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Apple Introduces New 5W Charger With Folding Pins in United Kingdom

Stupotpot said:
NO WAY!! What are the chances of that! Well I'm in Jesmond if you're passing you can have a look...but you can't have my precious!
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I have to request a round of applause for the guy from UPS. He came back! he knew what this was and he thought that I would want to have it today, he said to me "had it not been what I think this is i would not have come back", thank U UPS man. That is true customer service!
I am so far quite happy with my choice, traditional leather. I'll review over the weekend :cool:
 
beanbaguk said:
It's very clever but what a rip-off! £25!?!?!?

For £15 I bought one of these:

Image

While not as pretty, it's a far superior product.
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So why is Apple's charger any more of a ripoff of this product than it is of these?


3094335_vw_etz00_1026897377


41W0E%2BqQ-HL.jpg
 
reevans said:
The UK has the most ugly electrical plugs in the world and have not recognized that they don't need to be so huge. There are so many possible designs for an electrical connection to 220VAC that are safe and petit.
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The UK plug was born out of necessity. Copper was in short supply following World War 2. To reduce the amount of copper wiring needed in a building, they daisy chained the plugs rather than having them run to a central breaker box. The large plug is needed to contain the fuse that was used in place of said box.
 
I just hope the new charger has better hand grip on the side to pull it out of the socket! Old version was smooth and slippery as hell when you tried to pull it out. Due to the design of the UK plugs, they fit very firmly in the socket and need a reasonable pull to get them out.

Old style looks quite sleek compared to a standard UK plug, but you struggle to extricate it. Especially so when it is in a gang of plugs which are all close together, very difficult to grip.
 
mariana888 said:
I have to request a round of applause for the guy from UPS. He came back! he knew what this was and he thought that I would want to have it today, he said to me "had it not been what I think this is i would not have come back", thank U UPS man. That is true customer service!
I am so far quite happy with my choice, traditional leather. I'll review over the weekend :cool:
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Omg that's amazing!!! I bet you're over the moon!
 
Piggie said:
I may be wrong, but I don't believe it is 240v any more.
I believe it was changed to 230v across Europe some time ago.
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It was changed officially, Europe was on 210V and UK on 240V. Now we're all on 220V +/- 10%. Do you think anyone has actually changed their power station hardware? In reality we're still on 240V.
 
Piggie said:
One for £1.99 here

White 5V/1A Universal Smartphone Folding UK Adaptor Mains Charger USB Plug for iPhone 3GS 4/4S 5/5S 6/6 Plus Samsung S3 S4 S5 Note 3 / Nokia / Sony / Motorola / HTC / BlackBerry / LG MP4/3 Players iPods

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Universal-S...mputers_4?ie=UTF8&refRID=1AFP83SZRP6JFAHG3F8J

Choice of 8 different colours :)

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I may be wrong, but I don't believe it is 240v any more.
I believe it was changed to 230v across Europe some time ago.
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I would not trust a £2 charger.

Have a look at this site:
http://www.righto.com/2012/10/a-dozen-usb-chargers-in-lab-apple-is.html

He covers a lot about the reason most small branded chargers are more expensive than the ones you can buy for a couple of quid.

You really do get what you pay for, especially when dealing with 230VAC.

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Norbury said:
It was changed officially, Europe was on 210V and UK on 240V. Now we're all on 220V +/- 10%. Do you think anyone has actually changed their power station hardware? In reality we're still on 240V.
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Mains voltage is an RMS value - it's nominally 230V, but it's sinusoidal, so with a little tweaking the EU managed to easily make the UK and the mainland compatible to bring the 210 and 240 systems into agreement, although with a modern switching power supply it's not really all that crucial - they'll take anything from 110 to 250VAC easily.
 
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BurgDog said:
US has one major safety feature -120v circuits. UK connectors are over engineered for what is required in US for similar safety.
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No - schoolboy Physics 101. If you have half the voltage, the same appliance will use twice the current (amps) and it is current that does the damage. Ever had a static shock after walking on carpet, for example? That was many thousands of volts, but did you no damage, because the current is virtually nil. As another example, even though it is only 12 V, a car battery can do some damage because it is capable of delivering a very high current.

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Gasu E. said:
OK, I'm a little curious-- the Apple middle pin appears to be a metallic ground pin, but the one you're showing appears to be a plastic pin for alignment only-- is this the case?
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An earth connection is only a legal requirement in the UK where there is an exposed metal surface that could become live in the event of a fault. Entirely insulated devices do not need an earth connection, so often the plugs have a plastic pin, which serves for alignment, as you say, and opens the cover of the live and neutral holes.
 
Maybe theres designs of these everywhere but I specifically remember something like this on bbc news where some young lad was showing off his folding plug design.

Either way great news because those prongs stick out annoyingly far! Was always jealous of the american 2 prong folding design

Be great if they introduced this on the mbp/ air chargers
 
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Gasu E. said:
OK, I'm a little curious-- the Apple middle pin appears to be a metallic ground pin, but the one you're showing appears to be a plastic pin for alignment only-- is this the case?
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Ground is not needed as it is double insulated.

The old plugs. Ground is not connected to anything on the iPhone/iPad chargers. However on the MacBook charges it is. Great thing about the UK socket is it difficult to accidentally pull out.

numlock said:
beautiful design but i think its best if the plug on the charger can be changed for different type of outlets. better than having to have multiple chargers imo
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We only have one type of plug in the UK. All can do 240V, 13A, or 3.12kW (why we have electric kettles as we have enough power).
 
Djbpwny said:
But some of us wish our outlets were like UK outlets. They're safer and totally standard where here in the US, we have old buildings with 2-blade plugs with no ground pin so you either need a cheater plug or are screwed, and though NEMA 5-15 plugs are the standard, NEMA 5-20 (higher current) plugs are appearing in some newer buildings, and some power-sensitive electronics don't like them and things designed specifically for NEMA 5-20 (uncommon, but they exist) won't work with NEMA 5-15 outlets. We're a mess.
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agreed.
 
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