291–300 of 751 posts
The article focuses on forcing USB-C ports (popular), but the proposal also unbundles chargers from products like cell phones (unpopular). Apple and several other vendors already unbundled chargers from their boxes with mixed reception. Will be interesting to see how this proposal is received when people realize it means they’ll be purchasing chargers separately.
The article focuses on forcing USB-C ports (popular), but the proposal also unbundles chargers from products like cell phones (unpopular). Apple and several other vendors already unbundled chargers from their boxes with mixed reception. Will be interesting to see how this proposal is received when people realize it means they’ll be purchasing chargers separately.
Clearly these lawmakers don't understand that USBC cables are not readily interchangeable from one device to another. I don't even blame them, the USB foundation made the mother of all marketing blunders with this standard.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The valuable part of the charger and the cable is not actually plastic. The point is that replaced chargers account for ~ 1_000_000 kg of e-waste per year. Cable is 30% copper, 24% stainless steel, 16% other non-plastic materials. EPS is 13% copper and copper alloys, 7% aluminium, 6% steel, 37% other non-plastic components. According to EU studies, 31% of the EPS and cables are incorrectly disposed. https://op.europa…
Entirely agree with your point. However, i would point out that there's many other sources of waste that can be easily avoided: - food waste and related food wrapping waste - planned obsolescence (TVs, cars, washing machines, and just about every product out there) - car-oriented architecture in the cities, where public transportation is an afterthought - energy waste due to personal infrastructure/tooling (cooking/w…
Maybe I'm jaded by my American government, but I have zero faith in the ability of a group of politicians to stay up to date with technical standards and keep legislation like this up to date.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
For charging? They pretty much are. For everything else? Maybe with somewhat reduced speed/features but good enough.
Do they all support the high voltage modes? USB PD goes up to 20V/5A (100W). https://www.cui.com/blog/usb-type-c-pd-and-pps#usb-power-del...
edit: Ok looking at the other reply with the link to the google engineers stuff some have messed up the A5 (configuration channel) pin and thus the negotiation for giving more power fails and just defaults to normal levels that are safe for any device.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> What's Apple reasoning for not abandoning Lightning for USB-C on their phones? I can think of 3 reasons: 1. A lightning port is slightly smaller than USB-c, so it enable Apple to keep their phone slimmer than the competition in theory. 2. Apple loves to be in control of everything. With lightning, they could make a switch to a "lightning 2.O" cable / port whenever they so pleased. With USB-C they would be restricte…
You also don't have the issue of an errant foot or chair wheel squishing the connector flat and ruining it.
They need to mandate the presence of a physical cable, otherwise Apple will drop the port and move to wireless charging. Wired cable remains important for high-quality audio and secure data transfers. Both WiFi and Bluetooth have a long and storied history of vulnerabilities. While they are at it, can we please have a dedicated physical cable port for audio? It doesn't have to be TRRS 3.5mm, but it must be possible t…
Since the aim is to reduce e-waste, I suppose going all-in with wireless charging wouldn't be a problem (or even preferable) in the eyes of the law.
From the announcement https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_21_... (linked in article) > Today, the Commission is proposing: > A harmonised charging port for electronic devices: USB-C will be the common port. > Harmonised fast charging technology will help prevent that different producers unjustifiably limit the charging speed and will help to ensure that charging speed is the same when using any c…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Clearly these lawmakers don't understand that USBC cables are not readily interchangeable from one device to another. I don't even blame them, the USB foundation made the mother of all marketing blunders with this standard.
Just charged my phone with my laptops Usb-C charger, without any issue. Apart from special features like fast-charge, I'd say compatibility is very good.
Does anyone feel it is a little strange to have a government entity mandating a physical interconnect? I guess it has worked out well enough for receptacles. But on a phone it acts as a data connection as well. I guess I just wonder if in 20 years will every device still have a USB-C port on it in some odd location? No one is using it anymore, but it is still mandatory on everything.