European Commission Set to Adopt Universal Micro-USB Smartphone Charging Standard in January

[bigmc6000]

Imagine if every TV manufacturer decided to create their own proprietary plug in order to power the device. Does that sound like a good idea?

When was the last time you bought a TV? They all come with power cables, I've never, ever, heard of someone selling their TV and saying it doesn't come with a power cable because I want to keep it for my next TV. That doesn't even make any sense at all.

Apple moving from a 30-pin connector to a POS micro-USB is akin to putting a throttle on every vehicle in the world so it can't get more than 100HP even if the engine can get over 300. That's just stupid. If you want to charge via some POS, fine, whatever, but don't cripple the phone because of it.

Apple is going to give an adapter and be done with it - those of us not in the EU don't need to make our iPhones *****ty just because Brussels is being retarded.

 

[willybNL]

Adapter? Sounds like can't do that.

Yep, that's all that will happen. They will just include this in the box for iPhones sold in the EU. Nothing fancy.

I don't think the EU will allow adapters for this purpose. It should be in the phone.

 

[JAT]

How is it worse? The adapter is only necessary if you are using a charger that you couldn't have used otherwise.

Yes, that's what the report says. Adapters will be necessary for phones that don't have those connections.

That's up to 3 pieces for phone cable, adapter, power cable. How is that not worse than having a different cable for some devices? People are going to lose the tiny little pieces, or not be carrying them along. Different problems, but still problems.

 

[JAT]

That's not the point. The point is to make the chargers compatible, so you don't have to replace them when you get a different phone.

I'm on my 3rd car charger since getting this phone. IME, the wires are far more likely to break than the phone.

 

[willybNL]

So how about the fact that no Macs have micro USB ports? So their would be an adaptor no matter what?

I have a better idea... WIFI & LIGHT PEAK!

Why would a mac need a micro usb port? This is about power adapters.

So you'll just need to buy:
- 1 power thing with USB opening
- 1 cable

if you want to charge (or transfer data) you need 1x USB micro -> USB cable for your PC/Mac (exactly like you need Dock -> USB now).

[For the people that still are fan of the dock after reading.... think of all improvements:]

- 1: every phone has USB all of the suddon.
Wow: all accessoires can be used on only mobile if it has micro usb Just need the software to work. (hey: yeah... i can connect a printer from my computer to my phone all of the suddon!

- Everybody (not only apple, but also nokia, siemens, etc. customers) can buy the same stuff to charge a phone. making prices lower, more efficient stuff etc. Hey: If i'm in my friends car, who has an android, I can charge my iPhone 4!


Will it cost money? Nope.... old phones still have old adapters.

If apple is smart, they support both dock and micro-usb for both data and charging in a sort of click in system. Dock only for backwords compatibility to their old accessoirces. And micro-usb for the improved world of mobiles.

If apple is smart they bring out the best charger in the world, that consumes no energy when it's not connected to a charging phone, and they earn a lot of money on these new devices.

 

[bigmc6000]

Easy solution - make sure everything comes with a charger. You don't have to replace anything, it's free! New phones are going to come with chargers anyway - don't you see where this is going? It's headed the route of the dastardly printer cable. A new printer cable used to come with every single printer, now, nada. You either have to keep the cable you have (if you're selling/giving it away that puts you in a bind) or you have to buy a new one. Let's not even bother addressing what happens when they went from 1.1 to 2.0 and convinced the masses they need 24k gold plated printer cables...

You want to know where we're headed - we're headed down the road of you buying a brand new, $300 phone and not getting a freakin' charger with it and hoping that your now 2+ year old one holds on forever and if the printer industry is any reflection there's no way on God's green earth they'll lower their prices to reflect the decreased costs of not including a charger. Nothing like getting less for the same price...

 

[jettredmont]

yes it does apply to iPhones and iPods. My old iPod firewire chargers do not work with iPhones from 3G and up. That is quite stupid because the connector works and the phone recognizes the charger and then says "this device is not made for this iPhone...".

Add to that the third party docks and chargers that won't work anymore and then say again "Not that that applies to the iPhone,".

Note that Firewire charging hasn't been recommended since the 4G iPod (which supported both FireWire and USB charging). That's, what, five years ago? Well beyond the expected shelf-life of a charging accessory. Although in 2007 when the iPhone came out I could see you complaining about having to rebuy chargers, by now that argument's just petty.

