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Apple Offering Micro USB Adapters to European Customers

A step in the right direction, but still a bit pointless (as others have said). What are the odds you'd forget your iPhone cable/charger, but remember this adaptor? A micro-USB port on the iPhone is the only solution which really adds any convenience.
 
OllyW said:
Can you please provide some evidence to support this?

I don't remember seeing any of the draft regulations requiring a Micro USB port in the phone.
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It never was drafted. It was more the agreement between the manufactures signed up to agree to use MicroUSB.

Apple made damn sure that it was really weakened to prevent that little requirement from being on there.

If you noticed only one manufacture of smart phones does not use the MicroUSB standard *cough* APPLE *cough* The others all agreed to it and tried to make it law. Apple made sure that they would not be required to change anything. Instead Apple increases E waste with the adaptor crap that lets face it never really going to be used.

http://www.gizmag.com/standard-micro-usb-charger-europe/12108/
 
Rodimus Prime said:
. Instead Apple increases E waste with the adaptor crap that lets face it never really going to be used.
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Apple isn't even the biggest sinner in this regard as the changing adaptors on my SonyEricsson and Samsung phones prior to the adoption of micro usb would suggest. Even now, look at the various adapters for tablets and e-readers. No standardisation there, either. At least Apple has settled on one proprietary adapter for all of its toys, save the too small Shuffle.
 
I'm looking to pick up one of these if you can get them from places other than Apple.com (overpriced and terrible shipping).

I carry a dock connector to USB cable as well as a Micro USB cable with a Mini USB adaptor in my bag with me.

If I got this, I'd be able to get rid of the Dock Connector cable and just carry the additional adapter.

Doesn't sound like a lot, but it would save me a bit of cable tangle!
 
weckart said:
Apple isn't even the biggest sinner in this regard as the changing adaptors on my SonyEricsson and Samsung phones prior to the adoption of micro usb would suggest. Even now, look at the various adapters for tablets and e-readers. No standardisation there, either. At least Apple has settled on one proprietary adapter for all of its toys, save the too small Shuffle.
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Oh believe me I hated how phones changed all the time before the standard but that is pre standard. Now look at it they still will use micro usb for charging and data. The other connection for tablets generally allow for more power than USB can provide. Something Apple's connector can not do.

Your excuse to give apple a free pass is because others did it in the past? No matter how you cut it Apple solution increase ewaste not decrease it. What is a good reason for the not putting a micro usb port on the side?
 
Rodimus Prime said:
Your excuse to give apple a free pass is because others did it in the past?
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Did what in the past? The problem was power supplies with captive cables ending in proprietary connectors, that couldn't be used to charge any other device and which went to landfill when the device was replaced. Apple (and several other manufacturers) solved that by using a USB A socket on the iDevice charger, plus the USB-to-dock cable that you need anyway to sync your computer. Apples iDevice chargers make very nice Universal chargers for anything that can charge from a USB port.

No matter how you cut it Apple solution increase ewaste not decrease it.
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Only because the EU rejected the sensible solution (USB A on the charger + the x-to-USB-A cable everybody includes anyway) in favor of the silly solution (trying to interfere in the design of the devices themselves).

What is a good reason for the not putting a micro usb port on the side?
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Another hole in the case, another component on the circuit board, occupying space in an ultra-compact device where every cubic millimetre and every gramme counts? When you can solve the problem by putting the extra hardware in the charger, which is less space/weight sensitive.
 
Rodimus Prime said:
Also it does not effect them wanting to go with inductive charging. It just means 2 ways of charging it.
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Except that's wasteful on a device like a phone where every little bit of of space and weight counts. Also, one advantage of inductive is that you could make a completely sealed unit (if you use wireless sync, wireless headsets).
 
theluggage said:
Only because the EU rejected the sensible solution (USB A on the charger + the x-to-USB-A cable everybody includes anyway) in favor of the silly solution (trying to interfere in the design of the devices themselves).
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So we would all need a tons of different wires and then have to find the needed one to connect to our phones instead of using a simple wire that works with everything?

Apple was the one which did not go along with the simple solution.


theluggage said:
Another hole in the case, another component on the circuit board, occupying space in an ultra-compact device where every cubic millimetre and every gramme counts? When you can solve the problem by putting the extra hardware in the charger, which is less space/weight sensitive.
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Umm just going to point out that they already have all the components required on the circuit board. Remember the 30 pin connector has the USB wires in it. just tie back into those. heck Apple could if they wanted to just put it right next to one of the other devices in the phone. There is enough room no problem.


theluggage said:
Except that's wasteful on a device like a phone where every little bit of of space and weight counts. Also, one advantage of inductive is that you could make a completely sealed unit (if you use wireless sync, wireless headsets).
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Do you have any idea on how inductive charging works? The wires need to connect from back to the battery is nothing. The coil is the biggest thing and generally that is built into something else. Go look at some of the touchstone modes people have done to android phones. You will see were they put those coils and understand that it does not add anything really extra to the phone.
 
