EU agreement on Mobile Phone ChargersAll to be Micro USB for Smart Phones

so Apple plans to…

Make another one up

Ha! Nobbers… 🙂

iolo said;
Why nobbers?

Because their desire to be different is just for the sake of it. They seemingly have no desire to make things easier for their consumer base. It makes sense to standardise chargers.

I’m all for being different but sometimes Apple are just too cool for school to the point that they seem spoilt imho…

The curse of modern tech is all the blummin chargers you need. It would be great and so much less wasteful if they were cross-compatible.

I can see exactly why apple do it but,…………nobbers. 🙂

The iphone port passes far more information through it than a usb port is capable of, ie high quality audio.

Its not just being different for the sake of it, it actually has a use, of course other manufacturers are happy to accept lower quality options then try and paint apple as the outsider.

Charging is easy, its just a usb adapter.

High quality audio can be done in less than 6mbps, which is what USB 1 can support. USB 2 would easily handle anything a iPhone could want to do.

It’s Apple being different for the sake of it. I imagine it has a lot to do with docking and keeping the docks exclusive to apple devices.

I imagine it has a lot to do with docking and keeping the docks exclusive to apple devices.

Good point really my missus went looking for something to play music from, came back with the conclusion that she needed as I-pod and a dock/speaker. 10 mins later we had a mini hifi with 3.5mm and USB inputs for a hell of a lot less. Imagine if all the ipod dock stations speakers with a silly plug on were USB…..

not sure on the new 19 pin jobby, but the older Apple connection had a line level analogue audio output, not sure if that could be done over USB

Apple really are a greedy bunch of <ladybits>.

not sure if that could be done over USB

Probably not, but there are other technologies now that Apple could bee using their significant resources and budget to invest in, improve or maybe just adopt.

A basic digital to analogue converter in the dock would suffice though, I should think.

A basic digital to analogue converter in the dock would suffice though, I should think.

yep

I would guess the real reason for the connector is that it allows them to have a whole market of products made which are specifically marketed as being iPod compatible.

Its not apple that need the common standard – their phones and iPods have such a large market share the don’t need the economy or the limitation of sharing a common parts bucket with other manufacturers, particularly as they have such a small product line. All the other other phone manufacturers are marketing a few dozen different phones each but are collectively inhabiting a fraction of the market place. Its their choice to collaborate, not apple’s to be different.

Its not apple that need the common standard – their phones and iPods have such a large market share the don’t need the economy or the limitation of sharing a common parts bucket with other manufacturers

As far as I know, you can’t even charge an iphone with an ipod charger…. or at least thats the experience I have when trying to charge me birds iphone on my ipod(80gb classic model) car charger…
It may be different with current models(lets hope so huh?)

They don’t even appear to share a ‘common parts bucket’ with themselves!…. 😀

crusky there ^ makes a good point (IMO). The same charger that did my first iPhone, still does my second. Mrs deadly’s had three…same charger all the way has done each of them. It would do an iTouchy too if we had one.

My man drawer full of old chargers is pretty much a different charger for every (around 5 I think) SonyErricshite and the last microscopically thin (and thus easily bent) charger for the greatest piece of shit of a phone I’ve ever owned, a Nokia N84 8GB.

As far as I know, you can’t even charge an iphone with an ipod charger

not something I’ve experienced – even with crappy poundshop leads and chargers

My man drawer full of old chargers is pretty much a different charger for every (around 5 I think) SonyErricshite and the last microscopically thin (and thus easily bent) charger for the greatest piece of shit of a phone I’ve ever owned, a Nokia N84 8GB.

Exactly, so lets standardise them all Apple! 😀

Exactly, so lets standardise them all Apple!

Amen to that. After all, their stuff just works. 😉

Also…. mini usb has always been there. Calling it a standard is just that, a name. Any of the manufacturers can choose to use it, but non are compelled to.

