EU Committee Votes To Make All Smartphone Vendors Utilize a Standard Charger

Deathspawner writes "The EU has been known to make a lot of odd decisions when it comes to tech, but one committee's latest vote is one that most people will likely agree with: Standardized smartphone chargers. If passed, this decision would cut down on never having the right charger handy, but as far as the EU is concerned, this is all about a reduction of waste. The initial vote went down on Thursday, and given its market saturation, it seems likely that micro USB would be the target standard. Now, it's a matter of waiting on the EU Parliament to make its vote."

Comments

Sure, it's good today

[ThatAblaze]

This bill had better have an expiration date, or else it might well interfere with new technologies like (perhaps) wireless power transmission.

Re:Sure, it's good today

[pspahn]

Eventually? The sooner the better, if you ask me.

I currently have several devices that are nothing more than paper weights now as they are no longer chargeable due to broken micro USB ports.

It's not a terrible design for something like an external hard disk or other device that generally just sits there. On a device that is designed to be handled constantly, however, it falls flat on its face. The connection is simply too fragile.

If the EU really wants to reduce waste, they would mandate a connector that didn't break so easily, thus bricking the device. This is less of a problem nowadays with laptops, but they too have suffered this problem long enough that at this point the only reason you would keep releasing devices with fragile power connectors is that you are engineering obsolescence.

Re:Sure, it's good today

[dugancent]

No prob. In fact I use my 3rd iPod charger (2003ish) to charge my iPhone 4S.

Re:Sure, it's good today

[msauve]

Huh? There was Firewire/30 pin, then there was USB/30 pin, then there's the shuffle "charge using the headphone jack," then the Lightning charging cable.

Beyond charging, Apple's changed the other interfaces, too. Try to find a recent audio device with iPod control support which works with any iPod prior to 5G ones (and even those are iffy). "Made for iPod" means nothing, because Apple does frequently change their interfaces.

Re:Sure, it's good today

[Macman408]

Parent and GP are both right, kind of. The original iPod had a Firewire port right on it. The third-generation iPod switched to the 30-pin dock connector. This connector is the same connector that was used all the way through last year, when Apple switched to the Lightning connector instead.

However, within this connector, different devices support different features. The connector contains pins for both Firewire and USB, each with their own power (Firewire is 12V unregulated, USB is 5V regulated). Another feature that varies by device include video output.

Any accessories that didn't take the easy way out and support charging via both USB and Firewire will work on any device. The problem many people encountered, however, is that many accessory makers DID take the easy way out, especially for car accessories. A 12V unregulated power supply is really easy to get in a car - everything runs off of 12V. So an old 30-pin charger can basically just connect the cigarette lighter directly to the phone, with a fuse inline for safety.

Eventually, Apple dropped Firewire support in new devices. Anything that supported both Firewire and USB kept working - however, many accessories didn't. After all, why add in a 5V regulator and other components if they're not strictly needed?

Re:Sure, it's good today

[pspahn]

I must have been holding it wrong, right?!?!

Let's look at the most recent device, a Samsung Galaxy Player 5. That one stopped working properly one day when I had unplugged it from the charging cord (like I would do each morning) only to find that the little wafer of plastic that sits in the middle of the female port came out of the device.

Other USB connectors (of various sizes) I have seen do the exact same thing over the years across all sorts of devices. What did those devices have in common? They were handled constantly. On devices that do little but sit there, the connector works well.

Kudos. You've managed to never break one in your life. This doesn't change the fact that other people will use these devices in a manner much less "sterile" than yours. Being a clutz has nothing to do with it, because, well, I'm not a clutz. I will admit, though, that occupational hazards probably contributed the majority of wear and tear on my devices.

In the end, a micro USB connector (and other USB connectors to an extent) is terribly fragile and no matter if it breaks because you gave your phone to a baby while it was plugged in or if it breaks because of normal wear and tear, the end result is the same, electronic waste. If the goal of the EU is to reduce this waste, choosing micro USB is directly in conflict with that goal.

Re:Sure, it's good today

[Anonymous Coward]

I must have been holding it wrong, right?!?!

Or something, yes. I work in IT and support includes the phones (smart and dumb). I have never, ever seen someone break a microUSB connector. These are people that drop phones in coffee and in the toilet, who leave them on top of vehicles and who run them over with their cars. They are one of the more durable connectors I have ever seen, especially for their size. The fact that you manage to break multiples of them speaks way more about your own ineptitude than it does the plug design.

Re:Sure, it's good today

[thegarbz]

I must have been holding it wrong, right?!?!

Well let's put it this way. MicroUSB connectors were designed specifically so that the plug was sacrificial. I use them a lot for hobby electronics, and my phones I use at work for convenient usb storage. I would on average plug them in 10+ times per day. I have had a lot of the cables fail, like they are supposed to, but I've never seen a device itself fail.

