I was just looking forward to wireless charging taking off, I hope this doesn't scupper that.

So just get apple to use MicroUSB and its already done?

I just hope they run with the ‘all batteries must be user replaceable’ one that was mentioned a while back.

Is this still the case with modern mobile phones, most I have seen use a micro-usb port for charging now.

DanceswithUnix
I was just looking forward to wireless charging taking off, I hope this doesn't scupper that.

I hope it does.

Wireless charging is currently a terrible solution that solves that awful problem of ‘It takes me 2.1 seconds’ to plug in my phone.

IF wireless charging didn't waste 30% of the electricity, and IF it wasn't so damn slow, and IF wireless charging had one universal standard, and IF wireless charging didn't heat up the device unnecessarily then it would be great.

But it's inefficient, non standardised, slow and heats up the device when we all know heat is bad for lipo cells.

Works great on my toothbrush though!

I used wireless charging on my Lumia 920 when I had it, it worked ok and was quite handy though would have been more handy if it would have transmitted data as well.

Jonj1611
Is this still the case with modern mobile phones, most I have seen use a micro-usb port for charging now.

Most but not all, iPhones and also tablets tend to use custom connectors. Tablets use them so they don't blow up a low-current USB charger which makes little sense given that USB is fairly good about indicating how much power can be drawn, you have to be actively trying to break the rules to create a dangerous charger.

Dooms
So just get apple to use MicroUSB and its already done?

It'll never happen.

They're not going to force a manufacturer to fit a MicroUSB socket, so all Apple will have to do is supply their adaptor and charge the end user £15 more where at the moment it's optional.

http://store.apple.com/uk/product/MD820ZM/A/lightning-to-micro-usb-adapter

So Apple will make more money. Users will pay more money. And everyone will continue using lightning connections for their charging just as they do now.

Hate it being ‘non-standard’ or not, but lighting cables are the current Apple standard and they are a great connector. Having a reversible plug with rounded corners is smoother to plug in that MicroUSB and less likely to catch and scratch.

Rather than waste everyone's time with making silly laws like this. Why not enforce manufacturers to make devices in a responsible, ethical and sustainable way? Make them sort out their packaging and most of all name and shame the guys selling cheap plastic tat that isn't built to last!

The vote was massively in favour of the draft new Radio Equipment Directive laws, being approved by 550 votes to 12 with 8 abstentions.

550 for with only 20 against or “don't care” - yep, my definition of “massive” support. :D

DanceswithUnix
I was just looking forward to wireless charging taking off, I hope this doesn't scupper that.

Erm, can't see why it should - I thought this just said that if you wanted to use a cable then it had to be uUSB rather than some wierdo “we do this to preserve our monopoly” nonsense.
So if someone - eg Nokia - wants to use wireless connection then they're still free to do that. Now the next step surely is to start fixing THOSE systems so they're interchangable wherever there's no technical reason not to do so (e.g. higher current).

Dooms
So just get apple to use MicroUSB and its already done?

Pretty much - see my “wierdo” comment above. Dare say they'll moan and bitch about it being a “technically inferior solution” and how it's going to take months and cause great expense. Neither of which swings much weight with me because this EU move has been on the cards for months if not years.

Jenny_Y8S
It'll never happen.They're not going to force a manufacturer to fit a MicroUSB socket, so all Apple will have to do is supply their adaptor and charge the end user £15 more where at the moment it's optional.

Yes it WILL happen - it's an EU directive, so if you don't like it then you don't sell in the EU. And note the Commission only gets to decide on what types of radio equipment need to use this standard. So unless Apple decides to reclassify the iPhone as “portable magical lifestyle device” then it's a mobile phone and the directive applies.

Jenny_Y8S
So Apple will make more money. Users will pay more money. And everyone will continue using lightning connections for their charging just as they do now.

If it's Apple's choice to charge the users then that's Apple's fault, not the EU. Or do you actually like having a drawer full of mutually incompatible charging bricks and leads? I know I don't

Jenny_Y8S
Hate it being ‘non-standard’ or not, but lighting cables are the current Apple standard and they are a great connector. Having a reversible plug with rounded corners is smoother to plug in that MicroUSB and less likely to catch and scratch.

Agree here, actually quite like the Lightning connector, especially the fact that it fits either way - sometimes getting that micro-D connector the “right way up” is a real nuisance. Maybe Apple should have been lobbying to get IT made the standard rather than uUSB, but then it would have had to be an open, free-to-all technology rather than Apple's usual "mine, and you can't have it" attitude.

Jenny_Y8S
Rather than waste everyone's time with making silly laws like this. Why not enforce manufacturers to make devices in a responsible, ethical and sustainable way?

Try reading the article - the ideal is to cut the amount of unnecessary waste going to landfill in the shape of old chargers, and also to make it a lot easier for us consumers - not being forced to buy the equipment makers own cables etc. So to call it “silly” is a horrible piece of UKIPism.

