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EU lawmakers snub Apple's pleas, vote to push for charging cable standard

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Re: EU lawmakers snub Apple's pleas, vote to push for charging cable standard

#301

Post by londons_explore »

culturestate wrote: post #274
samatman wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, not that it's relevant to the topic at hand, but if they do so, I'm leaving the ecosystem. Not being able to charge from a backpack or a car is a non-starter for me. I go weeks without plugging my phone into the wall, but when I need it, I really need it.

> Not being able to charge from a backpack or a car is a non-starter for me. In this hypothetical future you'd have to replace the power bank and charging cables that you currently own, but you'll be able to achieve both of those goals just fine. You can already buy power banks[1] with built-in charging coils, and I imagine some enterprising company will be along with a svelte USB-to-Qi-coil cable that suctions onto…

So far, efficiency is kinda low for use with portable battery packs.

You'd need to carry around a pack twice the size.

Re: EU lawmakers snub Apple's pleas, vote to push for charging cable standard

#302

Post by thomasahle »

defnotashton2 wrote: post #284
wyattpeak wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think Apple genuinely believe that they can provide a better product, and I believe they can too. I just don't care. The inability to borrow cables or swap them between devices in the past was a not insignificant hassle. Keeping boxes of cables, not being able to borrow a friend's charger when visiting, not being able to replace cables except by ordering a new one from the manufacturer half a world away. Constant m…

I don't understand how you can think this is needed in the slightest unless you literally can't make a decision yourself. I'm sorry but you can buy a USB cable or adapter to charge any phone in the world at any gas station, or corner convince store. This just simply isn't a problem, it's not a quality of life issue. It's just not. Buy cables with breakout mini, c, and tbunderbolt for 5$. Solved. This type of regulati…

> you can buy a USB cable or adapter to charge any phone in the world at any gas station, or corner convince store.

And that's exactly because of the first round of EU standardisation. The gas station now has to stock only USB and Apple.

If we still had different cables for every single brand of phone, there's no way you'd be able to get them all at most, if at any, gas stations.

I recently had to get a new USB-c to minijack cable. I had to go through four stores, each stocking just lightning to minijack cables, before I found one I could buy. If Apple changed to USB-C that wouldn't have happened.

Re: EU lawmakers snub Apple's pleas, vote to push for charging cable standard

#303

Post by Lio »

scarface74 wrote: post #225
markdown wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. Because it would be better for the environment.

Seeing that Apple is always bragging about their 90%+ retention rate, not many people are switching from iOS devices and throwing away cables. But is “think about the environment” the new “think about the children” and “terrorism” war cry for more regulation and big government?

I don’t buy iPhones for the cables.

I don’t like the needlessly proprietary cable and I actually put that on the list of reasons not to upgrade to a newer iPhone.

When I look at switching to Android I weigh the crappy Apple cable against the loss of privacy of moving to Android.

The iPhone wins. Just.

Re: EU lawmakers snub Apple's pleas, vote to push for charging cable standard

#304

Post by seszett »

defnotashton2 wrote: post #284
wyattpeak wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think Apple genuinely believe that they can provide a better product, and I believe they can too. I just don't care. The inability to borrow cables or swap them between devices in the past was a not insignificant hassle. Keeping boxes of cables, not being able to borrow a friend's charger when visiting, not being able to replace cables except by ordering a new one from the manufacturer half a world away. Constant m…

I don't understand how you can think this is needed in the slightest unless you literally can't make a decision yourself. I'm sorry but you can buy a USB cable or adapter to charge any phone in the world at any gas station, or corner convince store. This just simply isn't a problem, it's not a quality of life issue. It's just not. Buy cables with breakout mini, c, and tbunderbolt for 5$. Solved. This type of regulati…

I'm not sure you understand how the situation was before manufacturers standardised on micro USB.

Back then, you usually had zero chance of finding a compatible cable with your phone unless your went to a specialized store. Different models by the same manufacturer had different cables, even different versions of the same model often had different cables as well.