For the record: I had to rebuy a charger after we got an iPod Touch, so I feel your pain. But, overall, one connector standard change (for charging) in as long as the Dock connector's been around (since the iPod 3G, right?) isn't a bad track record. I haven't had two cell phones with the same adapter, ever (although our current Blackberries use the Micro-USB connector from hell, so maybe I won't have to rebuy chargers when we throw these in the river).

 

[psingh01]

Overall good idea and we here in the US should benefit from it. Don't know how Apple will comply in January, but I would expect the next iPhone to have a micro USB port for charging at least.

 

[Reed Rothchild]

When was the last time you bought a TV? They all come with power cables, I've never, ever, heard of someone selling their TV and saying it doesn't come with a power cable because I want to keep it for my next TV. That doesn't even make any sense at all.

<snipped>

Your reposte makes zero sense. Feel free to fight for proprietary.

 

[BaldiMac]

I don't think the EU will allow adapters for this purpose. It should be in the phone.

Why would a mac need a micro usb port? This is about power adapters.

So you'll just need to buy:
- 1 power thing with USB opening
- 1 cable

if you want to charge (or transfer data) you need 1x USB micro -> USB cable for your PC/Mac (exactly like you need Dock -> USB now).

and the best is: everybody (not only apple, but also nokia, siemens, etc. customers) can buy the same pair, making prices lower, more efficient stuff etc.

Please read the MoU or this thread. There is no requirement to change the connector on the phone. Only the charger. The dock connector is not affected in any way.

 

[psingh01]

Easy solution - make sure everything comes with a charger. You don't have to replace anything, it's free! New phones are going to come with chargers anyway - don't you see where this is going? It's headed the route of the dastardly printer cable. A new printer cable used to come with every single printer, now, nada. You either have to keep the cable you have (if you're selling/giving it away that puts you in a bind) or you have to buy a new one. Let's not even bother addressing what happens when they went from 1.1 to 2.0 and convinced the masses they need 24k gold plated printer cables...

You want to know where we're headed - we're headed down the road of you buying a brand new, $300 phone and not getting a freakin' charger with it and hoping that your now 2+ year old one holds on forever and if the printer industry is any reflection there's no way on God's green earth they'll lower their prices to reflect the decreased costs of not including a charger. Nothing like getting less for the same price...

Don't worry, just use your friend's charger....hopefully he bought one and isn't assuming he can borrow yours

 

[jettredmont]

Our wonderful United States of America has always been out of sync with the rest of the world i.e. fractional system vs. metrics, which is far more accurate and standardized. We use to actually get it, but we don't anymore...

"accurate" is an odd word. You can be just as accurate with the "English" system of weights and measures as with SI.

For that matter, fractional measures can be just as accurate as decimal measures, although the range of practical measures is more narrow, but that's not a part of the US standards (yes, wrenches will use measures like 1/4", but if you were measuring the spread of the wrench you would measure it as 0.250" or whatever).

 

[BaldiMac]

Yes, that's what the report says. Adapters will be necessary for phones that don't have those connections.

That's up to 3 pieces for phone cable, adapter, power cable. How is that not worse than having a different cable for some devices? People are going to lose the tiny little pieces, or not be carrying them along. Different problems, but still problems.

But you only need the adapter for a charger that you couldn't have used otherwise. So the old way, you don't get to charge at all. The new way, you do if you have the adapter.

If you are suggesting avoiding an adapter completely by making the cable with a dock connector on one end and micro-USB on the other, then you would need an adapter or separate cable to sync.

 

[Number 41]

Your reposte makes zero sense. Feel free to fight for proprietary.

Anyone else find it ironic that there are people on a MAC forum posting about how things should just be standardized?

 

[robotmonkey]

Hmm... corporatist economic policies, nice to know Europe is still fascist.

 

[garyd]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_0_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8A306 Safari/6531.22.7)

I would think they would simply include an adaptor that would allow you to connect the phone to a micro-usb charger. An adaptor wouldn't be that costly.

Either they include an adapter, multiple cables, or change their cables & mains plugs to micro USB & include the opposite adapter for existing cables in the wild.

