Europe Plans Law To Give All Phones Same Charger (zdnet.com) 215
On Monday, members of the European Parliament (MEPs) discussed the idea of introducing "binding measures" that would require chargers that fit all mobile phones and portable electronic devices. The company that would be impacted most by this legislation would be Apple and its iPhone, which uses a Lightning cable while most new Android phones use USB-C ports for charging. ZDNet reports: The EU introduced the voluntary Radio Equipment Directive in 2014, but MEPs believe the effort fell short of the objectives. "The voluntary agreements between different industry players have not yielded the desired results," MEPs said. The proposed more stringent measures are aimed at reducing electronic waste, which is estimated to amount to 51,000 tons per year in old chargers.
Apple last year argued that regulations to standardize chargers for phones would "freeze innovation rather than encourage it" and it claimed the proposal was "bad for the environment and unnecessarily disruptive for customers." Noted Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reckons Apple has a different idea in store: getting rid of the Lightning port and not replacing it with USB-C, which is a standard that Apple doesn't have complete control over. According to the analyst, Apple plans to remove the Lightning connector on a flagship iPhone to be released in 2021. Instead it would rely on wireless charging.
Apple last year argued that regulations to standardize chargers for phones would "freeze innovation rather than encourage it" and it claimed the proposal was "bad for the environment and unnecessarily disruptive for customers." Noted Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reckons Apple has a different idea in store: getting rid of the Lightning port and not replacing it with USB-C, which is a standard that Apple doesn't have complete control over. According to the analyst, Apple plans to remove the Lightning connector on a flagship iPhone to be released in 2021. Instead it would rely on wireless charging.
Apple already promised to get on the micro-usb... (Score:3)
back in the day before they even had their phone out, apple joined up the announcement from the phone manufacturers to standardize on microusb.
they made those converters back then.
standardizing on usb-c would be fine I guess. but, the real thing is about what you put through said usb-c.
Re:Apple already promised to get on the micro-usb. (Score:4, Insightful)
Apple seem to have given up on the high priced dongle game. Airpods are selling well and I doubt many people bought those pricey Lightning to HDMI converters anyway. So USB, despite lacking the DRM features that Apple likes to implement, might be acceptable for them now.
They claim they want to be all-wireless eventually which would be nice. Who knows if they will support an open standard for things like video, but at least it will mean that wireless chargers become much more common.
Remove the connector??? (Score:3)
According to the analyst, Apple plans to remove the Lightning connector on a flagship iPhone to be released in 2021. Instead it would rely on wireless charging.
I love wireless charging and use it a lot: all the time at home, and all the time at work.
But for travel such as driving and flying, I charge with a cable. It's easy and relatively cheap for airlines to put usb sockets in their seats. I can't imagine any airline installing wireless chargers with adaptable, flight-safe cradles for every potential smartphone size out there.
Re:Remove the connector??? (Score:5, Informative)
Well, you'll just have to leave your phone in your pocket for the few hours in any one year that you spend in an airplane. Insufferable, I know.
Then entertain yourself with music from an "old school" device that is powered from alkaline cells, a book or magazine to read, deck of cards, a pen and pad to scribble with, or so many other ways to manage a long flight.
If you absolutely positively cannot do without music then there are still plenty of options for devices that run off common alkaline cells. I have an old "walkman" style CD player for such cases. It has an AM/FM radio (not useful in the plane but helpful in the airport or on a bus), and can play standard audio CDs as well as MP3 files burned to a CD-R. Power for it can be from AA cells or a car lighter adapter I was able to find for it. A quick internet search tells me similar devices sell for as low as $20, likely cheaper than any charger you could use on the plane for your phone.
Are there Android devices that run on alkaline cells for those that absolutely positively have to have their games, music, and such out in places where there's no place to plug in for a charge? I believe that there would be enough of a market for this that someone would make them.
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Hurts to disagree with open 2A fans, but in this case I still do: the number of people who can entertain themselves on a 12 hour long flight with the umpteenth sequel of a movie adapted after a superhero comic from the 70s made and diversified by the proud woke pedophiles of Weinstein's Hollywood is shrinking fast. The number of people who enjoy old-school entertainment or a book is shrinking, too. So some people would enjoy their other forms of entertainment, or at least their own movies that don't insult
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So charging in the plane would be a nice one to keep.