Anyway this is all beside the point. I'll open the floor back to you to tell us what alternative plug you can suggest. Only criteria is that it has a current carrying capacity higher than 1A, is capable of supporting high speed data transfer, can be easily centred and inserted without looking and is no more than 3mm high.

By the way I assume you took the device to get repaired right? I mean surely you didn't throw it out or replace it because a $0.60 component (in single quantities), which any competent soldering iron user could replace, broke right?

If you didn't then shame on you.

Re:Sure, it's good today

[tlhIngan]

Actually, there's nothing in MicroUSB itself that makes it particularly fragile.

It's the handset manufacturers who don't want it to be robust. They're very happy selling you a device with a 90 day warranty and an expected lifespan of about a year.

Avtually, it being small is reason enough - it means it's small enough to be installed via automated pick and place machines.

But it also means the only mechanical attachment it has to the board is a set of solder pads - two big ones near the part where the cable inserts. If you want tabs that go through the PCB, it requires a separate through-hole process to finish the attachment, extra costs.

The problem with soldered mechanical attachment points is that they result in the weakest part being the glue that holds the copper to the PCB. Wiggle the cable a little bit or jam it a touch too hard and you delaminate the copper foil from the board. Eventually the tabs break off the PCB and the connector is literally held by the 5 pins at the back which aren't strong enough to withstand much insertion and removal cycles.

Perhaps the EU should mandate that the connectors be epoxied down to the board so an accidental bump or jerk doesn't destroy the connector. Once the pads rip off, it's the only way to reattach the connector.

Be especially wary of docking stations that attempt to do an Apple and have a micro-USB jack stick straight up and be a mechanical attachment point for the docking station and that port is not generally expected to withstand much mechanical strain.

Heck, the EU should probably go with something similar to Lightning - where there's no plastic tongues inside the connector. I've seen them break off - on both the device and the cable ends. Making the jack a solid piece with external connections like lightning or those 2.5mm plugs is far more structurally sound than relying on flimly slivers of plastic.

That's odd

[Anonymous Coward]

I thought there was an international law against governing bodies making common sense decisions?
Someone is going to receive a very sternly written letter.

Re:But, but, my precious Lightning charger!

[sl149q]

20% less cool and half the amps..

Not a huge problem for your iPhone probably. But definitely a problem for your iPad.

And literally (really literally not emphatically literally) the iPad chargers are not less cool. They get pretty warm :-)

You must know a lot of people

[dutchwhizzman]

There are millions of people that have iPhones, none of them are your friends? This whole "must be chargeable with micro USB" was already mandatory in the EU, they are just changing the regulations so you don't need an adapter like the iPhone currently requires. They had to, because evidently vendors weren't having it and found ways around it, so yes, there really is a need to legislate this.

Re:Don't worry

[ericloewe]

Ah, Apple. Dock Connector had its stressed parts on the connector, which means that if something breaks, it's most likely the cheap cable. MicroUSB does this too. Lightning has its stressed parts in the receptacle - so the parts that break the most are inside the expensive phone.

Great idea, huh?

Re:Don't worry

[_xeno_]

Not to mention the thing where the lightning cable apparently has a chip in the cable itself to verify itself with the phone. Turning the "cheap and easily replaceable" bit into "an unnecessary expensive and wasteful thing."

The lightning cable and connector should die, and Apple should be forced to use micro USB just like everyone else.

Re:Don't worry

[Hognoxious]

Designing the phone to break before the connector has no advantages.

It does if you sell phones.

Making the de-facto standard mandatory.

[Animats]

This is just making mandatory the Common External Power Supply EU standard. That's been a voluntary standard since 2009, and most cell phone vendors in Europe have been on board for years. It's simple enough - phones use a MicroUSB B connector, and chargers use a USB-A connector if they have a connector at the charger end.

China standardized on MicroUSB-B back in 2007. The GSM consortium standardized on MicroUSB-B in 2009.

Re:Don't worry

[icebike]

Apple already got an exemption last time this issue came up in the EU.

This isn't the first time this was addressed by the EU.
The last law only affected the part that plugged into the wall, so Apple got an exemption there.

Now they are specifying BOTH ends of the connectors must meet the standard. Its about time.
Also, selling phones without a charger, for 10 bucks less would make sense as well.

Re:Vote with your wallet

[icebike]

No need to legislate this.

Wrong.

You need only look at power outlets across europe to see what happens when you don't legislate standards.

When an otherwise popular device foists yet another cable requirement on the market, that, in most cases will over-ride users
resistance to having a new cable. All you have to do is LOOK at all the Apple fanbois tossing out their 30pin connector,
(which we were assured by Apple was the best thing ever) and substituting the new Lightning cable, which is also now the best thing ever).

In the mean time, the rational for doing ANYTHING thru the cable besides charging is virtually non-existent.

A world standard almost exists for phone charging. There is really only ONE holdout.
Wired charging will eventually be supplanted by wireless charging, and you will need standards there as well.

Standardization is ALWAYS something that needs legislation. Always.