Re: EU lawmakers snub Apple's pleas, vote to push for charging cable standard

#305

Post by thomasahle »

scarface74 wrote: post #191
alt_f4 wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not quite an apt comparison because the vast majority of people already own USB-C chargers and accessories, whereas lightning was a brand new thing. Also if Apple were that bothered by complaining, it would not have taken them 5 years and 3+ years of service programs to replace their laptops' butterfly keyboards with regular scissors switch keyboards.

The vast majority have USB C cables? Why would I own any USB C chargers as an iPhone user? Not even most Android phones support USB C.

> Why would I own any USB C chargers as an iPhone user?

Maybe you own a USB-C laptop or tablet? Maybe even from the same company?

Re: EU lawmakers snub Apple's pleas, vote to push for charging cable standard

#306

Post by dijit »

defnotashton2 wrote: post #284
wyattpeak wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think Apple genuinely believe that they can provide a better product, and I believe they can too. I just don't care. The inability to borrow cables or swap them between devices in the past was a not insignificant hassle. Keeping boxes of cables, not being able to borrow a friend's charger when visiting, not being able to replace cables except by ordering a new one from the manufacturer half a world away. Constant m…

I don't understand how you can think this is needed in the slightest unless you literally can't make a decision yourself. I'm sorry but you can buy a USB cable or adapter to charge any phone in the world at any gas station, or corner convince store. This just simply isn't a problem, it's not a quality of life issue. It's just not. Buy cables with breakout mini, c, and tbunderbolt for 5$. Solved. This type of regulati…

I don’t mean to imply that you’re young, but to say what you just said implies that you didn’t live the life of mobile phones pre-2004 (when the EU charging directive came in).

Not only was every phone manufacturer having their own charger, often they would have different charging ports between models or product categories within the same brand!

The landscape you’re describing now exists precisely because of this directive.

And manufacturers can evolve to new chargers (like USB-C instead of micro-b, we saw this happen) it’s just that manufacturers have to agree amongst themselves.

Re: EU lawmakers snub Apple's pleas, vote to push for charging cable standard

#307

Post by josteink »

jonplackett wrote: post #279

I thought all these EU tech regulations might do some good But now when I arrive at any website I have to accept cookie policy, then I have to accept that they will invade my privacy and log my data (or waste half an hour un-checking boxes) and only then can I get down to the business of not signing up to their newsletter and not downloading their app. Maybe this is simpler but tech companies seem to find loopholes f…

> But now when I arrive at any website I have to accept cookie policy, then I have to accept that they will invade my privacy and log my data (or waste half an hour un-checking boxes)

If you have to uncheck the boxes, the site is not GDPR compliant.

GDPR says that consent have to be given explicitly, not implicitly with an explicit opt-out option.

Thus the EU has massively reduced online tracking, and that is great.

Re: EU lawmakers snub Apple's pleas, vote to push for charging cable standard

#308

Post by tokamak-teapot »

monocasa wrote: post #109
GeekyBear wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't need anything but the cable that came with your phone.

Whereas the entire point of the regulation is to not need the cord that came with your phone, but to use anyone's. They got tired of all the proprietary connectors back in the feature phone days.

I thought it was to reduce materials waste from making and disposing of the chargers themselves.

Re: EU lawmakers snub Apple's pleas, vote to push for charging cable standard

#309

Post by tokamak-teapot »

DangitBobby wrote: post #263
GeekyBear wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't need anything but the cable that came with your phone.

Aren't these cables notorious for fraying and breaking? https://frayedlightningcables.tumblr.com/ Anecdotally, my friends' cables always seem to be frayed. I personally have not owned an apple phone in many years, but I recently bought an apple brand usb-c to 3.5mm adapter at an airport because that's all they had and I forgot mine at home... It stopped working after about a month of very gentle use. It's in perfect…

I have about 6 lightning cables and only one has started to lose its rubber sheathing after years of abuse. We all have anecdata.
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