I was on a TAP Portugal flight recently which had the best idea I've ever seen on a plane: tablet holders in the back of each seat. This should be standard on flights, it was great.
I love reading books (Score:3, Insightful)
But even I'm done after about and hour and need to give my eyes a rest and want to do something else.
One thing I'd love in aircraft (and yes I know its not currently - or ever - possible) would be a panoramic viewing window. I could sit in front of that for hours just watching to world below go by rather than trying to squint through a small often dirty porthole that only lets me look down at most 60 degrees.
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One thing I'd love in aircraft (and yes I know its not currently - or ever - possible) would be a panoramic viewing window. I could sit in front of that for hours just watching to world below go by rather than trying to squint through a small often dirty porthole that only lets me look down at most 60 degrees.
On long flights, which is where this would be the most useful, there wouldn't really be much to see. You would be looking at clouds and maybe water if you're lucky. They are probably more likely to go the other way where there are no windows and instead the walls are screens that let you look outside.
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Then entertain yourself with music from an "old school" device that is powered from alkaline cells, a book or magazine to read, deck of cards, a pen and pad to scribble with, or so many other ways to manage a long flight.
If you absolutely positively cannot do without music then there are still plenty of options for devices that run off common alkaline cells. I have an old "walkman" style CD player for such cases. It has an AM/FM radio (not useful in the plane but helpful in the airport or on a bus), and can play standard audio CDs as well as MP3 files burned to a CD-R. Power for it can be from AA cells or a car lighter adapter I was able to find for it. A quick internet search tells me similar devices sell for as low as $20, likely cheaper than any charger you could use on the plane for your phone.
Are there Android devices that run on alkaline cells for those that absolutely positively have to have their games, music, and such out in places where there's no place to plug in for a charge? I believe that there would be enough of a market for this that someone would make them.
Some people travel light. I for one try to stuff as little extra baggage as possible when traveling. believe it or not, I'd rather buy a couple extra T-shirts from a thrift store while on vacation, rather than carry them around while traveling. So for me it's far easier to use my phone and carry a power bank with it, I bought an Anker PowerCore Speed 20000 PD which can charge my phone about 6 times over. I can charge the power bank using my ultraportable laptop charger, so one charger, two devices (phone+ul
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The walkman you mention is bulkier than the laptop charger + power bank + phone, so no point in using your solution.
I offered it as one option among many, and one I found that works for me. An option with a low initial cost, and can run for as long as there is a supply of AA cells.
If people really need to keep their phone running on a long trip then there's many options. I've seen USB chargers that run on alkaline cells. There's power packs that recharge from turning a crank. Solar power chargers. Some are more suited to situations other than a long trip on an airplane, obviously.
Keeping the phone in a pocket and fi
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This is all just more stuff to carry though. Weight matters to me, I'm getting older and have arthritis. My phone can play music and if they added an HDMI port I could watch whatever I like in relative comfort too.
The USB port in aircraft usually only provides 500mA so it's very slow for charging. A while back I got a 10Ah battery with 18W fast charging that keeps a few devices going on a long trip. It's about as much weight as a Walkman.
Re:Remove the connector??? (Score:5, Insightful)
Also, while I am not one of the, there are people whose job requires them to be on flights for hundreds of hours per year, sometimes more. For those people, I'm sure having access to in-flight charging is probably pretty important to them.
How about (Score:2)
Anyone know a reason why Apple can't use USB-C? (Score:3)
A USB-C cable has 12 wires [allaboutcircuits.com] (24 actually, but they're doubled symmetrically to make the cable work in either orientation, so 12 unique wires). 6 of these are available for data in alternate mode. A Lightning cable has 8 wires [wikipedia.org], only 4 of which are used for data. 6 > 4 so in theory at least Lightning should work over USB-C. Does anyone know of a technical reason why Apple can't just create a Lightning alternate spec for USB-C?
Re:Anyone know a reason why Apple can't use USB-C? (Score:5, Funny)
Courage.
