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

xda-developers.com

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

#451

Post by sudosysgen »

tzs wrote: post #437
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…

Are dongles for audio actually noticeably more power-hungry than a wired connection? The device is still a digital audio device, requiring a DAC for output and an ADC for input to connect to your analog headphones and microphone. I don't see why putting the DAC and/or ADC in a dongle would use more power than putting them in the device. I'd argue that the DAC and/or ADC are best placed as close to the headphones and…

In practice a good phone amp and DAC such as those in the LG V series is the best audio quality you can get without massive boondoggles.

A good amp/DAC combo in the phone is much cheaper than an external amp/DAC of similar quality.

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

#452

Post by dmitriid »

toyg wrote: post #409
rglullis wrote: post #398

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, it's the latter. They will have another excuse to increase the prices further. "We had to spend $BILLIONS to change the design of the iPhone, so this is why the new iPhone EU Edition is going to be 1400€". This is the kind of thing that really makes me understand Brexit.

Nobody forces you to buy a consumer-unfriendly product that also happens to be arbitrarily expensive. If somebody in Milan can't afford a Ferrari made in Maranello because the damn company insists in pricing their cars beyond what is reasonable for a 4-wheeled vehicle, it doesn't mean Milan should secede from Italy, surely.

> Nobody forces you to buy a consumer-unfriendly product that also happens to be arbitrarily expensive.

If anything, Apple's Lightning port (and the 30-pin connector before that) are significantly more consumer-friendly than USB. Where consumers are consumers of Apple products, but still.

In the span of time when Apple only had two connectors, USB went through 3 or 4. USB didn't even have a charging standard until 2012 (the year Lightning was introduced).

And even with USB-C it's still a hodge-podge of standards with multiple optional and non-optional parts, and it's not getting better: https://old.reddit.com/r/UsbCHardware/comments/mjz2pu/usb4_a...

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

#453

Post by behnamoh »

FabHK wrote: post #366
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…

One nice and welcome example of consumer-friendly legislation, btw: The EU prohibited mobile operators from charging voice and data roaming fees within the EU. So, now on holiday in Spain, say, you can just keep using your mobile contract including free minutes and data. (A typical deal is 10 GB data.) When traveling outside the EU, it's still best to buy a local SIM to avoid the ludicrous roaming charges, but there'…

I find it interesting that our main hope for forcing the big tech to follow ethical/environment_friendly/user_friendly procedures is not the US, but the EU.

I'm not European, but can anyone tell me how does the political system in the EU let (or even motivate) law-makers and governments to support such mandates and laws that are in favor of consumers?

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

#454

Post by moviuro »

bognition wrote: post #281
PragmaticPulp wrote: post #275

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.

I understand why unbundling chargers from devices is unpopular, especially as charging cables move from USB-A to USB-C but honestly its the right call. I currently have more than a dozen USB-A plugs (wall warts) lying around and who knows how many more I've already thrown away. Not once have I purchased a device that used USB-A and needed to buy a wall wart for it. I will have to buy a few USB-C wall warts but i wont…

USB-A to USB-C cables are a thing.

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

#455

Post by nickpp »

moviuro wrote: post #444
gruez wrote: post #428

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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.

So it's everybody else's fault BUT that of the actual people who created rules?

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

#456

Post by kylecordes »

cnst wrote: post #430
PragmaticPulp wrote: post #275

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.

Before Covid, every booth at every trade show would give you a free wall charger. Some of them were just 1-port 1A 5W throwaway, but also some better stuff, too. I can't imagine buying a charger together with the phone is a thing. You either lose them nonstop, or you have so many of them you don't need anymore.

Yet I threw away many such throwaway-grade chargers, and use the one that came with my Pixel phone, because it delivers a much faster charge.

If we all shift the buying the wall charger separately, hopefully something can be done about the wide variety of incompatible fast-ish charging systems. Rather than everyone revert to the lowest common standard of a very slow charge.

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

#458

Post by cblconfederate »

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.

Is it OK to mandate non-plastic packaging or paper straws?

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

#459

Post by toyg »

Robotbeat wrote: post #441
toyg wrote: post #436

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

[flagged]

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

#460

Post by rualca »

rglullis wrote: post #398
TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #380

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They would block all shipments of Apple devices at the border of the EU after a certain point. The EU controls the customs rules for most of Europe.

So, it's the latter. They will have another excuse to increase the prices further. "We had to spend $BILLIONS to change the design of the iPhone, so this is why the new iPhone EU Edition is going to be 1400€". This is the kind of thing that really makes me understand Brexit.

> They will have another excuse to increase the prices further.

This sounds like a very poorly thought out slippery slope argument, specially taking into account that iPhones' manufacturing cost is already a fraction of the huge price they sell it to consumers (i.e., $200 vs $1200)

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