If I'm remembering correctly I had a camera back in the day with a similar looking cable

It's just regular mini usb, phone manufacturers sometimes used them if the ports had extra functionality built-in.

No idea what it is. Perhaps it's a custom connector. The cable could have an USB-Serial chip built-in (TTL, not RS232).
Some cellphone adapter cables from the early 2000s were like that, if memory serves.

No that's not a regular USB mini, the USB mini has an indent on both sides. That looks more like a DisplayPort but too small. Because of the indent on one side but not the other. And it doesn't have an L-shaped center.

It looks more like a micro-DVI, but less pins and the micro also has indents on both sides.

chrismeyer6's guess is probably right, it's probably a proprietary camera connection. Might want to ask on the recent "post pics from old cameras" post.

Can you post a pic with both ends visible near each other? I think people are underestimating the size of that connector.

Merovign wrote:

No that's not a regular USB mini, the USB mini has an indent on both sides.

Yes, but the manufacturers would purposefully leave one of the indents off so the cable would only fit in "their" port. HTC called theirs "ExtUSB" IIRC.
If the cable actually had something interesting on the other end (like a headphone jack or usb hub) it would be worth keeping, but otherwise it's identical to a usb mini cable.

Thanks guys!

jmarsh wrote:

HTC called theirs "ExtUSB" IIRC.

This tipped me off that the HTC Dream / Google G1 / aka the First Android Phone Ever has this port. I actually have one of those, and used it heavily until ~2014, but I don't think I ever had this style of cable for it; I always just used a mini USB one. I bought that phone used without accessories and this cable was in a sealed package, so I must have picked it up elsewhere, god-knows-when.

Guess I'll hang onto the cable in case the Dream/G1 becomes a valuable collectors item some day, or I dig it out and start using it again. 😜

Merovign wrote:

chrismeyer6's guess is probably right, it's probably a proprietary camera connection. Might want to ask on the recent "post pics from old cameras" post.

FWIW I'd already gone through all my cameras and didn't find a match, although it's entirely possible there is one that uses it; it was in my drawer of "camera stuff."

Yea a lot of early smart phones used that USB interface. My HTC TyTN and TyTN II used it. (Windows Mobile 5 and 6.x phones) I believe I also had a Canon(?) point and shoot camera that used it around the same time period.
Example: