
Phone Chargers To Be Standardized In 2011 - kingsidharth
http://hothardware.com/News/Phones-Chargers-To-Be-Standardized-In-2011/
======
erikpukinskis
I'm glad they're standardizing, but MicroUSB is a terrible connection,
mechanically. It's what my HTC Incredible uses, and I have to fiddle around
with it for a few seconds every time I plug my phone in.

I wish they would've hired IDEO or someone to actually design this before they
settled on a standard. Something you could plug in with one hand, in pitch
black, while drunk.

... Not that I've ever tried to do that.

~~~
jrockway
With MicroUSB, the parts that wear out are in the cable rather than in the
port. So you probably just need a new cable.

With MiniUSB, it was the other way around... which meant throwing away the
whole device when one spring in a tiny USB port wore out.

I just hope they standardize on port orientation. I have an iDapt i4 charging
station, and my EVO goes on backwards, but my blackberry and mp3 player are
fine. Clearly a standard is needed here.

------
Timothee
At first, I was surprised to see Apple in that list since they tend to do
things their way. But it's true that they've used the iPod connector for ages
and that it's been very nice to be able to use any iPod cables laying around
to charge pretty much anything they've built since.

As Erik pointed out, it'd be nice to see something super easy to plug. I've
never had much problems with the iPod connector, maybe due to the build
quality. But USB (of all sizes, but regular USB in particular) has often times
been a problem. It needs to either accept to be plugged upside-down or to be
very simple to identify which side is up. USB is super frustrating on the
latter.

~~~
jonursenbach
They're most likely doing it so they can make an even smaller iPod Nano.

~~~
sogjis
No, they're doing it because otherwise they can't sell iPhone 5 in EU

------
thewileyone
Until the next phone maker decides that selling a different type of charger or
cable is going to add a few dollars to their P&L.

~~~
AndrewDucker
Not if they want to sell that phone in the EU...

