RSS2010 will be the breakthrough year for Micro USB
By Tim Conneally | Published June 29, 2009, 6:28 PM
To cut down on electronic waste and increase interoperability, ten mobile phone makers have signed a European Commission Memorandum of Understanding that commits them to using Micro USB as their standard mobile phone charger and data connection by 2010.
Many of the companies that signed the agreement, which include Apple, LG, Motorola, NEC, Nokia, Qualcomm, Research in Motion, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, and Texas Instruments, are members of the OMTP Forum which agreed on standardizing micro USB for charging and local data exchange last February.
"I am very pleased that industry has found an agreement, which will make life much simpler for consumers," said EC Vice President Günter Verheugen, "I am also very pleased that this solution was found on the basis of self-regulation."
Micro USB is already found in a number of popular devices, such as Amazon's Kindle, and differs from the commonly found Mini USB standard because it allows mobile devices to be connected to each other without the need for a host computer.
So what's this mean for the newer, wider, USB 3 connector?
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|I for 1 am glad at least someone is looking at standardizing the connector. If only that would happen in the US... I think MicroUSB is the way to go. It's ridiculous the amount of oddly shaped connectors that these companies come out with. To upgrade an aging device only to find out you need to buy a whole new charger (since most phones don't seem to include THAT anymore!) Most MP3 players i've seen as of late, including many external PC drives, have stuck with microUSB as a standard for connectivity.
Reducing waste i think is the fact that instaed of 30+ different types to go through to find the 1 for yours they are all standard, which means connectors for outdated phones don't get tossed in the trash after the price has been reduced to $0.01. Of course that probably means less bargain bin chargers ;)
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|I can see convience. But reducing electronic waste? Unless phones are sold without chargers, Im going to end up with a new one every time I buy a new phone. Then there are power requirements. Some chargers put out more or less depending on the manuf., battery and power consumption.
Unless I am missing some info about memorandum. Is it up to the consumer to say, "Take the charger out of the box. I have one at home." Or is this about data + charging cables only (excluding AC adapters)?
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|I think the motivation for the standard is more about making it cheaper and easier for consumers to get data cables and charger for their phones than any environmental benefit. I could see some reduction in duplication of cables though.
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|It's about time. I'm not sure if I have one of those charges now, but it doesn't seem like the current chargers are compatible, according to other things I've read.
Anyway, it's progress, especially if the same manufacturers support it outside the EU.
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|THANK YOU EC!!!
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|I have a Nokia 6500 Classic. I bought it because I had a Nokia 6300 which was good at the time but it had a 2.5mm phono which needed an adapter and a mini jack charger which was intermittent.
The Nokia 6500 Classic only has a micro USB which does everything including charging from my PC. If you just need a slim classy portable phone - this is it.
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|so what's wrong with miniUSB again?
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|Some reality behind today's "news"
http://www.theregister.c...9/eu_commends_micro_usb/
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|Agreed. Mini USB is already small enough for the vast majority of mobile phones. The Micro USB connector is so thin that I would worried that in real world practice you would see a lot of careless people breaking the connectors at some point.
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