POSTED BY

Joel Johnson

AT 9:29 AM
Monday June 29, 2009

Accessories • Phones and Wireless • Progress and Optimism

eu • microusb • standards

Europe, meet your new phone charger standard

microusb.jpg

Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, LG, Qualcomm, Research in Motion, Samsung, and Texas Instruments have all agreed to accept microUSB as the standard phone charger format starting in 2010. Wonderful, welcome development, and I hope it means we'll get this by proxy here in North America.

Apple playing along has interesting ramifications to not just the iPhone, but to the entire iPod family: Will the long-standing Dock Connector, used by countless third-party accessories, finally be on the way out?

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12 Comments

codeman38

#1 – 9:48 AM June 29, 2009

Umm...the "microUSB" link goes to an article about networked video recorders.

rudi

#2 – 9:49 AM June 29, 2009

The dock connector stays, according to fscklog (warning: link contains Deutsche Sprache) - they got in touch with the German Apple spokesman and were told that supplying a dock -> charger adapter is a-ok according to the memorandum between cellphone manufacturers and the EU.

tp1024

#3 – 10:07 AM June 29, 2009

Isn't it wonderful what businesses will do for the public all by themselves ... once you threaten them with the equivalent of kicking a man between the legs first and drag them around in football stadium using the anatomical features squashed in the process?

zuzu

#4 – 10:31 AM June 29, 2009

miniUSB for power and data has been a requirement of mine for purchasing mobile phones since maybe 2002. I don't recall a BlackBerry not having miniUSB, except for the most recent models that have switched to this microUSB. Back when the Motorola RAZR was introduced (and a Big Deal), that too had a standard miniUSB port for power and data.

I'm glad to see SE and Samsung get dragged into this, because they've been the biggest holdouts against using standard USB ports for power and data, but it was entirely possible to "vote with your wallet" to get a USB port before.

Charlie Stross

#5 – 11:07 AM June 29, 2009

I've got one (1) Micro-USB device; a Nokia N810 internet tablet. This is not mini-USB; it's a flatter, smaller connector, much more suitable for ultra-slim mobile phones.

As a standard for 2010 going forward, it doesn't suck -- though I hope there's provision for scaling to USB 3.0 data rates in due course?

monopole

#6 – 11:38 AM June 29, 2009

Charlie @ #5 You forgot to mention that the micro-USB on the n810 isn't for charging, its data only. The n810 also has a tiny Nokia coax for charging.

It's a pity because my new Kyocera x-tc has a micro-USB charging port which would simplify my charging considerably if the n810 did as well

dculberson

#7 – 11:49 AM June 29, 2009

My Palm Pre and my wife's Kindle have micro USB for charging.. and the same USB wall wart lets me charge my iPod using the sync cable. It's incredibly handy having just those three use a common power supply - I can't wait for more things to get on the bandwagon. Fewer wall warts, fewer vampires, cheaper for manufacturers because they eventually won't need to bundle a power supply. (ala iPod which just has the cable included.)

Of course, it'll probably last a year or two until the Next Best Thing comes along and you have to gradually transition to that. Train keeps a-rollin'.

Matt J

#8 – 12:31 PM June 29, 2009

My Palm Pre and my wife's Kindle have micro USB for charging.. and the same USB wall wart lets me charge my iPod using the sync cable. It's incredibly handy having just those three use a common power supply - I can't wait for more things to get on the bandwagon. Fewer wall warts, fewer vampires, cheaper for manufacturers because they eventually won't need to bundle a power supply. (ala iPod which just has the cable included.)

Of course, it'll probably last a year or two until the Next Best Thing comes along and you have to gradually transition to that. Train keeps a-rollin'.


Your devices probably have mini USB. Micro USB is flatter and smaller. It's unlikely there will be a 'next best thing' for quite some time, as the EU seems to be enforcing the use of this connector.

The iPod dock connecter is not going away, as Apple has stated it will be providing a dock to micro USB adapter.

dculberson

#9 – 1:23 PM June 29, 2009

Your devices probably have mini USB. Micro USB is flatter and smaller.

Nope, they both have Micro USB. It's not readily apparent on the Palm site, but per Wikipedia:

For charging and data-transfer, the Pre uses a microUSB connector

and:

Input USB 2.0 port (micro-B connector)

Scuba SM

#10 – 6:26 PM June 29, 2009

Yup, my LG phone has a microUSB port for charging, and my Creative Zen has an adapter to allow it to charge from a MiniUSB cord. So, I carry one cord, two adapters, and charge my stuff off of my laptops.

Enochrewt

#11 – 8:47 AM June 30, 2009

My LG phone also has a microUSB port for charging. I actually thought this was the standard already. Heh.

Tahiri

#12 – 2:49 PM July 4, 2009

Non-standard USB ports on devices (like the ipod/zune/psp go dock connectors) should be illegal

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