[Galaxy Note 3 Accessories] CZroe:
I didn't see a thread about this yet so I thought I'd make one for us to relay our experiences with different micro USB 3.0 B cables, our Galaxy Note 3 phones, and the various cases we may have tried them with.

First off, the stock Samsung cable is the smallest and lowest-profile microUSB 3.0 B cable I've seen yet, which is important because the bulkier ones are just more prominent protrusions begging to get bents or broken, damaging the connected device with it. The problem is that all the Note 3 cases act like it's a proprietary cable and they only need to design around it instead of aiming to fit a wide variety of standard cables. So far mine has not received any excessive force from any cable, but it's a concern I always have with many USB devices (USB drive in a notebook, for example). I have found that even with the stock cable the port in the phone itself frequently needs to be blown out. At least three times I have found my phone plugged in and not charging with a connection being very hard to achieve and maintain (momentarily connects when tweaked) until I blow in the port (then it's rock-solid for another week+). My port has never been forced or damaged and it does it with every cable I try until I blow, so I know that we are dealing with contamination or oxidation. The first time was before it had ever had any other cable used with it.

Next up: the Amazon Basics Premium cable.

http://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-...8&qid=1386737410&sr=8-4&keywords=USB3.0+Micro

My first one was DOA and didn't work at all unless you held it at a strange angle. The replacement worked as reliably as the original but it is too thick and bulky. I often have trouble finding a place and orientation to lay my phone when using it that doesn't put too much stress on the cable/connectors. It is NOT the kind of cable you want to carry around in your pocket or use in the car. I don't even like using it with my laptop so it's going to be my desktop charge and transfer cable exclusively. Even the connectors are bulky. Luckily, the rubber-like material around the port in my Slim Armor case flexes enough that it fits fine. Same for the Unicorn Beetle Sup Case. I still need to try my Bear Motion/Poetic bumper case and the slim Caseology case.

Even when not using USB3's faster transfer and charging features, I still prefer using it over a microUSB 2.0 B cable because it seems safer to spread the load over a bigger connector if it gets accidentally tweaked. I've repaired enough traditional microUSB 2.0 B connectors on phone PCBs and I do not want to risk damaging an MHL 3.0 version! It seems to me that a right-angle connector would be safer as it would not protrude away from the device and the cable has the chance to run along the device's exterior structure until it is far enough away to absorb and relieve most tension that would move it independently from the device. For this reason I intend to get a right-angle mUSB3 cablemy notebook that I often use in bed. So far the only one I have found is here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/141133546501?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

I missed the auction but I'm prowling for another and I will report my experience here.

I also wonder if this cable can charge faster from a typical dual-port car charger:

http://www.amazon.com/eForCity-dual...&qid=1386737410&sr=8-13&keywords=USB3.0+Micro

I've also ordered a couple TYLT Vu wireless charging stands and the official Samsung wireless charging back to minimize my use of the port, so it looks like I'm switching to the bumper case (only one that fits the official cover). I should get a dust cover/plug for the port so that I won't have to blow it out when I do finally use it. :)

Another strange issue I had even with the stock cable was that it would disconnect and reconnect in USB 2.0 mode almost as soon as I enabled USB 3.0 mode and started transferring. Possibly important circumstances: I was trying to rip some 1080p video samples to check out on my first 1080p phone so I started ripping a couple BD movies to my Alienware M11x r3 (AnyDVD + Handbrake). 1080p files are large, so I figured it was as good a time as any to try to get slightly faster transfer speeds with USB3. This notebook has no optical drive so I made the rips using an external USB-powered BD drive plugged into the other USB3.0 port. It was a slimline EIDE drive in a USB2.0 enclosure, so there was a mix of USB2.0 and 3.0 devices connected to the two USB3.0 ports. When the first rip finished I started the second rip and then enabled USB3.0 on the phone to start transferring the first rip. After the problem repeated itself I tried changing cables and the problem remained. It worked fine when I tried again with only the phone connected. If that's expected behavior with a mix of 2.0 and 3.0 devices then I would have expected it to happen immediately instead of waiting until after I started a file transfer. Edit: It happened again this morning but I now know it happens even in USB2.0 mode. The BD drive was ripping while connected to the PC's native USB2.0 port and the phone was connected to one of the two USB 3.0 ports. It disconnected as soon as I started the transfer in USB3.0 mode so I restarted in 2.0 mode and it did the same thing. I had to wait for the encode to finish, so it looks like it has something to do with the MTP connection not being stable while the CPU is busy. Stupid.