Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

EU plans to force OEMs to use a common charger for all phones

xda-developers.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

441–450 of 751 posts

Re: EU plans to force OEMs to use a common charger for all phones

#441

Post by Robotbeat »

toyg wrote: post #436
Robotbeat wrote: post #417

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Man, lightning is FAR better than the fragile micro-USB. I’ve had to repair microUSB ports multiple times.

From the perspective of a free and non-monopolistic market, anything from the USB consortium is massively better than an expensive proprietary standard controlled by a single vendor. Technical superiority is not the point.

I would say it’s easily possible to pick a standard that is so subpar compared to a proprietary one that it’s worse for the consumer.

A solution would be to just require any port used to be freely available and open. Require Apple to open the lightning standard and make IP related to it unenforceable.

Re: EU plans to force OEMs to use a common charger for all phones

#442

Post by JumpCrisscross »

Someone1234 wrote: post #415
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #395

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does this mean the iPhone going powerless (EDIT: portless) would render the rule moot?

> going powerless A device that uses no power, like a rock, is clearly beyond the scope of this law ("electronic devices").

The fact sheet speaks to “harmonising charging ports” and a “common port”. That leaves ambiguity between (a) all electronic devices requiring a USB-C port and (b) all ports on electronic devices requiring to be USB-C.

[1] https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_21_...

Re: EU plans to force OEMs to use a common charger for all phones

#443

Post by dhosek »

0_____0 wrote: post #288
walterbell wrote: post #278

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…

I wonder what % of phone users have actually used a cable to move data to or from their phone in the last couple of years. I have, but I'm a weird nerd who likes to plug in removable storage once every 6 months or so.

I do on a daily basis, but I'm a bit of an oddity in that I've strenuously avoided the shift to streaming music. I don't want all the music. To me that's the same as having none of the music. Heck, I don't even want all of my music. I have a set of smart playlists that keep my phone loaded with a mix of less played and less-recently played songs that give me a set of music that changes every day (although it would take me a few weeks of continuous listening to listen to everything on my phone as it is). I've found wifi sync to be flakey enough that I do my daily sync with a cable.

Re: EU plans to force OEMs to use a common charger for all phones

#444

Post by moviuro »

gruez wrote: post #428
GordonS wrote: post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, I don't. Here the EU is creating legislation that forces manufacturers to increase interoperability, be more consumer-friendly, and more climate friendly. This all seems within the remit of governments to me. > 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. Or course not, it's not like…

>Or course not, it's not like legislation is set in stone and will never change. How's that going with the EU cookie legislation?

That's a symptom of:

* Stupid webmasters (you don't need that cookie popup for my session cookie)

* Greedy advertisers (that track me) and greedy web publishers that insist on including such privacy-violating scripts and third-parties on their sites

* Sheep user (that have become so accustomed to cookie popups they now just keep pressing the most colorful button)

Long live uBlock origin and its "annoyances" filters.

Re: EU plans to force OEMs to use a common charger for all phones

#445

Post by [deleted] »

ravenstine wrote: post #321
ubercow13 wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The government already mandates the electricity interconnect one step back at the wall socket. This is just extending that to modern devices.

I guess it depends on how far you want it to go. If electric sockets aren't standard then that creates bottlenecks in infrastructure interchangeability. To me, I don't see why government has any business in USB. Bluetooth maybe since it takes up the air. But USB? It's bad enough that wall sockets haven't improved. Will we be stuck with USB-C long after its natural EOL?

[deleted]

Re: EU plans to force OEMs to use a common charger for all phones

#446

Post by lol768 »

gruez wrote: post #428
GordonS wrote: post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, I don't. Here the EU is creating legislation that forces manufacturers to increase interoperability, be more consumer-friendly, and more climate friendly. This all seems within the remit of governments to me. > 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. Or course not, it's not like…

>Or course not, it's not like legislation is set in stone and will never change. How's that going with the EU cookie legislation?

> How's that going with the EU cookie legislation?

You mean the twice-amended ePrivacy directive?

I think it's going pretty well, noyb have achieved some fantastic results by pursuing complaints in accordance with the directive: https://noyb.eu/en/noyb-aims-end-cookie-banner-terror-and-is... and https://noyb.eu/en/noyb-files-422-formal-gdpr-complaints-ner...

Re: EU plans to force OEMs to use a common charger for all phones

#447

Post by bobbylarrybobby »

krzyk wrote: post #344
hughrr wrote: post #316

Can they please mandate replaceable USB-C sockets then because I see a shit load more broken ones than I do lightning connectors. And usually the infernal USB-C things are soldered into the logic board of whatever resulting in damage to that too. Also USB-C sockets are impossible to replace without very specialist tooling. Really not a big fan of this unless there are some additional constraints on it.

I have never seen broken USB-C. But I have already replaced my wifes lightning cable twice (dirt goes on it and it stopps working).

Replacing a broken cable is far superior to replacing a broken port. In fact I think lightning is designed so that the cable takes the bulk of any stress on the connection.

Re: EU plans to force OEMs to use a common charger for all phones

#448

Post by duped »

ubercow13 wrote: post #300
sidewndr46 wrote: post #287

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.

The government already mandates the electricity interconnect one step back at the wall socket. This is just extending that to modern devices.

Government doesn't regulate the other side of that interconnect. There are dozens of different DC power connectors that go into a two or three prong wall outlet.

And at least in the US I believe the regulations are local building codes

Re: EU plans to force OEMs to use a common charger for all phones

#449

Post by messe »

jhoechtl wrote: post #362
ubercow13 wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The government already mandates the electricity interconnect one step back at the wall socket. This is just extending that to modern devices.

Just to be clear, power sockets are not standardized in the EU. Italy has different ones (Type L), France as well (Type E), and the UK too (but they are no longer ... you know) ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mains_electricity_by_country

> and the UK too (but they are no longer ... you know) ...

We have the same sockets in Ireland, so the EU still has the same number of different standards.

Re: EU plans to force OEMs to use a common charger for all phones

#450

Post by cs702 »

The big deal about is not so much the choice of USB-C, but the fact that manufacturers will be required to have at least one compatible charging/communication connector. Quoting from the OP:

> Manufacturers will also be forced to make their fast-charging standards interoperable, and to provide information to customers about what charging standards their device supports. Under the proposal, customers will be able to buy new devices without an included charger.

Vendors would continue to have the option of adding proprietary connectors, so long as consumers also have the option to use a standard connector. Consumers would have more choice. That sounds like a great idea to me.

Post reply on HN