I love how some people will keep trying to rationalize every ad decion Apple makes. As if they're never wrong.

I can't wait until Apple starts using mcro usb. So I only have to worry about having one kind of cbharger. Period.
 
Rodimus Prime said:
Umm just going to point out that they already have all the components required on the circuit board. Remember the 30 pin connector has the USB wires in it. just tie back into those.
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Pretty sure you can't just wire two USB sockets in parallel like that - what happens if someone plugs devices into both ports?

You will see were they put those coils and understand that it does not add anything really extra to the phone.
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Unless the whole point of inductive charging was (e.g.) to make a weatherproof phone with a sealed case... or if you came up with a phone equivalent of MagSafe, or some other clever way of avoiding the mechanical weaknesses associated with miniature plugs and sockets, or a phone so thin that even micro USB leaves an unsightly bump. What if some whizzy new universal interface emerges? This is an EU rule we're talking about - notoriously difficult to change once established. If Apple hadn't set the precedent that an adaptor is OK, manufacturers would have been stuck with micro USB for the next decade.



henchman said:
So I only have to worry about having one kind of cbharger. Period.
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I already only have to worry about having one kind of charger - the kind with a USB-A socket on the front that happily charges my iPad and iPod, my HTC phone (mini USB) and my Kindle (micro USB). Yes, I need the right cable, but they are the same whatever-to-USB-A cables I carry around to plug those devices into computers, my car and the various USB-A power supplies around my house and office (and which are widely available).

Plus, because Apple has gone for the adapter route, if you do have a micro-USB charger you get to use it with all your old iDevices, not just brand new ones.

I just hope that manufacturers keep making chargers with USB-A sockets - if the charger for my next gizmo comes with a captive micro-USB lead then its goin' in the landfill.

NB: People seem to be forgetting that the 30-pin connector isn't just a gratuitously non-standard USB port, it carries audio in/out and composite/S/component video signals, it used to carry Firewire, and may end up carrying DisplayPort or Thunderbolt in the future (http://techcrunch.com/2011/04/05/future-apple-30-pin-connectors-to-support-thunderbolt/) on a single connector. Less sockets, less holes in the case make for a thinner and lighter device.
 
i dont see a problem with this adapter, i would prefer to use one of these instead of apple placing an ugly hole on the side or bottom of my phone like those other plastic junk mobile phones, the 30-Pin is probably the most unintrusive connector on a mobile device, unless you would prefer a big wobbley usb connector that disconnects itself from the PCB and a ugly rubber bung that falls off. - apple do these things for a reason :)
 
I wonder if I could create a little shop for these things online. I dont mind going into an apple store and buying 50 or so of these and shipping them over to people if there was enough demand.

£8 for the adapter and £3 postage to the USA should cover it. So thats around $19... :cool:
 
Apple should have switched to micro-USB a long time ago.

Even my brother's Sony Ericsson feature phone has a micro-USB port. And I remember reading somewhere that Apple had already rectified the mandate but did not implement micro-USB into any of their products. Probably to facilitate the plethora of accessories that still use the 30-pin dock connector.

I guess one day, phone manufacturers will stop supplying an AC adaptor and will only bundle a USB to micro-USB cable for charging and syncing. There are loads of USB power adaptors out there, heck you can also use the Apple USB AC adaptor, that's how I charge my camera. :p
 
a5hl3y2k6 said:
i dont see a problem with this adapter, i would prefer to use one of these instead of apple placing an ugly hole on the side or bottom of my phone like those other plastic junk mobile phones, the 30-Pin is probably the most unintrusive connector on a mobile device, unless you would prefer a big wobbley usb connector that disconnects itself from the PCB and a ugly rubber bung that falls off. - apple do these things for a reason :)
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Hahahahahahaha.
That's gt to be the funniest justification I've ever read.
Pretending a micro-usb connector is less obtrusive than a mcro USB connector.

Hahahahahhhahah.
 
marksman said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_4 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8K2 Safari/6533.18.5)

Suck it Europe
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Haha, that's the kind of shrewd, insightful commentary that keeps me coming back to this site.
 
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