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Anyone know a reason why Apple can't use USB-C?
Courage.
Nope, they do use it. iPad pros and MacBooks charge with USB-C. All chargers for iPhone and iPad use USB-C. I'd say it looks to me like they're not opposed to it.
Re:Anyone know a reason why Apple can't use USB-C? (Score:5, Interesting)
Anyone know a reason why Apple can't use USB-C?
Courage.
I'd say inertia is the reason.
The Lightning connector came to market in 2012, while the USB-C spec wasn't published until 2014 and it took at least a year before any products with the port came out. There is a lot of speculation on how much influence the Lightning connector had on USB-C. One theory is that Apple was lobbying the USB group to adopt the Lightning connector and instead they built something that copied many ideas, with Apple's blessing. One theory is that the two groups were ignorant of the other's efforts, the similarities are largely coincidental, but once Apple came out with the Lightning port the USB people had a fire lit under them to release something better real soon. The truth is likely somewhere in the middle.
Then why didn't Apple adopt the USB-C port on their iProducts once the USB-C was on the market? They had just dropped the 30-pin connector and switching so soon would have pissed of a lot of customers. Also, many features we expected from USB-C but existed in Lightning, and even the USB micro-B connector, did not exist until years later.
One example of USB-C being problematic for Apple to adopt was that there was no standard for audio out on the port, and people could argue that there is still not a standard. Video output on USB-C was standardized shortly after it's introduction in 2014 but MHL on micro-B was standardized in 2010. The micro-B connector had USB-On-The-Go, MHL A/V out, 12 watts of charging capability (and there were phone makers pushing this higher by violating the spec), and so adoption of the USB-C was very slow until USB-C reached feature parity with micro-B years after USB-C was first introduced.
I believe that people don't realize just how recently the USB-C was brought to market, and how limited the USB-C port was when it first came out. Or realize just how rocky this transition has been to get cell phones to use the port for chargers and other accessories. On laptops the adoption was far less rocky because there's room for many other ports on a laptop, adapters to USB-A are cheap and fully functional, and it offered high data transfer rates that were far more critical on a laptop than a phone.
There's rumors Apple will adopt the USB-C port on more iProducts soon. This would be far less a problem now because the USB-C port is more common, more functional, the 30-pin port is far enough in the past, and as good as the Lightning port was in 2012 it's leaving people wanting more in 2020.
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Anyone know a reason why Apple can't use USB-C?
Courage.
I'd say inertia is the reason.
Nope, Apple has a policy of being incompatible with anything else.
This is why they had custom ports with no benefits over standard USB ports for years.
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Nope, Apple has a policy of being incompatible with anything else.
This is why they had custom ports with no benefits over standard USB ports for years.
Apart from the iPod port, what custom ports are you referring to? FireWire wasn't an Apple only venture, and FAR outperformed USB at the time. I'd call that a benefit. Thunderbolt is an Intel thing that Apple adopted, again it far outperformed anything at the time. Also a benefit.
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Nope, Apple has a policy of being incompatible with anything else.
This is why they had custom ports with no benefits over standard USB ports for years.
You must be too young or too deluded to clearly remember the dark days of the terrible micro-B USB ports.
The Lightning port was a huge upgrade, and USB-C didn't yet exist. Just having the port "flip-able" was a big upgrade. USB, power, and audio, over a single connection, was a very nice upgrade from micro-B ports. There were some halfway successful attempts to provide similar functions on micro-B but none were universal.
The micro-B was "compatible" only to the point of getting 5 watt charging, maybe. I
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Apple iPhones from iPhone 8 upwards do support fast charging with their USB-C - to - Lightning cable [apple.com]. This supports USB Power Delivery, which is USB-IF's preferred standard and used also by Apple's laptop chargers.
There are some issues though. The cable might not be bundled with all iPhones, and the support is incompatible with Apple's Lightning Dock which doesn't have pass-through for the pins on both sides of the port.
USB Type C is a bit of a jungle, but USB-PD does not require Alternate Mode over Type C
Re:Anyone know a reason why Apple can't use USB-C? (Score:4, Interesting)
Does anyone know of a technical reason why Apple can't just create a Lightning alternate spec for USB-C?
