The GSMA has announced a plan for major phone manufacturers to produce one standard charger that would work with all handset brands, using a microUSB plug as the connection point (not miniUSB, as some sites have reported). The plan has the backing of almost every major phone maker, and if it succeeds presumably the rest of the phone industry will fall into line too. There are already some phones which do charge from microUSB, and the aim is to make most new models use standard chargers by 2012.
Read on in the full article.
If this becomes standard, it means there won't be any proprietary accessories any more:
-Headphones will be 3.5mm or Bluetooth
-Data cables will be microUSB
-Chargers will be microUSB
-Memory cards will be microSD (or whatever replaces it by 2012)
It should become possible to sell just the phone on its own, people will already have everything else that they need from their previous phone.
Of course some people will be annoyed and want a huge sales package, but personally I'd rather just have cheaper phones. And phones sold on their own will be much friendlier to the environment too, there's less to manufacture and less to ship.
Finally a good idea:icon14:
Apart from my N95, my past 4 phones (different makes but all non-Nokia) have already charged from mini USB, with interchangable chargers and support for charging from a laptop.
Good to hear Nokia are getting with the game, despite going non-mini-USB.
I suppose that micro USB is required for some of the ultra-thin handsets.
Tzer2 wrote:
-Headphones will be 3.5mm or Bluetooth
Is there a 3.5mm headset standard at the moment? The N95 even required a powered headset in order to work (battery in the button module on the cable). If that's the standard, I'd rather they re-thought it 😊
The N95 even required a powered headset in order to work
I use my N95 with totally standard unpowered Philips headphones.
(I've used the same headphones on every 3.5mm device I own, I think they pretty much all work with all 3.5mm headphones.)
(battery in the button module on the cable)
As far as I know there's no battery in there, it's just a button and a microphone. 3.5mm speakers would require power though.
Now I know that 2012 is a long way off, and I'm sure that most of us (at least here) will have moved on a number of times by then (although I do know someone personally who's main device is still the Nokia 9210i!), but am I the only one who fears for the plastic flappy covers for USB ports? I try to open mine as little as possible as it's pretty flimsy. If we have to do that every time we want to charge, it's gonna come off. Not such a disaster in terms of function (as proved by the N96/85 etc, etc... not having one) but certainly it'll look a bit tacky for resale value with the cover dropped off.
Or maybe the way to go is to provide a 'take off/press into place' cover so the user has the choice whether to expose the port all the time or try hard to keep the 'cover' from being lost.
Anyway, one for the future...
Tim
Edit: Actually, thinking on, the only 2 current devices with USB charging don't have flappy bits, I think I'm right in saying, so this issue won't raise it's head - however, I wonder if designers are going to continue with that standard?
Almost the best news to come from MWC!
but am I the only one who fears for the plastic flappy covers for USB ports?
At the moment charging ports don't generally have covers at all though, flappy covers are better than nothing...
Almost the best news to come from MWC!
Yeah, it's funny how the little things are often the most important! 😊
Well, lets start shouting at Nokia now.
Put the port at the BOTTOM of the device!
That means we can actually have proper docks, and also be able to charge in the car without stressing ports and cables.
Also, theres nothing wrong with an uncovered micro USB port. As long as it's well sealed so that dust going in doesn't get further into the phone. And, for obviously reasons, make it sturdy.