EU Committee Votes To Make All Smartphone Vendors Utilize a Standard Charger 415
Deathspawner writes "The EU has been known to make a lot of odd decisions when it comes to tech, but one committee's latest vote is one that most people will likely agree with: Standardized smartphone chargers. If passed, this decision would cut down on never having the right charger handy, but as far as the EU is concerned, this is all about a reduction of waste. The initial vote went down on Thursday, and given its market saturation, it seems likely that micro USB would be the target standard. Now, it's a matter of waiting on the EU Parliament to make its vote."
Re:Don't worry (Score:4, Informative)
Nope. They're requiring a micro-USB connector on the phone itself. All phone chargers and their connecting wires will be required to interoperate with it.
You must know a lot of people (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Don't worry (Score:5, Informative)
Ah, Apple. Dock Connector had its stressed parts on the connector, which means that if something breaks, it's most likely the cheap cable. MicroUSB does this too. Lightning has its stressed parts in the receptacle - so the parts that break the most are inside the expensive phone.
Great idea, huh?
Re:Don't worry (Score:5, Informative)
Not to mention the thing where the lightning cable apparently has a chip in the cable itself to verify itself with the phone. Turning the "cheap and easily replaceable" bit into "an unnecessary expensive and wasteful thing."
The lightning cable and connector should die, and Apple should be forced to use micro USB just like everyone else.
Re:Sure, it's good today (Score:5, Informative)
No prob. In fact I use my 3rd iPod charger (2003ish) to charge my iPhone 4S.
Making the de-facto standard mandatory. (Score:5, Informative)
This is just making mandatory the Common External Power Supply [wikipedia.org] EU standard. That's been a voluntary standard since 2009, and most cell phone vendors in Europe have been on board for years. It's simple enough - phones use a MicroUSB B connector, and chargers use a USB-A connector if they have a connector at the charger end.
China standardized on MicroUSB-B back in 2007. The GSM consortium standardized on MicroUSB-B in 2009.
Re:Don't worry (Score:5, Informative)
Apple already got an exemption last time this issue came up in the EU.
This isn't the first time this was addressed [wikipedia.org] by the EU.
The last law only affected the part that plugged into the wall, so Apple got an exemption there.
Now they are specifying BOTH ends of the connectors must meet the standard. Its about time.
Also, selling phones without a charger, for 10 bucks less would make sense as well.
Re:Sure, it's good today (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Sure, it's good today (Score:3, Informative)
Try using an iphone 1 charger with an iphone 4 and get back to me.
It works fine. They're both 30-pin connectors with no differences between them that I can see. But please, tell us more about these fictional problems you've invented.
Re:Sure, it's good today (Score:5, Informative)
Parent and GP are both right, kind of. The original iPod had a Firewire port right on it. The third-generation iPod switched to the 30-pin dock connector. This connector is the same connector that was used all the way through last year, when Apple switched to the Lightning connector instead.
However, within this connector, different devices support different features. The connector contains pins for both Firewire and USB, each with their own power (Firewire is 12V unregulated, USB is 5V regulated). Another feature that varies by device include video output.
Any accessories that didn't take the easy way out and support charging via both USB and Firewire will work on any device. The problem many people encountered, however, is that many accessory makers DID take the easy way out, especially for car accessories. A 12V unregulated power supply is really easy to get in a car - everything runs off of 12V. So an old 30-pin charger can basically just connect the cigarette lighter directly to the phone, with a fuse inline for safety.
Eventually, Apple dropped Firewire support in new devices. Anything that supported both Firewire and USB kept working - however, many accessories didn't. After all, why add in a 5V regulator and other components if they're not strictly needed?
Re:Don't worry (Score:0, Informative)
why the sweet fuck would you ever plug a micro usb socket into something on a fucking *motorbike*? jesus christ, and then you whinge it doesn't work properly?
first world fucking problems right here.
Re:Thought they required it a few years ago? (Score:4, Informative)
Didn't everybody in Europe switch to Micro USB a couple of years ago?
Everyone significant except Apple did. Apple decided to keep using custom connectors for the phone end. They make adaptors but they don't include them as standard, genuine apple ones are fairly pricey and they don't really solve the problem (who wants to carry an adaptor arround with them all the time, that's barely better than carrying the USB cable for the phone arround all the time).
I wonder if this is related (unofficially of course) to apple's recent aggressive move over third party lightning (apples current charge/data port) cables.
Sigh - if they could still use 12V we could just use simple car adapters
Note that car electrics are only nominally 12V. For reasonably reliable operation you need to be able to run continuously anywhere from about 10V to about 15V and to tolerate significant dips and spikes outside that range.
It's actually easier to produce a stable 19V from a car supply than a stable 12V. For a stable 19V you just need some surge protection upfront and then a boost converter. For a stable 12V you would need a converter that can convert both up and down which is quite a bit more complex.
Re:Sure, it's good today (Score:4, Informative)
And all the propritary connectors I've seen in that size constraint are equally flimsy. Including the Apple dock.
I cannot comment on Lightning, never having examined one up close.
Re:Sure, it's good today (Score:5, Informative)
Avtually, it being small is reason enough - it means it's small enough to be installed via automated pick and place machines.
But it also means the only mechanical attachment it has to the board is a set of solder pads - two big ones near the part where the cable inserts. If you want tabs that go through the PCB, it requires a separate through-hole process to finish the attachment, extra costs.
The problem with soldered mechanical attachment points is that they result in the weakest part being the glue that holds the copper to the PCB. Wiggle the cable a little bit or jam it a touch too hard and you delaminate the copper foil from the board. Eventually the tabs break off the PCB and the connector is literally held by the 5 pins at the back which aren't strong enough to withstand much insertion and removal cycles.
Perhaps the EU should mandate that the connectors be epoxied down to the board so an accidental bump or jerk doesn't destroy the connector. Once the pads rip off, it's the only way to reattach the connector.
Be especially wary of docking stations that attempt to do an Apple and have a micro-USB jack stick straight up and be a mechanical attachment point for the docking station and that port is not generally expected to withstand much mechanical strain.
Heck, the EU should probably go with something similar to Lightning - where there's no plastic tongues inside the connector. I've seen them break off - on both the device and the cable ends. Making the jack a solid piece with external connections like lightning or those 2.5mm plugs is far more structurally sound than relying on flimly slivers of plastic.
Re:Sure, it's good today (Score:3, Informative)
micro USB is designed for a similar number of connect/ disconnect cycles to the original full size USB
It's actually about 10 times more, but don't let the pesky facts get in the way:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB#Durability [wikipedia.org]