Common charger for all phones announced

mobius42

Phone companies have made an agreement with the European Commission to introduce a standard charger for all brands of mobile phone.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0629/breaking36.htm

The days of searching the office and harrassing your colleagues for a charger that fits your failing mobile phone may be over, with plans to make all of the devices the same.
After years of phone companies making differing charger sizes, the industry’s top names have agreed to back an EU-wide harmonisation, the European Commission said today.
The move is seen as good news for consumers and the environment, allowing mobile phone users to swap chargers and keep their old ones regardless of who they buy their phone off.
The agreement by Nokia, Sony Ericsson and other industry majors will mean that telephones compatible with standard charging devices are available in Europe from next year, said the EU executive, which has pushed for such a deal.
"I am very pleased that industry has found an agreement, which will make life much simpler for consumers,” said EU Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen.
“They will be able to charge mobile phones anywhere from the new common charger. This also means considerably less electronic waste, because people will no longer have to throw away chargers when buying new phones.”
Mr Verheugen estimating that unwanted phone accessories accounted for thousands of tonnes of waste in Europe each year.
The Commission said the agreement would involve the creation of an EU norm, and that the new generation of mobile phones would use a standard micro-USB socket to ensure compatibility.
Motorola, Apple, LG, NEC, Qualcomm, Research in Motion, Samsung and Texas Instruments have also signed the agreement, the Commission said.

(emphasis by me)

If done properly, this should be good news for consumers.

Also, I'm amazed that Apple signed up to this; it's not like them to not use their proprietary connector!

Ron DMC

What do you reckon they'll go with?
Mini USB or something?

Penrose

Finally no more getting ripped off for an essential piece of kit

mobius42

Ron DMC wrote: »

What do you reckon they'll go with?
Mini USB or something?

Hopefully. Mini USB is pretty convenient and there are a lot of things that use it already.

EDIT: I can't read. It is Micro-USB.

Kenny Powers

Read the thing guys its a micro usb

Tar.Aldarion

About time god dammit.

Diabhal Beag

I lost my charger and have been using the USB socket to charge it all along. Tis handy alright

Rsaeire

Hopefully this step in the right direction remains for as long as possible. In saying that, I imagine after a time some of the manufacturers will release niche handsets with a "special" port that will still require a proprietary charger.

mobius42

Rsaeire wrote: »

Hopefully this step in the right direction remains for as long as possible. In saying that, I imagine after a time some of the manufacturers will release niche handsets with a "special" port that will still require a proprietary charger.

I don't think it has to be an exclusive thing. They can have multiple ports on the phone, one for charging and one for other things. Considering that Apple is getting in on this (and I can't see them giving up on their connector), this will most likely be an addition to phones rather than a replacement.

Ron DMC

Haha, micro-usb, cheers lads.

I should really pay attention.

Blue_Wolf

It won't be for another 2 years though so don't get that excited :pac:

flywheel

thought this was announced back in Feb at 3GSM [link]

or did the industry officially 'commit' to it this week?

Davy

DubFit wrote: »

thought this was announced back in Feb at 3GSM [link]

or did the industry officially 'commit' to it this week?

I think it was committing on the micro usb

AlmightyCushion

Why couldn't they have gone with mini usb. It's a hell of a lot more common. I've tonnes of those mini usb cables but no micros.

Rsaeire

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

Why couldn't they have gone with mini usb. It's a hell of a lot more common. I've tonnes of those mini usb cables but no micros.

I was thinking the same. I'd imagine they want the port to be as small as possible and are looking to the future.

dmcg90

What are we gonna do iPhone wise, seeing as Eu iPhones im assuming would carry Micro usb and not the normal dock connector we are used to, rendering most ipod accessories useless?

AlmightyCushion

dmcg90 wrote: »

What are we gonna do iPhone wise, seeing as Eu iPhones im assuming would carry Micro usb and not the normal dock connector we are used to, rendering most ipod accessories useless?

They'll probably use both. Normal iPhone connection on the bottom and a micro usb on the side.

Mimikyu

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Trojan

Now they can supply the phones without chargers (at the same price) and have you pay separately if you want one. Makes perfect business sense.

Mimikyu

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Abelloid

All you'll probably ever need to buy is a micro adapter, good move IMO.

Sam Vimes

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

Why couldn't they have gone with mini usb. It's a hell of a lot more common. I've tonnes of those mini usb cables but no micros.

Sure why would you invest in changing your charging socket if everyone already has the necessary cables to use it? You'd never make your investment back

John Mason

Digicel are introducting solar power phones this year. that is even better then a common charger

they used to have solar powered chargers but have built the solar thingy into the actual phone now - so no charging

obviously, its not going to work in ireland

matrim

Captain Morgan wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Yeah, the N85 charges from micro USB and I think there could also be a couple of the other new N \ E series that do too

Abelloid

Tocco Ultra too.

mickoneill30

Newer Blackberrys too.

Rsaeire

Me too... I mean, the new Samsung's too, e.g. Samsung i8910 Omnia HD, Samsung S8000 Jet, Samsung I8000 Omnia II.

120_Minutes

newer nokias and blackberrys have been using micro usb for a while now, although most of the nokias wouldnt charge over them (stupid)

Davy

Nokias have been using the micro usb for awhile, but always had the charging port also. The new ones, like the n97 has just one micro usb port for data and charging. It comes with an adapter that you can charge the phone, using either of the old nokia chargers (2mm and 3.5mm), so all you will need is one of them : Nokia Charger Adapter CA-146C