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EU: Call to introduce common charger for all mobile phones

europarl.europa.eu

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Re: EU: Call to introduce common charger for all mobile phones

#111

Post by glogla »

anoncake wrote: post #91
djohnston wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More terrible than needing a converter for every pair of wired headphones, and a separate converter for the highly advanced case of wanting to charge my phone while listening to music?

Yes. There are valid reasons for not including a headphone jack whereas there are none for having two incompatible connector types (USB/Lightning) for the same purposes. It would make more sense to encourage manufacturers to make variants of their headphones with a USB plug (AFAIK USB-C supports analog audio). Mandating that all phones must have a headphone jack would make sense if manufacturers omitted it for antico…

> Mandating that all phones must have a headphone jack would make sense if manufacturers omitted it for anticompetetive or other nefarious reasons, knowingly acting against the interests of their customers.

I guess that's a matter of opinion, because I am convinced that this is exactly what happened. Apple sells dongles for money and also makes money on Lightning licensing.

Re: EU: Call to introduce common charger for all mobile phones

#112

Post by danaris »

gmueckl wrote: post #102
danaris wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The iPad is already moving to USB-C; it's very likely that Apple was already planning to move to USB-C for iPhone chargers within the next year or so (whether because they foresaw a change like this coming, because they felt it was the right thing to do, or just because they, too, want to reduce the number of different connections they have to deal with on the manufacturing side). There are problems with USB-C, howev…

This potential for frying devices is a good indication that USB has become far too complex in the latest iteration. Maybe there is a net gain in splitting power and signaling into two separate connectors? Like, move power supply to a separate USB-A like port. USB-A has larger contact pads, anyway. The data lines on the port could then be used to negotiate a power profile.

I don't think this is a technical problem so much as it is a political one, on two levels: First, that the spec for USB-C was allowed to have so many variations that it's very hard to know what you're going to get if you plug a connector in (is it USB 3.1? 2.0? Does it support power delivery? At what amperage? Is it actually Thunderbolt 3? etc.), and second, that a fair number of just totally out-of-spec—and thus, essentially counterfeit—products are being (or at least have been) sold on Amazon and similar places for some time.

Re: EU: Call to introduce common charger for all mobile phones

#114

Post by wang_li »

ken wrote: post #95
fierarul wrote: post #25

Why stop at mobile phones? Is there a reason laptops need so many different connectors? I am willing to bet many random connectors are just planned obsolescence or a secondary revenue stream for producers. Also, let's take this further. Any reason laptop displays can't internally have a rather standardised connector? We are throwing away perfectly good displays on broken laptops. What if I could buy a $20 adaptor and…

Why stop at computers? Dewalt, Milwaukee, Makita, and every other power tool uses its own proprietary battery connector. Why stop at DC power? Last I checked, Germany, France, England, Italy, and many of the smaller countries all had their own AC power connectors. Why stop at hardware? iMessage, Hangouts, Messenger, Slack, and all the rest use their own proprietary interfaces. I still can't even save "a spreadsheet"…

> iMessage, Hangouts, Messenger, Slack, and all the rest use their own proprietary interfaces.

For a certain core level of functionality, there should be regulations and laws in place that these apps all support a public and open protocol. They can have their own, but I should be able to use imessage to send an IM to skype on the desktop. This is no different than requiring standard signalling on the wires during the era of landlines.

> I still can't even save "a spreadsheet" in one program and reliably open it in another.

This becomes more difficult when a spreadsheet could be the latest version of excel v. a hobby project on github. Though I expect the vast majority of spreadsheet applications will export a csv.

Re: EU: Call to introduce common charger for all mobile phones

#115

Post by notatoad »

llampx wrote: post #94
gmueckl wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The goal should be to have chargers sold separately. Packaging chargers with the devices does nothing to reduce electronics waste.

That's an anti-consumer move guaranteed to add $20-50 to any phone purchase.

i've bought two new kindles since amazon stopped shipping a USB Charger with every new kindle, and in that same time period i have not bought any new USB Chargers.

you don't need a new charger with every device.

Re: EU: Call to introduce common charger for all mobile phones

#117

Post by JoeAltmaier »

wang_li wrote: post #114
ken wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why stop at computers? Dewalt, Milwaukee, Makita, and every other power tool uses its own proprietary battery connector. Why stop at DC power? Last I checked, Germany, France, England, Italy, and many of the smaller countries all had their own AC power connectors. Why stop at hardware? iMessage, Hangouts, Messenger, Slack, and all the rest use their own proprietary interfaces. I still can't even save "a spreadsheet"…

> iMessage, Hangouts, Messenger, Slack, and all the rest use their own proprietary interfaces. For a certain core level of functionality, there should be regulations and laws in place that these apps all support a public and open protocol. They can have their own, but I should be able to use imessage to send an IM to skype on the desktop. This is no different than requiring standard signalling on the wires during the…

I spent 8 years in a 'startup' trying to make collaboration into a service. Couldn't get any traction. The idea of always-on collaboration services was hard for folks. They would launch the service, have a 1-hour meeting, and kill the service. With no expectation of available clients it was hard to market APIs to talk with non-existant clients. Sigh.

Re: EU: Call to introduce common charger for all mobile phones

#119

Post by notatoad »

rooam-dev wrote: post #63

What about calling to stop the planned obsolescence? Things like replaceable batteries, longer support (security patches and parts) should be a good start.

A standard charging port is a clear and achievable milestone.

defeating planned obsolescence is a vague and unacheivable goal, and any regulations that directly address it are more likely to stifle innovation and be circumvented by big companies than they are to actually help.

Re: EU: Call to introduce common charger for all mobile phones

#120

Post by rb808 »

> A common charger should fit all mobile phones, tablets, e-book readers and other portable devices, MEPs will insist.

The more important part is that those devices shouldn't ship with their own charger. You should have one already, or you should be able to buy a good quality efficient one.

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