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EU reaches deal to make USB-C a common charger for most electronic devices

engadget.com

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Re: EU reaches deal to make USB-C a common charger for most electronic devices

#141

Post by scrumper »

gadders wrote: post #118

I don't have an apple phone, but my daughter does, and I've always thought that mechanically at least the Apple connector was better because it had less bits to go wrong. USB C, like micro USB has that "tongue" piece that has to fit inside the end of the cable which always looks like it could snap off. The Apple connector is just a solid piece that goes in the end of the phone. No fiddly interlock pieces.

The socket half of the lightning connector is actually pretty delicate inside: there are little tiny fingers that contact the strips on the plug. It's quite easy to damage those fingers and ruin the port when cleaning it out after exposure to dust or sand.

Mind you my 7 year old broke the USB C connector on his Switch in much the same way. There's only so strong you can make something that small and dense with contacts.

Re: EU reaches deal to make USB-C a common charger for most electronic devices

#142

Post by amelius »

kingsleyopara wrote: post #108

This all seems pretty short sighted. Great in the short term (I want a USB-C iPhone and for everything today to be USB-C) but will surely be a pain going forward - where would USB-C be if this policy had standardised on micro USB earlier? Some will say wireless is the future but I’m not convinced. Maybe the best solution would be to have this policy expire after a certain number of years?

> where would USB-C be if this policy had standardised on micro USB earlier?

It would be a separate port next to the micro-USB port.

The point is that we don't need a new connector every few years for charging a device. This saves e-waste, since the chargers can stay the same. For data, you might want to have a new connector, though.

Re: EU reaches deal to make USB-C a common charger for most electronic devices

#143

Post by jonwinstanley »

jonwinstanley wrote: post #137
ubermonkey wrote: post #130

It's just really not clear to me that regulators need to be mandating product design. I have no expectation, for example, that these same regulators will stay on top of this and revise it when USB-C stops being the preferred or best choice. Twenty years ago, we really DID have a snarl of competing and proprietary phone ports. It was a mess -- Blackberry chargers didn't work with Palm; most WinMo devices had their own…

Exactly. So silly. Plus Apple Watches have always been only charged via conductive, so it’s likely phones could have gone that way too within a short space of time if the lack of a data cable was deemed acceptable.

Actually, if they go wireless then they don’t need to have USB-C.

Only devices charged by cable need to have USB-C.

Re: EU reaches deal to make USB-C a common charger for most electronic devices

#144

Post by hoistbypetard »

RGamma wrote: post #119
kingsleyopara wrote: post #108

This all seems pretty short sighted. Great in the short term (I want a USB-C iPhone and for everything today to be USB-C) but will surely be a pain going forward - where would USB-C be if this policy had standardised on micro USB earlier? Some will say wireless is the future but I’m not convinced. Maybe the best solution would be to have this policy expire after a certain number of years?

Micro USB was the standardized smartphone port for years (around the time of the feature phone->smartphone transition): https://techcrunch.com/2009/06/29/micro-usb-to-be-the-standa...

It wasn't that standardized. Between my house and the office around that time, I had a mix of micro USB, mini USB and barrel ports. And always had the wrong adapter with me, it seemed.

Re: EU reaches deal to make USB-C a common charger for most electronic devices

#145

Post by zaarn »

ubermonkey wrote: post #130

It's just really not clear to me that regulators need to be mandating product design. I have no expectation, for example, that these same regulators will stay on top of this and revise it when USB-C stops being the preferred or best choice. Twenty years ago, we really DID have a snarl of competing and proprietary phone ports. It was a mess -- Blackberry chargers didn't work with Palm; most WinMo devices had their own…

You forget that everything now being USB or Lightning is in part due to the EU attempting to harmonize the market on USB before today. All the larger market leaders signed an agreement to move to USB, which Apple understood as "USB at the charger" apparently.

But the EU pushing this for the past decades is responsible for almost everything being interoperable.

Re: EU reaches deal to make USB-C a common charger for most electronic devices

#146

Post by 2000UltraDeluxe »

vladvasiliu wrote: post #124
kalleboo wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting, I've never seen a charger with microUSB permanently attached, all my chargers have a USB-A port where you can change the cable. In any case, you can just stick tiny plug adapters on all your chargers. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07G54XXZZ/

I have an old Blackberry charger that has the cord attached, and I'm pretty sure I also have some old Samsung charger that's the same. But they're clearly quite rare.

I've got a whole bunch of them, actually. Luckily, they can be repurposed for older Pi models.

Re: EU reaches deal to make USB-C a common charger for most electronic devices

#147

Post by horsawlarway »

ubermonkey wrote: post #130

It's just really not clear to me that regulators need to be mandating product design. I have no expectation, for example, that these same regulators will stay on top of this and revise it when USB-C stops being the preferred or best choice. Twenty years ago, we really DID have a snarl of competing and proprietary phone ports. It was a mess -- Blackberry chargers didn't work with Palm; most WinMo devices had their own…

This always gets bought up, and it's always wrong.

> I have no expectation, for example, that these same regulators will stay on top of this and revise it when USB-C stops being the preferred or best choice.

They didn't write the law as "you must use USB-C" They wrote the law as "The industry experts need to pick A standard for charging, and all manufacturers should respect that choice"

They are welcome to change it going forward, they just have to agree and consolidate.

Re: EU reaches deal to make USB-C a common charger for most electronic devices

#148

Post by hoistbypetard »

thinkindie wrote: post #134

What I don't understand from Apple - they have already made the move to USB-C with laptops (ditching the Magsafe - that was way more practical than the USB-C connector), why resisting this much for the iPhone/iPad/etc? I understand that they have additional revenue streams by licensing lighting to accessories manufactures, but still...

They've moved most of their laptops back to Magsafe now.

Re: EU reaches deal to make USB-C a common charger for most electronic devices

#149

Post by cesarb »

gadders wrote: post #118

I don't have an apple phone, but my daughter does, and I've always thought that mechanically at least the Apple connector was better because it had less bits to go wrong. USB C, like micro USB has that "tongue" piece that has to fit inside the end of the cable which always looks like it could snap off. The Apple connector is just a solid piece that goes in the end of the phone. No fiddly interlock pieces.

In all the discussions I've seen where people complain about USB-C, not once have I read about that tab snapping off, so it does not seem to be a problem in practice.

The reason USB-C has the tab on the device is to have the springs, which are the bits which can go wrong the most, on the cable instead of the device. When they start to become loose, you only have to replace an inexpensive cable, instead of having to replace or repair the device. It also better protects the contacts on both the cable and the device (the contacts on Apple's lightning cable are exposed).

Re: EU reaches deal to make USB-C a common charger for most electronic devices

#150

Post by DannyBee »

ubermonkey wrote: post #130

It's just really not clear to me that regulators need to be mandating product design. I have no expectation, for example, that these same regulators will stay on top of this and revise it when USB-C stops being the preferred or best choice. Twenty years ago, we really DID have a snarl of competing and proprietary phone ports. It was a mess -- Blackberry chargers didn't work with Palm; most WinMo devices had their own…

"I have no expectation, for example, that these same regulators will stay on top of this and revise it when USB-C stops being the preferred or best choice."

Why? Everything is usb or lightning because people complained, and everyone but apple listened to people. If USB-C is no longer the best thing, rather than complain to 10 companies, and hope they all agree, they will complain to regulators, and hope they agree.

What precisely is the difference you see?

The regulators are at least accountable in some sense to the people, the companies are not.

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