem to have left my charge cable behind when I departed. (Grabbed the wall wart, but forgot the cable. Still kicking myself) Getting it shipped will be a major pain, so I come here asking for some help clearing up what I dont understand after searching.

What types of cable will allow USB interaction between my PC and my phone and which ones will not?

When I use my girl friends charger, which is mini usb but not intended for a smart phone, it charges fine, but if I use that cable between the computer and the phone I cannot get it to interact.

Sorry for being noobish, but I really did search. Just found a lot of conflicting info...

I (also) don't understand why there's a difference in micro-USB cables.
Micro-usb = micro-usb, right??
Don't these have requirements like HDMI cables?

I find any brand name cable works fine. I've had bad luck with the really cheap generic ones. I have successfully used my HP Touchpad cable and a blackberry branded cable. The connections fit fine and data transferred fine.

The reason your mini (micro?) USB charges and doesn't transfer data could be because it it a charge only cable and if you look in the USB-A end (large end) you may find it only has 2 contacts instead of 4.

As far as I know, any micro USB should work. I use cables from Moto, LG, Samsung, HP (touchpad), and generic at home and all work fine. A lot of the generic ones do die, or develop a defect where they charge only from a particular angle.

When I need a new cable, I hit up monoprice.com for some of the highest quality generic USB cables I have ever used, they have good cables for everything, they are cheap too (lots of places like big box stores re-brand the Monoprice cables and charge WAY more)

your favorite auction site is also a good place to look. I check the "used" box when searching for cell phone accessories to find cables and wall worts people no longer need, that usually still work great.

I have a nokia one that works perfectly if you want it. Just pay $3 for shipping to my paypal. Let me know.

Originally Posted by bitz_dv

The reason your mini (micro?) USB charges and doesn't transfer data could be because it it a charge only cable and if you look in the USB-A end (large end) you may find it only has 2 contacts instead of 4.

As far as I know, any micro USB should work. I use cables from Moto, LG, Samsung, HP (touchpad), and generic at home and all work fine. A lot of the generic ones do die, or develop a defect where they charge only from a particular angle.

When I need a new cable, I hit up monoprice.com for some of the highest quality generic USB cables I have ever used, they have good cables for everything, they are cheap too (lots of places like big box stores re-brand the Monoprice cables and charge WAY more)

your favorite auction site is also a good place to look. I check the "used" box when searching for cell phone accessories to find cables and wall worts people no longer need, that usually still work great.

Generally speaking any mUsb cable will work with minor exceptions such as the one that comes with the car dock which is charge only. But no need to guess and no need to bid on an auction and no need to pay big bucks at the Verizon store. Just go here:

http://www.amazon.com/Motorola-SPN55...0014705&sr=1-7

and for $4.79 and free shipping you get the cable and the power brick and its even a Motorola branded one if you care about that.