China To Mandate Standardized Phone Chargers
from the five-year-plan dept
About this time last year, we noted that South Korea was solidifying its leadership in the mobile realm by mandating that handsets sold there have standardized charging and data cable ports, simplifying a hassle for consumers, and potentially slashing sales of high-margin accessories. Now, China appears to be trying the same thing, saying handsets sold there should be able to charge via USB. Given the growing importance of China to overseas handset vendors, if the government enforces this new rule (no deadline's been set for compliance), it could signal a significant shift worldwide. Making the change to only accommodate handsets sold in China could be difficult, whereas foreign vendors don't sell many devices into the relatively small market of South Korea. Still, implementing such a change isn't simple and completely straightforward for handset vendors, but at least China's apparently decided to use USB, instead of inventing its own standard.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Chinese Standards
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Standardize headphone connectors too!
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... don't give them any ideas.
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Could be a lot better
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Re: Could be a lot better
As far as I know, there is only one mini-usb standard, care to explain?
I've been angry with the various chargers for the longest time. I've had LG phones for the last 5 years and it is absolutely ridiculous that even though they've had the same battery all along, the chargers changed. I just went from vx6100 to vx8300 and their chargers have but one difference, a little ridge in the middle of the connector to make sure you cannot use the charger from vx6100 on vx8300.
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Accessory Ripoff
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Re: Re: Could be a lot better
The port connection looks the same, but the ingress to it is oddly shaped. Enough that a standard mini-USB plug will not fit it.
You have to buy replacement plugs from Vivitar, and the cost is at least double that of any mini-USB plug I can buy at my local MicroCenter.
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Not all is bad.
Thier pc suite is pretty handy/stable/feature packed too.
(And no i don't work for them) :P
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Re: Re: Could be a lot better
Reminds me of RS-232 standard cables back in the '80s.
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Re: Re: Re: Could be a lot better
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Lots of connectors for USB...
USB A: Which you see on the sockets on your computer.
USB B: Which you see on the sockets "big" devices like printers and music keyboards, and some older USB hubs.
Then there are three mini-connectors:
USB mini-B: The most common mini-connector used on small devices (cameras, newer hubs and card readers, etc.)
USB mini-A: A plug that looks almost but not quite like the USB mini-B connector. It is used on far less devices, most use mini-B instead. Mini-A connectors do not mean nessesarily that the device supports USB Host, it just means that the manufacturers decided to be annoying, most of the time.
USB mini-AB: They support both USB mini-A and mini-B, meaning that the device can act as a USB host (like a computer) or a USB slave (like a normal device). This is used in PDAs, where you can attach another USB device (like a camera or storage) to the PDA, and also connect the PDA to a computer for syncronisation.
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Re: Standardize headphone connectors too!
The common 2.5mm jack is a great way for dust and particles to enter your phone and destroy keypad etc.
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Re: USB connection for Motorola RAZR
This almost suggests that windows blocks the system from seeing the phone....
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Re: RAZR USB
Having used a RAZR for the last 2+ years I have not had anywhere near these problems. I have reflashed the firmware on mine and seen some improved performance on the cell network but in your case, look into the drivers you have installed. motox and motomodders are both reasonable places to start if you want to find a solution yourself instead of depending on the vendor.
This brings me to a point about having a standardized USB interface for charging and data, in many cases it makes it possible to find solutions even without the assistance of vendors or service providers. This is a great thing considering neither has ever proven suitable in a support role.
This would however be much improved if it were part of an "anti-lock-in" law.
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Depends on how USB will be used..
USB wasn't designed to be just a power source, it requires intelligence on both sides of the link (well, OK, that's stretching it with Windows, but I digress) - this will require intelligence in chargers too if current draw is high, as is typical with phones that charge quickly.
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Re: Could be a lot better
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Re: Re: Could be a lot better
>> care to explain?
My universal USB cable/adapter set contains 3 similar but different mini-USB connectors:
- one called 4-pin,
- one called 5-pin, and
- one called mini-B
The 4-pin and the 5-pin look extremely similar.
My cameras (and phones) so far have all been with the 4-pin socket.
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Re: Re: Standardize headphone connectors too!
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Re: Depends on how USB will be used..
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Actually I have never seen any cell phone MANUFACTURERS giving free phones. A lot of cell phone operators like verizon do offer a 'free' phone if you sign up for a plan that you must pay for certain period of time or you have to return the 'free' phone. The cell phone manufacturers get paid either way...
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Re:
I wish it was full sized usb instead of mini though
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Re: bluetooth
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samsung chargers
it's easy upgrading, you just keep all your old accessories.
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standard critical accessories on mobiles...
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Re:
enough to use services that are not in your plan.
So u get a 50 a month plan, uve guaranteed to give them 1200 dollars.. the reason that they sell overpriced accesories is that ppl are dumb enough to buy them, but its hardly how carriers make their money. u really are stupid to buy accesories at a carriers retail store when u can get them for half as much at the grocery store or online....the kids dad who got mad about it is a dumbass, heres an option-Dont buy it there!
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Re:
Yeah, I seriously doubt you're going to pay $300-$400 for a phone. It's not the manufacturers giving the phones away, it's the carriers, and it's in exchange for the contract. The manufacturer has to get a phone to the carrier for as cheap as possible and the only way to make money is the accessories, because the carriers won't pay for the value of the phone, because of the competition.
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Will definitely save on cables?
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sounds good to me
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Re: Accessory Ripoff
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