I thought the entire point was to have _cables_ that work everywhere, which is my preference. I think the ports themselves can and should do different things - even my USB-A ports on my laptop have little icons beside them indicating their purpose or capabilities. The point is to not have to keep many dozen different cables on hand for everything.
Regarding the 3.1-speed: Is there any rational explanation for “USB 3 5GB” being renamed to “USB 3.1 gen 1 5GB” and “USB 3.1 10GB” being renamed to “USB 3.1 gen 2 10GB”?