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Universal Phone Charger Approved By UN Body
andylim writes "Plans for a universal mobile phone charger have been approved by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a United Nations body. The charger has a micro-USB port at the connecting end, using technology similar to what is commonly used with digital cameras. It is not compulsory for manufacturers to adopt the new chargers, but the ITU says that some have already signed up to it. 'We are planning to launch the universal charger internationally during the first half of 2010,' Aldo Liguori, spokesperson for Sony Ericsson told the BBC."
Apple have already signed an agreement and stated they will be using a standard micro-usb socket on the iPhones in the future. I believe Apple will introduce this socket in 2010.
Source: http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE55S1XZ20090629
Well, Nokia uses the Micro USB connector. And Sony Ericsson seems to be on board as well.
Just by market share alone those two make up more than 45% of the world wide market for new phones.
Get any of LG, Samsung or Motorola to sign up for this, and you're looking at more than 50% of the market for new cell phones.
But even with 45% of the market for new phones, it's still a massive incentive for the rest of the market. You could end up with a situation where new phones don't come with a charger, and you pay maybe 10 bucks for a new one if you need it. After all, with 45% of new cell phones needing this kind og charger, that's a huge opportunity for selling them separately.
I, for one, would like to see something similar happen to laptops as well, even though my 95W power brick is over sized for a netbook, it'd be nice not to have to pay a minor fortune to find the right one.
The Koreans carriers back in late 2005 and China a year later. It's about bloody time - the world needs less junk.
Pain is merely failure leaving the body
My HTC charger comes with several separate pin configurations in the box. I just attach the correct one to the charger and off I go. Welcome to the 21st century. I don't need a different charger and I don't need to buy a travel adaptor.
- Wikipedia
The wall-wart contains the circuitry that converts 110vac/240vac to low voltage DC. Killing the wall wart means that same circuitry goes into the device, meaning that devices will now be larger by the size of the wall wart.
More sensible would be to simply make everything charge via USB, as USB is already a low-power DC source, and most low power (say 10W and under) devices can be made to work from it. Future versions of USB could even be made to allow higher current delivery, allowing higher draw devices to be connected.
Devices like modem routers though will always have a wall wart, unless you want them to be obscenely large and heavy. I'm happy for those devices to stay as-is however, as the vast majority of them are 12V 1A or below, so I just bought a dozen 12V 1A adapters from eBay once, and now I don't have to worry about losing them as they all work with each others' adapters.
Just remember, as long as the voltage is the same, the adapter can work. Most devices will have their input voltage stamped on them near the power jack, match it with an adapter and off you go. Just make sure that the adapter is capable of delivering as much or more current than necessary.
E.g., a modem router than says "Input 12v 500mA" will work just fine with my standard 12v 1A adapters.
I hate printers.
Devices like modem routers though will always have a wall wart, unless you want them to be obscenely large and heavy.
I don't see any real gain from the users point of view in having that bulk and weight in an extra box.
The real reason so much stuff uses wall warts is because it makes the regulatory compliance issues much easier/cheaper to deal with.
note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register