Actually I'd be really happy if they extended the reach of this directive to cover tablets. I think it's ludicrous that my Samsung tablet can't use the charger/cable that I got for my Asus tablet and vice-versa, despite them both having the same electrical needs.

I agree that it has made my life far easier - multiple devices with MicroUSB ports means I can have MicroUSB chargers available in many rooms and charge anything, anywhere, when I need to.

But what happens when MicroUSB goes the way of the dodo? The USB forum is designing a “lightning-like” USB port as the next generation USB interface - a small, reversible socket. Will phones that use this for data also require a MicroUSB port for compatibility (or an adapter)? Or will this regulation be updated to keep up with technological changes?

Its unlikely they'll come to a common connector, but at the moment (apple excepted) we already have a common charger, i.e. a usb socket. I'd guess its pretty difficult now to buy any kind of consumer portable equipment that doesn't charge off a USB socket, certainly phones etc all will, all you need is a standard for the charger to tell the device how much power it can draw (which USB has) and stopping manufacturers building in extra stuff so only their chargers work (I've not had an iDevice for a long time, but I know my OH's ipad 2 is finickity about what chargers it likes, portapow, asus are both fine, LG not).

Jenny_Y8S

DanceswithUnix
I was just looking forward to wireless charging taking off, I hope this doesn't scupper that.

I hope it does.

Wireless charging is currently a terrible solution that solves that awful problem of ‘It takes me 2.1 seconds’ to plug in my phone.

IF wireless charging didn't waste 30% of the electricity, and IF it wasn't so damn slow, and IF wireless charging had one universal standard, and IF wireless charging didn't heat up the device unnecessarily then it would be great.

But it's inefficient, non standardised, slow and heats up the device when we all know heat is bad for lipo cells.

Works great on my toothbrush though!

Couldn't agree more, wireless charging currently is in every way inferior to wired charging, it's pretty hard to use it whilst charging as well without headsets etc. It's really only of use in sealed devices like toothbrushes.

Few problems spring to mind with the “standard charger”, it could become limiting if companies need to enhance a product somehow and want to combine it with charging (e.g. built in Powerline ethernet in the charger). What happens when USB connectors are like floppy disks now? Are they going to standardise the charger to 1A/2A etc, not all devices have equal current demands… I bet all new phones will still come supplied with one thus leaving people with an old one floating about when the reason for replacement was loss or theft etc. Actually the more I think about it the less great it seems in reality, it's mostly OK at the moment anyway in the most things can be plugged into a USB port and get some power if the port supplies enough.

Truth is it's nothing new, the standard for mobile phone chargers is already there, it's just being expanded, most of the mobile manufacturers including Apple signed up to an EU Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in 2009 for the adoption of a Common charger. This was a voluntary pact that they would all move towards the adoption of the standards for use of a common charger for handheld, data-enabled devices.

The standard called for devices to be able to accept a 5V charge at the same levels as the USB voltage standard. The charger specification for the common charger was defined as having a micro-USB-B connector and either hard-wired to the outlet connection (plug) or connected via a USB-A connector.

People have complained that Apple have not complied by still using a proprietary connector but they are in fact in compliance. The iPhone does indeed charge from a 5V USB level voltage, and if you use an adaptor you could connect it to a common standard charger, and use of an adaptor is allowed in the standard.

What has actually changed, but most of the press listed as an aside, is the expansion of the standard, to not just include handheld mobiles, but any “product which intentionally emits or receives radio waves for communication”- so tablets, modems, garage door remotes etc.

kingpotnoodle
Couldn't agree more, wireless charging currently is in every way inferior to wired charging, it's pretty hard to use it whilst charging as well without headsets etc. It's really only of use in sealed devices like toothbrushes.

Few problems spring to mind with the “standard charger”, it could become limiting if companies need to enhance a product somehow and want to combine it with charging (e.g. built in Powerline ethernet in the charger). What happens when USB connectors are like floppy disks now? Are they going to standardise the charger to 1A/2A etc, not all devices have equal current demands… I bet all new phones will still come supplied with one thus leaving people with an old one floating about when the reason for replacement was loss or theft etc. Actually the more I think about it the less great it seems in reality, it's mostly OK at the moment anyway in the most things can be plugged into a USB port and get some power if the port supplies enough.

It doesn't seem that long ago that charging by USB was really bad, the low voltage and low current available limited what the phone manufacturer could do and a “proper” high voltage charger seemed better in every way. Things improved, now it works well.

I have two USB leads by the side of my bed for charging stuff. A charging mat would be so convenient compared to finding where the cable has dropped to on the floor of an evening, but if the phone company is forced to include a usb charging socket then they may well never bother with new technology, so it won't get improved to the point that you see it as useful.