Current Apple chargers do indeed come in two forms, the earlier charging-over-firewire versions and the most recent versions; older ones won’t charge newer devices, which is sometimes a pain (this seems more common with devices that will “work” in docking stations and the like but won’t charge from them…)

Personally one of the main things I don’t like about our Android phones is that while they do everything and more than our ipods do, you can’t get docks for them so if we wanted to use them as music players we’d have to fart around with cables into headphone sockets, stereos with aux ports and whatnot.

While it is a little more faff having to carry round an ipod wire and a micro-USB wire for everything else, I can see why apple want to keep using a common dockable connector and form factor rather than just a micro-USB one.

This ZDnet post suggests it’s a 19-pin microUSB port.

I don’t see a ‘new dock connector’ as a problem anyway. lots of newer ‘dock’ devices now connect via WiFi or Bluetooth for music playback. For most of us there’s the pragmatic 3.5mm stereo jack solution to this non-problem.

For the current dock ports, there’s a simple micro/mini USB to Apple Dock connector adapter available.

With the current vogue for manufacturers to offer no charger & instead give a USB cable for charging, the adapter landfill problem should subside soon: a case of technology solving the problem before politics can move again. Apple’s iPhone charger, with its USB connection, is pretty handy for charging other devices with a USB cable e.g. PS3 controllers & other phones.

It does seem an odd move, but I guess it must make sense to Apple. Perhaps it allows them to control the thickness & mounting of the connector in the iPhone & so might be part of slimming the next iPhones, iPads & iPods. It’ll be (slightly) interesting to see what this rumoured ‘new dock connector’ turns out to be.

Personally one of the main things I don’t like about our Android phones is that while they do everything and more than our ipods do, you can’t get docks for them so if we wanted to use them as music players we’d have to fart around with cables into headphone sockets, stereos with aux ports and whatnot.

This would change if charging points/docks were standardised. I don’t really care which standard wins through, but it would be nice if there was one(I do realise there will never be…).

However, having owned several ipods, I have always found the docking station element a little unreliable and they have worn over time and developed connection faults. The large connectors are also a little ‘clumpy’ imho, especially with Apples usually sleek appearance.

The port is also quite a large opening in the unit and a magnet for dust and 3rd-degree pocket lint. The micro usb is much neater really, less of an opening but still, not ideal.

Anyway, something which works for everything would free up some much needed space in the man-drawer.

I don’t see that there’s a problem. lots of newer ‘dock’ devices now connect via WiFi or Bluetooth for music playback. And for most of us there’s the pragmatic 3.5mm stereo jack solution to this non-problem.

Not a solution if you want to charge and dock/play at the same time…

Personally one of the main things I don’t like about our Android phones is that while they do everything and more than our ipods do, you can’t get docks for them

All those apple dock gadgets though aren’t made by apple, they’re made by other manufactures who see a profit in making aftermarket bits for a large group of consumers who all have the same phone. With android phones theres fewer of them in total, even if they have the same connector they will all have slightly different form factors – making and aftermarket gizmo for them is a complete waste of time

With android phones theres fewer of them in total, even if they have the same connector the will all have slightly different form factors – making and aftermarket gizmo for them is a complete waste of time

The OP linked to two articles about standardisation, you seem to be arguing FOR Apple but at the same time reinforcing the point that standardisation would be a good thing… 🙂

I suspect the market for docks could be limited in the future: wireless connections seem to be getting more popular.

With android phones theres fewer of them in total,

Umm – Android is the biggest selling smartphone OS at the mo. 2:1 over iOS in Q1 2012.

ETA – though naturally with more manufacturers each individual device will sell fewer units than a particular iPhone model.

The OS matters not a jot.

And the cheap stuff is always going to sell more.

And the cheap stuff is always going to sell more.

🙂

It’s like this. Anyone who knows about the OSI 7 layer model should understand but I’ll try to explain.