I can't think of a technical reason why they could not create a Lightning alternate mode for USB-C. I can think of a reason why they would not bother to do so. This is because there are already enough alternate modes to make this unnecessary, adding a Lightning mode would only make things more confusing and more expensive.
What do people plug into Lightning ports? There's chargers, headphones/headsets, USB devices, A/V adapters (for things like HDMI, MHL, VGA, and DP), and I think that about covers it. USB-C does this already with the alternate modes already defined. A USB-C port in the DP video alternate mode can provide two high speed channels for DP video (up to 4K/60Hz), two high speed channels for 10Gbps USB 3.x (bandwidth that can be divided up as one wishes with an inexpensive hub or dock), a USB 2.0 channel (used for USB-PD negotiation and supporting legacy devices), and up to 100 watts of power transfer in either direction.
What would a Lightning alternate mode add that does not already exist in the DP alternate mode or Audio Accessory Mode? The DP alternate mode alone is very flexible in outputting an A/V signal along with power and USB. The Audio Accessory Mode covers every other use case for the Lightning port in that it provides power in or out, stereo audio out, and a microphone input.
If someone believes I am mistaken then please enlighten me.
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Like this? https://www.apple.com/shop/pro... [apple.com]
Re:Control and past advantages (Score:4, Insightful)
Apple reversed the construction allowing for a more robust Lightning connector on the cable. This allowed Apple to make the charging cables and connectors much more robust.
And that is the fail. They put the delicate parts on the expensive end (in the phone). ALWAYS put the weak part (the spring loaded fingers, in this case) on the lowest cost/easiest to replace part. Burying them into the phone is insanity.
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Re:Control and past advantages (Score:4, Informative)
All legacy audio ports are female. Thus they have the same problem as USB. The expensive part is in the device. This dates from the historic use of quarter inch plugs in phone systems. The best solution is to use genderless cables that are robustly designed. Sadly there are almost no examples in computing. The big token ring connector is the only one I can think of, and it may have been used on mainframes but was never used on PCs. For DC power there is the Anderson powerpole connector...
Re:Control and past advantages (Score:5, Interesting)
Adults want to know! (Score:5, Funny)
Re: Adults want to know! (Score:3)
No.
Your iBrator G4 needs mains voltage to operate, and thus requires proper grounding. ;)
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everyone knows the best sex toys run on diesel.
How did you know my knickname???
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A lot of them already charge via USB...
It worked last time (Score:2)
They made everyone go with a micro USB and it actually worked and carried over to the USA.
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The next day, some guy invents a new battery that can be charged faster at a different voltage with more copper connectors requiring a new cable and method of charging... but too bad for you, you don't deserve new technologies because you are a tech luddite who believes that lawyers should impose rules on technological advancements.
Lithium batteries don’t charge at 5V. That’s what switching regulators are for, they are compact and highly efficient - often as high as 95-97% in these applications. Batteries don’t need several wires, only two as it’s a power storage device and not data. Even for exotic types that need to be pre-heated you could still use two wires and build in a charge controller on the battery side. This stems from a fundamental way in which electricity works, there won’t ever be such a
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Essentially what matters is the max wattage. From that DC/DC converters can make almost any combination of electric potential and current that results in the same wattage.
So if they had a new battery that charges faster at a different voltage the DC/DC converter can deliver that voltage at a different current. The result might be that the battery can't be charged as fast as possible if there was a higher limit for wattage. But there's nothing that preven
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The next day, some guy invents a new battery that can be charged faster at a different voltage with more copper connectors requiring a new cable and method of charging..
Lol wut.
Basically no electronics in phones run at 5V. Certainly none runs at 20V. How on earth do you think USB and USB-PD actually work and why on earth do you think that changing the set-point of one of the internal buck converters will require a new *cable*?
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Is the EU insane? (Score:3, Insightful)
How can this be a bad thing Apple? (Score:2)
... and it[Apple] claimed the proposal was "bad for the environment and unnecessarily disruptive for customers.".
