Live data from Hacker News

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

engadget.com

191–200 of 1001 posts

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

#191

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…

[deleted]

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

#192

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…

Where? The directive’s annex 1a very clearly states “USB Type-C receptacle, as described in the standard EN IEC 62680-1-3:2021.”

https://ec.europa.eu/docsroom/documents/46755

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

#193

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 just really not clear to me that regulators need to be mandating product design

Seat belts, air bags, maximum vehicle weight, maximum vehicle width... It's a very large part of what they do.

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

#194
post #182

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…

> USB or Lightning This problem

Eh, Apple was moving devices over to USB-C already, they didn't need to be forced. The reason they've held out on the iPhone is because users will complain about new cables ;-). Either way they're going to get criticized.

Apple gets credit for creating Lightning to begin with while we waited for something better than micro-USB to come along. I'm glad for USB-C, but damn, it sure took a while.

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

#196

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.

I routinely charge my iPhone on a wireless charger. When I'm in a hurry, I plug it in. I don't want that option taken away, wireless is nowhere near fast enough yet.

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

#197
post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Agree, I still have a gaggle of random USB cables for various devices. Micro USB was common, but far from standardized. And on top of that, it sucks. I keep a bunch of spares around because it's such a fragile connector.

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

#198

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...

I'm sure they have other reasons, but as a user I much prefer the ergonomics of Lightning ports. They're smaller and simpler mechanically.

The problem is that for security with electricity the bits that provide the electric current should be female terminals (protected) while the ones that receive it male (you can touch them). Apple doesn't follow this and you can easily touch the charged ports of the charged device, which is not a problem since it's very low voltage, but in USB-C connectors that can reach up to 240Watts so that's a no-go.

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

#199

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…

That was the whole point of USB —- it’s in the name Universal Serial Bus. We have to talk about the ewaste issue, which is massive score on the earth. The particular village in China where all our waste get recycled is just a horrible scene. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_waste_in_Guiyu This is a small step, but standardization is a great thing towards less waste.

Won’t this increase waste as lightning is deprecated?

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

#200
post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

MagSafe is back on new models, and Lightning is physically thinner than USB-C.

A surprise for me was that lightning is only USB2 and one-sided, so at any moment it is plugged half of the pins is unused. Additionally it has exposed wires, in case of charger failure, USB-C provides a better protection.

At the same time, it is starting to look like USB-C is still not going to be more robust than Lightning connectors. A vast improvement on micro USB, to be sure, but still. Recall that Lightning came out 12 years ago, and the alternative was micro-USB. It's so much better that we can actually debate it relative to USB-C today, which is high praise.
Post reply on HN