Think about it in layers. First you have the physical stuff, what connector to use, where to position it, what voltages to use. Then you have things like what types of signal, data, analogue, basic switch signals, eg on/off. Once you’ve agreed that you can start to think about what you’ll transfer, audio, video, control signals, packet data? Now what format of audio signal? Raw (more data), mp3, or something else, what video signal, what switching signal format etc. Now for video we have a whole can of worms because, well today that’s just how video is, a mess! Do we even want to go there, it’s sounding tricky so let’s leave it open (DLNA anyone?). Now, how do we present it all? Do we have a two way signalling process for audio or just let the consumer figure it out (ie lose rewind/ff). Ok, so some of this stuff can be off the shelf, but you still need to decide.

Now try to keep this up to date with changing standards and emerging technologies. Now try to agree it with competing businesses whilst fighting off law suits from some company who did a half baked implementation and now can’t adopt your standard (toys out of pram).

I’m sure this is all possible but the big players need to do it, and why bother when you can make more profit with less effort to the detriment of your consumers…?

As a consumer; it’s a plug. Some plugs are different shapes.

mini usb has always been there. Calling it a standard is just that, a name. Any of the manufacturers can choose to use it, but non are compelled to.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed but micro USB has been the standard socket on the vast majority of phones for a while now. iDevices aside, I can’t think of a recent phone which doesn’t have one.

The thing that always puzzled me is that to make this happen a large number of manufacturers had to get on board and back it. One of those manufacturers was Apple.

Anyway. The real kick in the plums here isn’t “zomg new cable eleventone,” it’s the fact that, unless there’s an adapter, the new must-have iPhone 5 isn’t going to work with existing accessories like, say, the expensive docking station audio system you’ve got.

The other slight point to mention is that the Apple chargers are really very high quality bits of kit compared to other chargers.

Most mobile chargers a horrible great “wall wart” transformers that run hot all the time.

Whereas the Apple charger is smaller than most plugs and runs cool to the touch.

the expensive docking station audio system you’ve got.

At least we’ve got one. 🙂

I don’t know if you’ve noticed but micro USB has been the standard socket on the vast majority of phones for a while now. iDevices aside, I can’t think of a recent phone which doesn’t have one.

Most mobile chargers a horrible great “wall wart” transformers that run hot all the time

Except for…
Nokia – a tiny wall wart that runs ice cold.
HTC – a small mains to USB just like that Apple one, but in black, that runs ice cool, and the USB to microUSB cable part can of course be used for connecting well pretty much anything to a laptop (for charging, data, whatever), probably much like a fruity device.

@GrahamS

Google were heading down the right lines with their docks which only charge the phone, and send audio out via Bluetooth. Seemples. As for Apple being the only company to make decent chargers…

Or…

Got to be honest, though – the magsafe adapter that I have with my Macbook is a thing of beauty and one of the main reasons I’ll be buying another Apple laptop when this one dies. Which, annoyingly, it’s showing no sign of doing yet despite being dropped repeatedly and zapped by lightning once.

But that Samsung charger…

It’s BLACK for crissakes!!!!!!!!!!

Except for…

..companies that had crap chargers for decades and are now playing catch up with Apple’s aesthetics. 😉

That Samsung one is a similar size, but miserable looking.
And it doesn’t even look like you can detach the cable.

Whole thing is a storm in a tea cup, if you buy Apple stuff you use an Apple charger – no problem. If you buy ANother stuff, you use the charger that came with it – no problem.

Who really cares about a standard for phone sockets?

And best of all… I can use a Kindle charger or my HTC charger with a the Samsung phone 😉
Keep one in the office, one by the bed, 1 cable in the lappy bag.

Now the magsafe *connector* is a work of art, but the charger runs hot hot hot. Seriously hot. Neat of them to actually use a standard figure 8 connector though – so I can have a UK and EU cable at a fraction of the price*

Who cares about prettiness of a mains adapter?

*shame I need it too, cos I gave up getting replacement batteries for my macbook.