My charger is broken so I can simply just borrow yours or yours, or a mate's or my kid's, anyones. I can replace theirs with an off the shelf one from....ah now I see! You mean Apple can't charge me $75 for a new charger cable when I could just buy one for $2-$10 off eBay! Got it!
Actually I alrady by cheap clone cables off eBay already but as soon as you can use any charger cable on your phone lo
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This would mean people tossing their devices in the trash in a relatively short time as spare chargers for Lightning would be illegal to sell.
Do you really have to be this ill-informed on EVERY subject?
There are no plans for banning the sales of obsolete chargers. None.
Won't there be a long queue then? (Score:2)
I'd use 2 at least.
Won't work (Score:2)
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Apple will just ship a Lightning to USB-C charger with their products,
Which is something they already do.
causing more waste, not reducing it.
How?
E.U. right to repair law would do much more (Score:2)
Apple last year argued that regulations to standardize chargers for phones would "freeze innovation rather than encourage it" and it claimed the proposal was "bad for the environment and unnecessarily disruptive for customers."...
Apple also claimed that its phones are increasingly unrepairable because repairability would stifle innovation. Blackberry had wireless charging in 2015. Other android phones had it earlier and are more repairable than anything Apple has made since 2012. Apple's proprietary charging connectors don't even last as long as aftermarket Android connectors
Apple should stop pretending and admit it likes its uproprietary earphones, connectors, chargers and protocols because they're profitable planned obsolescence.
T
While they're at it (Score:3, Insightful)
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that would probably do more to fight electronic waste compared to the waste generated by chargers.
That will be a real pain (Score:5, Insightful)
That will be a real pain if you are in Denmark but the charger is in Italy.
And now we see why Apple is getting rid of port (Score:2)
This law sounds like a great reason to get rid of the port altogether and just use wireless charging, Already standard, boom they are following EU law.
Re:Go EU (Score:5, Insightful)
A lot of wasted electricity with wireless charging.
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Nearly as much as went into writing this comment.
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> A lot of wasted electricity with wireless charging.
Does this include the energy cost of port replacements*, cable replacement, the cost of earning the money to buy said replacements, etc.?
If I order three Anker cables over the life of my phone and have them shipped Prime, how does that factor in terms of energy, with shipping, manufacturing, packaging, etc.?
I honestly don't know, and could be convinced either way, but we need to ask the right questions.
* or even phone replacements by the uninformed.
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> A lot of wasted electricity with wireless charging.
Does this include the energy cost of port replacements*, cable replacement, the cost of earning the money to buy said replacements, etc.?
If I order three Anker cables over the life of my phone and have them shipped Prime, how does that factor in terms of energy, with shipping, manufacturing, packaging, etc.?
I honestly don't know, and could be convinced either way, but we need to ask the right questions.
* or even phone replacements by the uninformed.
On the surface, your question makes sense. But in practice, it is virtually impossible to quantify. Because now, what is the energy expenditure of putting half of a charging circuitry inside a phone? Is every non-wireless charging cable purchased to replace a non-functioning one? And on and on. I have 8 standard charging cables. My wife has 3 of them - two at home, and one in her car. I have 1 in the office, 1 in the car, 1 in the living room, and 1 in my computer bag as a spare.
And just like cables, wir
Re:Go EU (Score:5, Informative)
Yes, smartypants, standardizing on USB charging by the EU worked out very well. All chargers that I have since that law was passed that still work are in use.
Unlike the junk in my "will never use again chargers" bag, which has had no new additions since that law.
When a company is in the business of coming up with insignificant cosmetic changes to a technology just to keep you their prisoner and make you pay through the nose, an occasional legislative slap on the wrist (or a punch in the nose) works miracles.
Legislation would have banned USB-C, 2.4amp (Score:5, Insightful)
> All chargers that I have since that law was passed that still work are in use.
There is no such law. Micro USB wasn't legislated. If it had been done as a law, rather than voluntary agreement, fast charging and USB-C would be illegal.
The *voluntary* standard was micro USB at no more than 1.5 amps. Later, most manufacturers chose to move to 2.4 amps, and then some to higher amp (faster charging). Faster charging actually violates the standard, so it would be illegal, if the standard were a law.
