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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

#171

Post by danaris »

rbanffy wrote: post #106
danaris wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there a halfway-modern port that is more robust? Hell, is it possible to make a port/adapter that you can't destroy by stepping on it? I've personally destroyed VGA, PS/2, and ADB adapters by stepping on them in the past. (I've since gotten somewhat more careful, and haven't yet destroyed any USB or Lightning adapters the same way.) How, exactly, do you propose that they design a port that you can't accidentally c…

> is it possible to make a port/adapter that you can't destroy by stepping on it? UK power plugs want a word with you. Not that there won't be damage, but it's your foot that will be completely destroyed.

A hit, a palpable hit!

Yeah, those things are tanks.

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

#172

Post by tasn »

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…

They already do, in many ways. Specifically, they already mandate the type of power plug that electrical appliances must be sold with.

I don't know where I stand on this ruling philosophically, but I'm looking forward to having accessories all use USB-C instead of having some for Apple and some for everyone else.

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

#173

Post by Hamcha »

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…

It's not a new thing. Car design has been dictated by regulations for decades and while I'm sure it has definitely stopped some novel designs from getting out there, I think we can be mostly thankful that we don't live in a sea of heterogeneous (let alone hazardous) designs. Cars can still look cool, but not to the point of being a detriment.

USB-C is a pretty lax standard (for good and bad) and at the end of the day, the ultimate reason regulators have to come into play is that the industry didn't deal with this issue internally.

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

#174

Post by mrtksn »

arlort wrote: post #169
mrtksn wrote: post #123

By the way, that's also how Tesla and all other cars have the same electric plug in EU(not the USB mandate but the car plug standardisation mandate). Of course, the first thing that comes to mind is what happens if better solutions are found. Will EU block innovation? That question is addressed in the Q&A: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/QANDA_... In essence, they seem to believe that wired char…

IIRC it doesn't even exclude funny cables as long as the option remains to use an USB-C cable too So if you really want I believe you could issue a double port Clunky for smartphones maybe, but should be trivial for larger devices

That's also my understanding.

So Macbook Air 2022 with MagSafe charging will be completely legal as long as the USB-C can be used for charging.

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

#175

Post by manuelabeledo »

I see a lot of negativity and nitpicking in the comments, and I for one welcome the idea. Wired charging is a mature technology, USB-C is extensible enough, and most manufacturers have already adopted it as a de facto standard. Only Apple seems to be reluctant, and only on their cellphones and perhaps some of their headphones.

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

#177

Post by AndrewDucker »

jl6 wrote: post #35

I want to like this, but I charge my iPhone with a cable that has lightning on one end and USB-C on the other, and I know from extensive direct experience that the lightning end is the better physical design. Supporting this is tantamount to believing that there will never need to be a USB-D that improves upon USB-C, and I just can’t believe that.

From https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/QANDA_...

Any technological developments in wired charging can be reflected in a timely adjustment of technical requirements/ specific standards under the Radio Equipment Directive. This would ensure that the technology used is not outdated.

At the same time, the implementation of any new standards in further revisions of Radio Equipment Directive would need to be developed in a harmonised manner, respecting the objectives of full interoperability. Industry is therefore expected to continue the work already undertaken on the standardised interface, led by the USB-IF organisation, in view of developing new interoperable, open and non-controversial solutions.

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

#179

Post by hoistbypetard »

nuccy wrote: post #158
hoistbypetard wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

They didn't move, they added an option to select: USB-C or Magsafe-2 (it is incompatible with original Magsafe BTW), both work fine. I've actually switched to Macs already when USB-C was introduced (late 2016), so I totally missed the original Magsafe. I recently got a new Macbook Pro 16, which has Magsafe-2. I never used it before and for my use-case I don't see much use for it now either. At least at home and in th…

Good point. I forgot they still charged over USB-C as well.

I need to work, not infrequently, from the dining table with a laptop plugged into the wall. I have two large boisterous dogs and two not-so-large but still boisterous children. They occasionally tear around the house, and the dogs have snagged a cord and destroyed a laptop by pulling it off the table back in the old pre-magsafe days. Magsafe prevented damage to multiple laptops for me.

While I love the single-cable docking angle of USB-C, I'd give it up for magnets if I needed to. For my thinkpad, I actually have one of those magnetic USB-C cables to use at that table.

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

#180

Post by AndrewDucker »

chenzhekl wrote: post #68

Just curious. If there is a seemingly better connector emerged in the future, could vendors experiment it on new devices on their own? Or do they have to first submit a proposal to the regulator and then deploy it to the device after the proposal has been accepted? I am afraid that the latter could harm innovation.

From the FAQ:

"Any technological developments in wired charging can be reflected in a timely adjustment of technical requirements/ specific standards under the Radio Equipment Directive. This would ensure that the technology used is not outdated.

At the same time, the implementation of any new standards in further revisions of Radio Equipment Directive would need to be developed in a harmonised manner, respecting the objectives of full interoperability. Industry is therefore expected to continue the work already undertaken on the standardised interface, led by the USB-IF organisation, in view of developing new interoperable, open and non-controversial solutions."

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/QANDA_...

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