Jason Perlow for ZDNet:

Ever since I got my iPhone 5, and after receiving my new iPad 4th-generation this weekend, I’ve learned to love Apple’s new Lightning connector. At first, I was annoyed. I had already purchased a whole bunch of 30-pin charging cables for my iPad 3, along with matching square white Apple 10W to USB charging adapters. So now I had two types of connectors and two types of USB adapter cables to charge Apple products with.

Perlow goes on to explain why the Lightning connector found on Apple’s newer iOS devices impresses him so much – from the reversible design (unlike Micro USB, which is unidirectional) to the wattage specification (allowing more battery-hungry devices like the new iPad to charge).

He also talks about what a quagmire the Android market has become, thanks to a lack of standardization. Micro USB is popular but it’s hardly universal, and it’s unsuitable for many devices that are too power-hungry.

Admittedly, it’s a hard sell for some of us who have invested a lot of money in devices that work with Apple’s 30-pin dock connector, but as Perlow puts it, “I have to give the company credit for designing a better charging and syncing connector standard when I see it.”