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EU plans to force OEMs to use a common charger for all phones
721–730 of 751 posts
Re: EU plans to force OEMs to use a common charger for all phones
#722Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 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 20…
I fail to see how any kind of proprietary product can be more consumer friendly than an open standard. As I see it that cannot be true by definition.
There's definition and there's reality.
These are all the plugs USB has come up with over the years: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_hardware
I still have a bunch of USB cables and devices at home, and I every time I have to use them I struggle to find the right combination.
Standardization is good. But in this case USB is objectively not a better standard than Apple's proprietary one.
Re: EU plans to force OEMs to use a common charger for all phones
#723Re: EU plans to force OEMs to use a common charger for all phones
#724Earlier quoted context omitted.
So you never travel? I travel a significant amount of times, sometimes for work, mostly for leisure. Nowadays I carry one single 65w USB-C charger, it charges: my work laptop (if travelling for work), my personal laptop, my phone, my book, my NC headphones for the airplane, my TWS earbuds. I only own two chargeable items that it doesn't charge: my watch (which I charge with the reverse wireless charging my phone does…
> So you never travel? No. Why would I ?
Wow, well you do you.
I forgot, I have another chargeable item that I occasionally carry: a portable speaker. It charges via USB-c.
Re: EU plans to force OEMs to use a common charger for all phones
#725"The proposals only cover devices using wired, not wireless, chargers, EU commissioner Thierry Breton said in a press conference, adding that “there is plenty of room for innovation on wireless.”" This quote typifies why Europe is miles behind on tech and innovation more generally. "I can't imagine a better way of doing this, so we should mandate that everyone does this way." We would've never even got wireless charg…
Actually what that quote is saying is: - Wired charging is now a pretty well known topic, and USB-C is considered a good standard by the vast majority of the industry. So let's make sure that everyone uses this standard to simplify the life of the users. - Wireless charging is still a hot topic, with no clear winner, there is time for the industry to settle on a semi-standard. We'll wait until then to see if a legisl…
But Micro-USB was considered a good standard too. There's always a standard, but it doesn't start that way for long for a reason.
Why should it stop at USB-C? What will be the requirements for throughput and size in six years time?
Re: EU plans to force OEMs to use a common charger for all phones
#726Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don’t own a single usbc device, I have lightning on my phone, and tons of microusb-usbA devices/cables “Billions” sounds like a HN bubble statement.
So you cite a sample of N=1 and then claim than anything else must be from within a bubble? Interesting.
I’m at a hotel breakfast, so far this morning I’ve seen half a dozen usb-a sockets and not a single usb-c socket.
Majority of electronic devices are older than usb-c standard, even the electric screwdriver I bought two months ago was micro-usb, as is the shaver I used this morning. At work about half the low power devices are PoE or Micro-USB.
Aside from a few laptops USB-C is still rare.
Re: EU plans to force OEMs to use a common charger for all phones
#727Earlier quoted context omitted.
1 - that could be true 2 - I am not even an EU national 3 - if one is pointing at dieselgate as a failure of EU, there must be a place where such failure doesn't happen. If such a place does not exist, then it's not much of an argument, every system has it's failures. It's not like i am defending WV
Every system has failures. That much is a given. The main issue is about scale of these systems and its failure modes. The problem of "big" systems - whether the EU, modern day US where federal govt taking over power from the states or Communist China - is that it fails in spectacularly catastrophic ways. This is why you get crisis like 2008 and Dieselgate. Both are instances of "too big to fail" industries, protecte…
Ok great you argued the EU is hypocritical when it comes to large local companies.
I still don't see how encouraging competition and interoperability in the smartphone and electronics market is a problem... except for Apple's margins.
If Switzerland is your model, I'm even more confused about how you could be against a liberal economy using protectionist measures against an American company.
Re: EU plans to force OEMs to use a common charger for all phones
#728Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's the theory with all charging, isn't it? But I'm talking about while travelling or all those unexpected circumstances when you find yourself needing a charge when you're not at home. One night recently, I managed to get locked out of my flat, after midnight, with nothing but my phone in my pocket. On about 15% charge! Thankfully that was enough to book a hotel and buy a lightning cable (and a toothbrush) at a 2…
>If you can expect to find wireless charging in every hotel room and every train seat then it's not a problem. But I suspect that's a long way off. I have seen them in many commuter trains and most coffee shops, like Starbucks. They're surprisingly common if you know to look out for the symbol.
I remember a few Starbucks in London introduced wireless chargers years ago (maybe around 2017 or so?). They've long since disappeared now though. Many UK trains have full 230V outlets under the seats now so you can charge your laptop, not just your phone!
Re: EU plans to force OEMs to use a common charger for all phones
#729Earlier quoted context omitted.
> People don't have 10 year old cables and chargers around. Just looking in my cable drawer I have USB types A, B, mini-A, mini-B, micro-A, micro-B, and C. I also have lightening and apple dock from the original iPhone. I have some weird Chinese cable that looks like USB micro-A and micro-B but doesn't fit either. There are a few barrel connectors from my old Nokia phones. A couple of my wife's old Samsung phone cabl…
Just curious, why do you keep all that stuff around?
So I don’t have to pay for a new ones next time I need one. My headphones need micro-b, my gps uses mini-a for data and mini-b for power, my China phones might use any of the mini or micro connectors - whatever they had a lot of that month, usb-a is the most common connector I find while traveling, raspberry pi uses micro b, etc.
Re: EU plans to force OEMs to use a common charger for all phones
#730Earlier quoted context omitted.
Every system has failures. That much is a given. The main issue is about scale of these systems and its failure modes. The problem of "big" systems - whether the EU, modern day US where federal govt taking over power from the states or Communist China - is that it fails in spectacularly catastrophic ways. This is why you get crisis like 2008 and Dieselgate. Both are instances of "too big to fail" industries, protecte…
Ok great you argued the EU is hypocritical when it comes to large local companies. I still don't see how encouraging competition and interoperability in the smartphone and electronics market is a problem... except for Apple's margins. If Switzerland is your model, I'm even more confused about how you could be against a liberal economy using protectionist measures against an American company.
> I still don't see how encouraging competition
They are not encouraging anything. They are just playing a power game to see who can jerk more the other around. In the process, they create costs and bureaucratic obstacles that make it easier for any smaller player to have any chance of entering the market competitively.
> liberal economy using protectionist measures
Because it is a problem with the scale. There is not one economy in the EU states. There are many. By trying to apply a top-level, centralized solution to all member states, it ends up creating sub-optimal solutions for everyone. Or worse, it executes the decisions that benefits the member states with most power: Germany and France.
Systems that are designed bottom-up are more robust, have a more diverse set of tools to solve their problems and fail in more localized, controlled ways. Tell me how many times has Switzerland got into some kind of deep systemic crisis. Now do the same with similarly small countries that are in the EU.