Can someone explain why it’s a problem that different phones use different charger cables?
Unnessecary electric waste. You could use one cable and charger for all your devices and wouldn't need a drawer full of cables.
EU plans to force OEMs to use a common charger for all phones
581–590 of 751 posts
Re: EU plans to force OEMs to use a common charger for all phones
#582Can someone explain why it’s a problem that different phones use different charger cables?
> the EU is in favor of having a single charger for all popular gadgets in order to cut down on the environmental impact as well as make it easy for consumers to carry just a single charger for all their gadgets instead of using different proprietary connectors
Re: EU plans to force OEMs to use a common charger for all phones
#583Earlier quoted context omitted.
Nobody forces you to buy a consumer-unfriendly product, period. Are you also going to push for governments to force Apple to make iPhones with removable batteries? What about the headphone jack? Why not force Apple to open source their OS? Why not block the sale of any product that is made in a country that has concentration camps? These are all valid reasons that make me never want to buy an iOS device. But it is my…
> "Are you also going to push for governments to force Apple to make iPhones with removable batteries?" Kinda - I am pushing my government to force Apple to provide spare parts, and give us right to repair. Make ownership of digital device mean something again. US obsession with choice is a red herring. I don't want sadistic 'choice' between getting going backrupt and dying of a treatable disease, I want the problem…
> Make ownership of digital device mean something again.
Then just go buy from someone who actually is behind these values, and not someone who just greenwashes their products.
> US obsession
Sorry to spoil your ad hominem, but I am born in Brazil and have been living in Germany for 8 years.
> I want the problem fixed.
The problem is fixed already: I've been having this discussion while typing from a fairphone, which I was free to install /e/ OS without any Google services, and it cost less than an iPhone SE. I can open and replace not only the battery, but also the display and the camera.
I didn't have to wait any bureaucrat in Brussels to do this, and quite frankly I believe that if it were up to them they would find a way to screw this small Dutch company out of existence.
Stop buying Apple products. Stop buying anything from any company that is consumer hostile, even if the "ethical" alternatives are more expensive/less adequate for your needs. I can guarantee you this problem (and others that you don't even care about) will be fixed faster than by waiting for the EU.
Re: EU plans to force OEMs to use a common charger for all phones
#584Earlier 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?
"It's bad enough that wall sockets haven't improved"
In what way, spesifically? What can you improve in a metal connector carrying current?
Re: EU plans to force OEMs to use a common charger for all phones
#585Earlier quoted context omitted.
Probably they think they can make the jump to a completely wireless phone before any USB-C mandates come in. Apple's timing with the lighting port wasn't great, with it arriving just before USB-C, and I imagine they're very reluctant to change the port on their phones because people already have lightning cables everywhere. Personally I would love to see USB-C on my iPhone, but I look at my parents, and having the po…
How do you use a phone while charging it wirelessly?
Magnets
Re: EU plans to force OEMs to use a common charger for all phones
#586Does 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.
Nothing strange there.
There is already a lot of mandates like that.
If you look at your house, almost every single piece of cable, pipe or joint, and so on is standardized so that you can connect stuff from different manufacturers and it will fit and not blow up on you. Then the correct ways to connect stuff together are standardized. Then the people who do these things are going through standardized certification.
You don't need to buy different wall sockets to connect up different appliances because the sockets are standardized and your country decided to mandate that all appliances must follow specific rules and choose only from available standardized options when connecting to AC.
See, it is so ubiquitous that you don't think about it.
You don't need to think about it because somebody at some point stepped in and said that it is not ok to have every manufacturer to have their own standard and homeowners to bear the cost of navigating those multiple standards.
Re: EU plans to force OEMs to use a common charger for all phones
#587Good, though in practice it's not the charger the problem, I use the same USB plug everywhere, it's Apple and their cable. Right now I always need with me a micro USB cable, an USB-C one, and Lightning, because Apple thinks different™. What's Apple reasoning for not abandoning Lightning for USB-C on their phones?
Seems like most USB-C cables and chargers on the market are fake. And as per "the market for lemons" the fake $2 chargers that can't output full power without smoking or have zero isolation from power line or refuse to use X/Y safety rated capacitors will push the good more expensive chargers off the market. The "Real World" is a lot more like "DiodeGoneWild"'s autopsies of power supplies than most people think. Its odd, really, just how much more often USB-C hardware catches fire than Lightning hardware.
Submarine patents and the like can't appear on products you invented for yourself. Admittedly kinda far fetched in the case of USB-C. Then again look at historical madness like USB to RS232 adapter knock off chips and drivers written to brick knock off hardware.
Nobody wants the wild west experience of USB-C where nothing is reliable or trustworthy. The user experience is just likely to be better with lightning.
Re: EU plans to force OEMs to use a common charger for all phones
#588Earlier quoted context omitted.
Actually Apple is moving a way from USB-C-only charger on the next gen laptops, because it does not provide enough power(to get even better charging speed). (Physical size limits that) So, maybe for phones it is enough in the future, but not for all devices.
Yeah I don't know where you're getting this info. The most an Apple laptop pulls right now is 100w because the intel chip pulls a ton of power. 240w in lab testing now. And with Apple chips they are going to sip power. Unless Apple puts a 6900XT into a laptop they won't be hitting that charging limit.
Especially the 16 inc Macbooks can go over that consumption.
But however the main point is in charging, you need a lot more watts to charge faster, as the batteries are getting bigger and if you want to improve existing charging speeds.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-15/apple-mac...
https://www.macrumors.com/2021/01/15/magsafe-coming-to-macbo...
Re: EU plans to force OEMs to use a common charger for all phones
#589Earlier quoted context omitted.
That and the more fragile the device, the bigger the case you (should) have anyway.
I’m always amused at people who upgrade to the latest phone regularly and then keep it in a bulky case. Around iPhone 5, I switched to buying 1-year old used phones about every 2-3 years and enjoying them without a case. Only non-minor damage I’ve suffered is I broke the volume down button (the spring behind it, really) on my Xs Max. Minor scratches I don’t care about. I’m pretty amazed at how durable the phones actu…
Cases are overrated. Sure, they may protect from some scratches, but they don't protect agains fall as much as people think, and I think they induce falls by making large phones even more difficult to hold.
I bought a IPhone 12 pro max six months ago, never used a case, still looks like new.
Re: EU plans to force OEMs to use a common charger for all phones
#590Earlier 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…
I don’t think anyone is objecting to the motives of the legislation, but rather that it’s unconventional for governments to directly stipulate a technology. Typically they set some parameters that their subjects must comply with. For example, they usually say something like “cars may not emit more than X PPM of carbon monoxide per liter of fuel” rather than “cars shall use technology Y”. It’s not that speculating a t…
> but rather that it’s unconventional for governments to directly stipulate a technology
aren't you forgetting that governments hand out and enforce patents/monopolies/IP?
also it's hard for small groups to compete with giants when those giants have plundered the commons and more and more scientific and technological research is locked up behind their corporate firewalls.
at this point ignoring that plundering is wilful, not due to ignorance. [1]
[1] https://www.resilience.org/stories/2017-08-03/book-day-corru...