 

[BaldiMac]

Anyone else find it ironic that there are people on a MAC forum posting about how things should just be standardized?

Not really, since Apple is one of the largest proponents of standards outside of the open source movement.

 

[jettredmont]

I generally don't care. It's a drop in the ocean compared the massive amounts of waste we commit on a daily basis elsewhere in society. This kind of feel-good crap is akin to a serial killer patting himself on the back because he dropped some loose change into the "feed the children" jug at the gas station.

And, in this particular case, it's a meaningless gesture that allows companies to put more money in their pockets AND inconveniences me (by forcing me to buy extra chargers to keep around).

Why wouldn't I think this dumb?

How would this force you to buy extra chargers?

If anything, it will allow you buy fewer chargers, because a single charger would be useful for more than just one device. My wife and I have the same cell phone, so we only bought one car charger which fits that phone instead of two. We only have one USB charger in the house, which is used for all sorts of devices from Nintendos to iPods to bluetooth headsets.

Standardization reduces the amount of crap you have to buy. Which in turn reduces the amount of crap you have to throw away.

 

[Cromulent]

Unfortunately people have been formatted to believe what is told to them and are totally disinterested in what is happening to their freedom.

Yeah, that's right. Brussels is removing our freedoms. Despite the fact that the European bill on human rights is considered too liberal by many even in this country.

Frankly arguments like that sound just as tired as they do when talking about national governments.

Do you really think you are more free under your own national government than you would be if Brussels actually were in charge? Ha thats a good one. You're never truly free under any system of government, the only difference is just how much is taken away. From what Brussels has done so far they have worked hard to ensure individual freedoms whilst regulating and controlling big business which is the way that it should be in my opinion.

 

[rmwebs]

The EU (and, by extension, many European governments) love to stick their nose into private business and overregulate. If the United States has been a poster child for under-regulation over the last 10-15 years, the EU has been the poster child for the exact opposite. Simply put, there's no reason for the government to regulate phone design in this way.

Of course, the end-game for this will be phone companies no longer providing chargers with their phones, on the claim that "well, your old charger should work just fine with this new phone."

Why do you think most Brits hate being part of the EU?

Even the British Government have almost zero input on EU activities...there's strong favouritism between Belgium, France, Germany and a few others...Basically anything they say, goes - regardless of stupidity.

 

[scottness]

The next thing they'll regulate is the OS that each item ships with. You know, for compatibility.

 

[Ries]

Please get your facts right:

1. It is not a law (directive or ordinance). It's a Memorandum of Understanding signed by major mobile phone makers, including Apple.
2. The technical specification just says:
   • The charger must comply with the USB charging specification.
   • The cable must end in a Micro-USB-B plug.
   • If the cable is detachable, the interface on the charger side must be USB-A.
   It does not say anything at all about the phone.

So if one end is Micro-USB-B and the detachable end on the charger is USB-A...

 

[macUser2007]

How is it worse? The adapter is only necessary if you are using a charger that you couldn't have used otherwise.

Uhm, like when I travel and want to carry only one charger to charge my Kindle, my camera and my phone. Having an adapter is a pain in the ass.

The only reason Apple is using the proprietary connector is to suck a few extra $$ from you through licensing fees.

Micro USB is way smaller than the i-port, so it would actually be better for slimmer devices.

 

[Cromulent]

Why do you think most Brits hate being part of the EU?

If that were true I am sure they would have voted for a party which pledged to leave the EU.

The EU (and, by extension, many European governments) love to stick their nose into private business and overregulate. If the United States has been a poster child for under-regulation over the last 10-15 years, the EU has been the poster child for the exact opposite. Simply put, there's no reason for the government to regulate phone design in this way.

Of course, the end-game for this will be phone companies no longer providing chargers with their phones, on the claim that "well, your old charger should work just fine with this new phone."

As much as people love to say that Brussels is anti-business I find it strange that the Financial Times, ones of the most respected business and financial publications in the world most likely is quite pro-Europe.

I think most people actually realise that it offers more than what you read about in the tabloids and see on the short 30 second shock headlines on the 10 o'clock news.

 

[macUser2007]

Not really, since Apple is one of the largest proponents of standards outside of the open source movement.

Yeah, as long as they are Apple's standards....