An electrical connector apparatus comprising a housing supporting a plurality of contacts in a row, each of the contacts having an initial engagement surface, the plurality of initial engagement surfaces defining a contact curvature across the row that is configured for tangentially engaging a mating connector. A method providing an electrical device that is connectable to a receptacle by a connector having a plurality of contacts defining a contact curvature; inserting the electrical device into the receptacle to tangentially engage a portion of the connector on one of either the electrical device or the receptacle with the contact curvature on the other of the electrical device or receptacle, thereby initially contactingly engaging more than one but less than all of the plurality of contacts before contactingly engaging all the plurality of contacts.