Good news on phone chargers.

[Globalti]

Just heard on the radio that from 1 January all new phones will come with a micro USB charger. You will be able to recycle all those unwanted chargers in your kitchen drawer.

There are also plans to standardise all small appliances like Game Boys, MP3 players etc. but that will take a little longer.

 

[661-Pete]

Just another ploy to persuade us users to junk all our old phones on the grounds of being 'obsolete'. For my own phone (2001 vintage) it's already that hard to get a replacement charger, none of the so-called 'universal' chargers will fit it. I doubt if this new goodie will be any 'good' to me .

 

[Dan B]

I think it's a welcome move, though I'm mildly annoyed that they chose microusb and not mini-usb (in this house I'm never more than 6 feet from a mini-usb cable, but micro-usb is a somewhat rarer beast)

If you already can't get a replacement charger for your old phone, I don't see how this changes anything for you. But think forward another ten years: when your "old phone" is a Galaxy S or HTC or Blackberry or something, the chances of someone finding it profitable to still producing a charger that fits all those brands is so much greater than of their producing six different ones. Economies of scale ftw

 

[Night Train]

So does that mean phones will now be sold without chargers as standard? That would be a good move.

 

[asterix]

Am I the only person who has 50,000 old chargers I daren't throw away in I need one of them? When I buy something with a charger I often think I'll label it in some way but never do (that they are all black doesn't help) Even if I find one that fits a device I daren't use it in case some voltage discrepancy might blow the lot up

 

[Fnaar]

Am I the only person who has 50,000 old chargers I daren't throw away in I need one of them? When I buy something with a charger I often think I'll label it in some way but never do (that they are all black doesn't help) Even if I find one that fits a device I daren't use it in case some voltage discrepancy might blow the lot up

Year ago I had one of those portable CD players (it felt really flash/cool at the time!!) Anyway, it fell out of use after a bit, till I rediscovered it. Hunted round for its charger, found something (unlabelled) that I thought was it, plugged it in, waited a bit, and smoke started pouring out of the CD player!! To this day, I have no idea what I plugged into it, but it fitted. Both player and 'charger' went in the bin.

 

[marinyork]

Just heard on the radio that from 1 January all new phones will come with a micro USB charger. You will be able to recycle all those unwanted chargers in your kitchen drawer.

There are also plans to standardise all small appliances like Game Boys, MP3 players etc. but that will take a little longer.

Been planned a long time. Sadly it's taken this long to come in. I don't agree with the other small appliances but have thought it for a long time for phones. Like Dan B and a few others have pondered mini rather than micro, however micro is quite a bit more common that it used to be.

 

[MacB]

Am I the only person who has 50,000 old chargers I daren't throw away in I need one of them? When I buy something with a charger I often think I'll label it in some way but never do (that they are all black doesn't help) Even if I find one that fits a device I daren't use it in case some voltage discrepancy might blow the lot up

Nope you're not alone, I keep promising to label stuff, I have a big storage box in the garage full of leads of various sorts, more in the desk drawers and the kids have them scattered all over the place.

 

[marinyork]

Just another ploy to persuade us users to junk all our old phones on the grounds of being 'obsolete'. For my own phone (2001 vintage) it's already that hard to get a replacement charger, none of the so-called 'universal' chargers will fit it. I doubt if this new goodie will be any 'good' to me .

Just out of interest how many chargers have you been through in that time? Only charger I've ever had break is a Sony Ericsson one.

 

[Aperitif]

This is a revolting topic.

I'm with Dan. And why aren't multi-use cables longer - it would help...just a bit l--o--n--g--e--r...please.

 

[Dan B]

This is a revolting topic.

But nevertheless a very current one

 

[661-Pete]

This is a revolting topic.

But nevertheless a very current one

Taxi for Mr. Aperitif and Mr. Dan B!

I think I'm on my third charger, but I'm currently using one salvaged from another phone, which happens to use the same connection. I still have the original charger, it still works, but the plastic casing is cracked and it's all wrapped around with insulating tape to 'make it safe'...

 

[HLaB]

I liked the old nokia chargers any one fitted any model you could leave you're old one at work and one at home etc. Then they changed them :-(

 

[PpPete]

I'm mildly annoyed that they chose microusb and not mini-usb (in this house I'm never more than 6 feet from a mini-usb cable, but micro-usb is a somewhat rarer beast)

wish I knew the difference !

 

[Piemaster]

I've sort of gone this way as there is a fair bit of stuff that uses usb for charging anyway.
The phone (G1), Kindle, bluetooth headset, ipod and hair clippers(!) all have cables with a standard usb plug on the end. Add a plug type transformer (in this case I'm using the one that came with the Kindle) and its cut down the volume and weight I'm carrying about. Could even use the netbook and dump the plug as well, but its convenient not to.

All I want now is a usb rechargeable electric toothbrush.