Similarly, USB-C, which is better, would be illegal if such a law existed. Fortunately, it doesn't.
Re:Legislation would have banned USB-C, 2.4amp (Score:5, Insightful)
Since most people buy a new phone every 3 years or so, it makes sense to update the law to set a new standard every 3 years or so. All that has to happen is that the manufacturers have to agree on one new standard that they want to replace the previous one with. If there's no advantage to changing the previous standard, e.g. not faster or more efficient or more functionality, etc., then don't change it. Simple.
This would mean that a standard can only be replaced if all manufacturers agree that it's actually useful, and since all phones would have the same charging specifications, there'd be no incentive to treat it like a marketing ploy. We'd soon see how often the standards would actually *need* to change to accommodate innovations.
And yeah, Apple buyers may be a little bit peeved that they have to do one more thing the same way as everyone else. They'll get over it.
Things that make sense; things politicians do (Score:2, Insightful)
> Since most people buy a new phone every 3 years or so, it makes sense to update the law to set a new standard every 3 years or so.
That would make sense. It REALLY makes sense for the government to pass a budget every year. That's a much, much higher priority, but these are politicians we're talking about. They aren't so good at doing shit that makes sense.
The US federal standard mandated that MD5 be used to "secure" communications in any software even partially paid for with a government grant - 10
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that's why he suggested not mandating the government to decide what the standard should be, just that "a single standard must be used" and then leave it up to the manufacturers to decide what that is - right now USB-C, but in the future a special nw connector appears that does something fancy, all the manufacturers decide to adopt it as the standard, and it becomes the new one that they all use. All within the law.
that's the way laws should be made, not to control and decide for us, but to force us to co-op
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And yeah, Apple buyers may be a little bit peeved that they have to do one more thing the same way as everyone else. They'll get over it.
All Apple will do is put another dongle in the package for you to lose and tack on an extra €50 onto the price for the privilege. Not that this worries me, I'll never buy an overpriced Apple device and the USB-C cord I received with a phone bought back in 2015 still works with the one I bought last year.
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The law is planed to mandate the USB-C connector on the device.
Re:Legislation would have banned USB-C, 2.4amp (Score:4, Informative)
Yes, there is a law. You are mixing up the phone side with the charger side. ...
Chargers need to be USB since about 10 years. Now we are talking about the phone side
2009-2011 bet $100 you can't find that "law" (Score:2)
The standard came out in one language December 2010, but wasn't translated until 2011. Two years prior, in 2009, their had been discussion about maybe having a law.
I bet $100 you can't find this law that you insist exists, and is of course very popular. You can, however, find the IEC definition EN 62684:2010 "Interoperability specifications of common EPS for use with data-enabled mobile telephones". IEC is the organization that makes definitions for all sorts of plugs and sockets, best known for the thr
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USB Power Delivery can already provide up to 100 Watts. That will (theoretically if the battery didn't explode) charge your phone in under 10 minutes. I think that'd be fast enough for the foreseeable future if we standardized on that.
Qualcomm QC stuff is pretty much pointless at this point so I don't see any reason not to standardize on PD, other than that it's already a bit late and pointless since it's taking over. That said it's always funny to see everyone freak out about the mere possibility of a stan
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The voluntary standard was to put a USB-A socket on every charger. Then you can use whatever cable your phone needs - USB C, Micro USB or Lightning.
As such all my old chargers since back when I had a Nokia now have a USB A port and still work fine... Except for my Pixel one which has USB C for Power Delivery at 18W.
If and when this law comes in it won't specify a specific plug. It will specify that a European standards body determines what the standard is and keeps updating it as necessary. Likely it would
Re:Legislation would have banned USB-C, 2.4amp (Score:4, Informative)
Faster charging actually violates the standard, so it would be illegal, if the standard were a law.
Not true. You can still plug in to a 5V 1.5A charger and it works. The law mandates how a device must charge, it does not preclude you from additional alternatives.
Re:Legislation would have banned USB-C, 2.4amp (Score:4, Insightful)
> All chargers that I have since that law was passed that still work are in use.
