Universal Cell Phone Charger - 2010

[slammer111]

Finally, about @#%*!! time! Now if they only standardized electrical outlets and voltages too..

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/ptech/0...ger/index.html

(CNN) -- The frantic hunt for the right cell-phone charger will soon be a thing of the past -- in Europe at least -- as major manufacturers on Monday agreed to introduce a universal adaptor within six months.

Industry leaders, including Apple, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson, have struck a deal with the European Union to introduce the one-size-fits-all charger by January 1, 2010, offering a solution to one of modern life's chief frustrations.

As the number of cell phones has exploded over the past few years, so have the number of chargers -- generating mountains of waste technology as users change or upgrade handsets.

Now the cell phone industry has agreed to standardize its chargers, making all handsets compatible with a micro-USB plug already standard on handsets such BlackBerrys.

Last year an estimated 1.2 billion cell phones were sold worldwide, according to University of Southern Queensland data reported by industry umbrella group GSMA (Groupe Speciale Mobile Association), generating up to 82,000 tonnes of chargers.

With concerns over the level of waste generated by redundant or outmoded chargers, European legislators had, prior to Monday's agreement, considered forcing manufacturers to adopt universal technology.

"I am very pleased that industry has found an agreement which will make life much simpler for consumers," Gunter Verheugen, vice-president of the EU's executive arm, the European Commission, said in a statement.

"This also means considerably less electronic waste, because people will no longer have to throw away chargers when buying new phones."

With the Europe-wide agreement in place, the rest of the world is unlikely to lag behind.

GSMA, which represents 750 of the world's cell-phone operators, has already pledged a January 2012 deadline for introducing a universal charger.

[ime2006]

Japan pretty much is using Universal Mobile phone charger.

You can use DoCoMo charger on Softbank.....that i know.
Probably on AU too.

[asian_XL]

Universal Cell Phone Charger = USB...lol...
almost every phone now can charge with a usb port

[slammer111]

^ I think you missed the point. You're thinking about the Electrical Plug end. They're talking about the PHONE end.

Also, many people have MiniUSB. This is MicroUSB. It's a major step forward since smaller USB plugs also mean smaller phones!

Currently almost every brand of phone has their own plug. They're about to convert so that EVERY phone starting in 2010 will take a MicroUSB plug.

So you're telling me that right now you can take a Nokia charger and plug a SE phone into it? How about a Samsung? Currently you'd need 3 different chargers.

Maybe I'm out of date, but I haven't seen any phones out there that use MicroUSB. The closest is Motorola, which uses MiniUSB.

[Ulic Qel-Droma]

they should standardize a lot of things on this planet.

[slammer111]

Yeah, like the side of the road we drive on, and the Metric System (*cough* USA *cough*)

[asian_XL]

I prefer mini USB...micro usb is just too tiny, old people will have a tough time attach it to
the phone. My mom just wrecked her Samsung charger, because it's toooooooo thin and hard to
see whether it's upside or downside.



and yes, Universal charger definitely can save the planet, but I am expecting wireless charging dock
that was invented by some hongers nerds...pretty much you place your cell phone or
whatever electronic requires charging on the dock and it will charge by itself.

[ecsw]

Originally Posted by asian_XL

I prefer mini USB...micro usb is just too tiny, old people will have a tough time attach it to
the phone. My mom just wrecked her Samsung charger, because it's toooooooo thin and hard to
see whether it's upside or downside.



and yes, Universal charger definitely can save the planet, but I am expecting wireless charging dock
that was invented by some hongers nerds...pretty much you place your cell phone or
whatever electronic requires charging on the dock and it will charge by itself.

me too. but microUSB claims to have 10x longer life with plug/unplug. Thing is, Nokia took the big share in the standard as they were already started their phones with MicroUSB anyway. It's not really a conference, it's more like Nokia "tells" everyone starting to make phone with MicroUSB, that's all.

[Manic!]

I hope laptop companies follow suit.

[Vansterdam]

cool