There is no such law. Micro USB wasn't legislated. If it had been done as a law, rather than voluntary agreement, fast charging and USB-C would be illegal.
The *voluntary* standard was micro USB at no more than 1.5 amps. Later, most manufacturers chose to move to 2.4 amps, and then some to higher amp (faster charging). Faster charging actually violates the standard, so it would be illegal, if the standard were a law.
Similarly, USB-C, which is better, would be illegal if such a law existed. Fortunately, it doesn't.
This argument would suggest that the EU's decision to mandate GSM was also a mistake, since it would freeze technology. But what actually happened was that manufacturers agreed to update the GSM standard (many, many times) and everyone moved forward -- but you can easily use any phone with any provider in Europe by just switching SIMs.
I'm not a fan of heavy regulation, but setting standards to prevent lock-in seems to be one sort that works out quite well.
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People gripe about the EC, but the MoU that they got phone makers to provide really did a lot of good. Before that, every phone had its own different charger plug. Even worse, is that two charger ports that physically looked the same had different voltages so mixing/matching might cause something to fry, and there were no voltages marked on the phones, nor polarities. I've seen more than one phone use Apple's 30 pin charging port style... but each pin was wired up differently, so plugging a phone into th
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Sure, the physical connector for USB-C is better but given USB-IF's terrible management of the standard I'm not sure if USB-C as a whole is better. We have a standard connector that represents multiple usb versions with different transfer rates and even different cabling requirements. Its a confusing mess of terrible names.
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but if we pass a law now mandating USB-C the day will come when updating to even faster charging will be in violation of the law... this is a tricky one to write properly and getting companies to agree on a standard (or the government to update its laws) at the pace of technology is never an easy thing
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And maybe they shouldn't, because we now have cheap chinese crap chargers where the only thing protecting you from the mains is a thin layer of lacquer. All it's done is lead to proper chargers being fairly pricey, and cheap chargers being lethal deathtraps that electrocute people left and right.
The cheap chargers that are popular are way too scary to use.
Perhaps the first thing the EU can legislate is banning the unsafe e-waste chargers first. Granted we'd lose all t
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Today every charger works on everything.
Which is just as well since they are using it as an excuse to not provide chargers in the box. "Just use any of the hundreds of USB chargers you have lying around," say the reviewers. I have 2. Because the last 3 things I bought don't give you one. And of those 2 only 1 is any good because the charging current which was fine at the time is too low to be useful now. Compatible but useless isn't practically different from incompatible.
I'll give you though that if you're the type to lose or break chargers, bei
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Which is just as well since they are using it as an excuse to not provide chargers in the box.
You say this like it's a bad thing.
"Just use any of the hundreds of USB chargers you have lying around," say the reviewers.
Which is about right.
After years of the USB port being the standard I have at least five USB chargers, each rated at just 5 watts, that I don't use. I don't want 5 watt chargers, not since I found out how much faster my devices charge at 12 watts, or 18 watts. I realized half of my outlets at my desk were occupied with USB chargers, and I kind of needed those 120 VAC outlets for other stuff. So I picked up a couple power strips with a four port USB charger built into it
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How does the EU commision (anti democratic unelected beaurocrats that they are)
The cabinet of your country is not elected either, but appointed by the prime minister, president or chancelor.
The members of the EU commision are appointed by the EU governments, which are elected - as far as I know.
Or do think people wake up in the morning and are an EU commissionar by a random gods will? Volltrottel!
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Re: Legislation would have banned USB-C, 2.4amp (Score:5, Informative)
>EU commision (anti democratic unelected beaurocrats that they are)
They are appointed by the democratically elected member state government and the democratically elected EU parliament.
Not being directly elected doesn't mean they are anti-democratic at all.
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anti democratic unelected beaurocrats that they are
So like every person in every government except for the president and senators?
Re:Go EU (Score:4, Insightful)
Actually, a lot of legislated technical standardization has worked out pretty well: GSM, DVB, 230V.
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
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A well designed standard has the effect of being invisible to most users. Things just work, and no one thinks about them being standardized to work smoothly in the first place. Only when things go wrong, someone notices the presence of standards, and then the "standards are evil, especially when mandated by the government"
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Because legislating technical solutions has worked out so well in the past.
It really has. Look at mobile phones today compared to the clusterfuck of charging solutions in the past. You were going for facetious sarcasm, but you hit deadpan reality, legislation is the solution when companies stand to gain from deliberately not standardising.
2017 I got a phone. WTF does Samsung still use a proprietary fast charging method when they could also support USB PD.
Re: Go EU (Score:2)
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I could get into the concepts of eddy current losses, magnetic reluctance etc
Then do it, and make a fool out of your self.
You wrote:
tremendously inefficient
I would say, 3% - 5% does not reward the label "tremendously".
Idiot ...
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Wireless charging is around 95% effective.
If you know otherwise, you live in a different universe or have cheap devices.
The rest of your post is incomprehensible, most europeans are atheists. While I actually own a Quoran, it is written by similar idiots like the King James bible, it is just gibberish (I mean the german translation of course).
Perhaps you realize me reading the Quoran or not, being European or not, being Chinese or not: has nothing to do with the efficiency of electromagnetic power transfer
Re:Great! 14 different wireless chargers on my des (Score:4, Insightful)
Yes, it is spot on, with one small twist - it is not about government standards, but about the so-called "industry standards", that is, bullshit a company comes up with to keep you a "happy customer" via the magic of lock-in. It simply does not apply in this case.
Specifically, the comic applies to the charger situation before the EU legislated that a USB interface is a requirement. Back then every damned phone had their own charger and connector. Today all chargers I use are standardized on USB and reusing them is easy.
Re: YES do IT ! (Score:3, Insightful)
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No, we know it's because of the dirty foreigners.
Re: Make it wireless charging standard or usb-C (Score:5, Insightful)
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Why, we encorage pissed energy away with pointless Candy Crush and other apps.
wireless charging isn't so bad, not even close when it comes to looking at howmuch enbergy is wasted running massive datacentres that offload all the processing so some company can monetise them because its in the cloud rather than on the device.
Dumb shit doesn't justify more dumb shit. (Score:3)
You're the personification of a slippery slope. ;)
Or of a flopping molliusc who just folds m at the slightest pressure and joins in.
If anything, the extence of such dumb shit means we must make an even greater effort to not allow even more such shit through.
Wireless charging is insanely stupid bullshit anyway.
The charger still has a cable. And you still have to carry the charger around.
Except not instead of a small wall wart, you have a large plate-shaped object that doesnâ(TM)t even fit into a pocket.
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My phone has a wireless charger and a USB port. I carry an extra cable just in case and have wireless docks that I leave at home and in the office. I almost never use my emergency USB charger or cable since my phone has a decent battery.
The main reason I prefer it, is that the USB port on my phone is the part that wears out the most. If not for that port wearing out, my phones would last at least two years longer.
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If you think THAT is bad, let me tell you about these things called radio stations!
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You may not need to shut the door after you Brexit, there might be more coming...
Even Marine LePenn of the Front Nationale backed down from the idea of Frexit after seeing quite how well it's going for us. Your fantasy of a broken Europe (which is a pretty weird fantasy when you think about it) is not going to come to pass.
And you know most voters aren't pseudo-libertarian tech nerds who judge their personal value baed on the number of obscure cables they own. Just about everyone who actually votes is in f
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they are the sole supplier on Lightning cables,
Uhh what? All sorts of manufacturers from monoprice to the shitty chinesium distributors make their own Lightning cables.
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And if you plug one of those cables into an iPhone it will say "unsupported accessory", even though it works from a technical level. If the manufacturer doesn't pay the Apple tax then Apple doesn't let their cable work. I bought some lightning headphone adapters that were much more robust than the terrible adapter from Apple, but when plugged in they would only play music for 30 seconds before the phone shut them down. There's no technical reason for this, just Apple forcing you to buy accessories from t
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Huh? Yeah that was the downfall of magsafe power supplies, but the modern laptop supplies are just usb-c with a replaceable cable, and iDevice supplies have been USB since they moved away from FireWire.