If you aren't convinced, how about micro displayport? With DockPort extensions that gives you charging, display and usb3 in a single connector. If that is banned then someone needs a damned good kicking.

crossy
Yes it WILL happen - it's an EU directive

LOL. Apple are already in compliance with the standard. Just because it's being extended to tablets etc doesn't change anything. This is clearly a subject you know very little about, or why Apple created their adaptor to allow micro USB charging.

crossy
Try reading the article - the ideal is to cut the amount of unnecessary waste going to landfill in the shape of old chargers

Of course it's obvious what the directive about, but forcing everyone to use a microUSB connector isn't going to stop cheapo Chinese devices being shipped with a fragile charger with an integrated cable. Apple go their own way on connectors and ship their gear with solidly built chargers and USB cables that are up there with the most robust. Apple gear gets resold or repurposed at the end of it's normal life and thus doesn't end up in landfill.

I would say producing a quality long lasting product that people want to keep and use and that retains it's value over time is the best way of avoiding it going in landfill.

@crossy - think those probably just scrape into the compliancy box

@ jenny_y8s While the adaptors might be compliant with the EU directive, aspects of your post referring to crossy were not compliant with HEXUS rules on posting. However, I have applied the appropriate scalpel and now it is. :)

Mobile phone charging sorted - EU PM's can go home knowing they've done their bit of hard work

Ukraine can wait another day……

With the move towards waterproof phones, being able to charge your phone without breaking the water seals starts to make sense.
Sony's attempts with pogo pins in a nice idea except for the 3 handsets with them all have different pin spacing.

It is quite amusing in an office when someone needs to borrow a phone charger. Plenty of microusb leads going spare, and old apple connector if you're lucky. But lightning apple connector you're on your own

Brewster0101
Mobile phone charging sorted - EU PM's can go home knowing they've done their bit of hard work

Ukraine can wait another day……

I'm not a fan of the over bureaucratic mess the EU has become, but that's not really fair. The people who have written this draft would have little, if anything to do with the situation in Ukraine. Not only that, but this started way before the Ukraine situation.

The MEPs had to do little more than cast a vote, which is literally seconds.

Pretty sure this is more about the wall wart than it is about the cable and connector anyway.

Be nice if a decent, reversible USB3.0 compliant connector became standard though, the current micro USB 3.0 is… not the best

I thought this had already happened a few years ago, which was why most mobiles are micro usb now.

So they certainly seem to have dragged there heels making it a standard.

about time this happened. i have a drawer full of chargers for various devices. they can all be binned now.

i would prefer wireless charging becoming the standard. much better way.

Jenny_Y8S
LOL. Apple are already in compliance with the standard. Just because it's being extended to tablets etc doesn't change anything. This is clearly a subject you know very little about, or why Apple created their adaptor to allow micro USB charging.

Erm, I DIDN'T say that Apple would be forced to drop their Lightning connector. So if they (Apple) decide to ship their i-Devices with a uUSB->Lightning converter then that's still compliant
Edit: Others have said the same, now I've read the rest of the thread.
And I very much doubt that Apple created their adapter out of the goodness of their corporate heart - it's probably more to being compliant with earlier moves from the EU. As I said before, there's some good arguments for replacing the uUSB connector with the Lightning connector as the standard, but that presupposes that Apple would let that happen.

Now I'm not @work I've had a chance to read up a bit more and that confirms pretty much that you can put any connector you like, just as long as that “universal” charger can talk to it. And, assuming I'm reading it right, you can even go wireless - just as long as your wireless dock/pad/whatever can take a feed from the universal charger. I'm just hoping that the rule is tight enough to prohibit nonsense like that which Samsung perpetrated with the Galaxy Note and Tab tablets - altering the cabling etc, so you can only charge with their cable and their charger - they really deserve a good slap over that idiocy.

(I also can't say as I care that much for the sneering tone in your post, but hey, I'm not that sensitive, so I'll let it pass)

Jenny_Y8S
Apple gear gets resold or repurposed at the end of it's normal life and thus doesn't end up in landfill.

Got any facts to back up that sweeping generalisation? No, thought not. :p (See I can do “sneery” too)
I can't see many folks around still using the original iPhone - for example. And a quick Google search will show examples of where iDevices are no more magical than any other piece of technologic trash. At best they can expect to get stripped, and recycled safely. At worst, they (and HTC's, Samsung's, Sony's, Motorola's, Blackberry's, etc) end up in some 3rd world dump leaching lord-knows what into the groundwater. If you doubt me, then take off the iFan glasses and look at some of the reports from ecological campaigners like Greenpeace etc. It's pretty shocking how much harm our once-beloved essential devices cause when we decide that they're no longer “beloved” nor “essential”.

Jenny_Y8S
I would say producing a quality long lasting product that people want to keep and use and that retains it's value over time is the best way of avoiding it going in landfill.

As a generalism, that's true. However, with technology moving onwards so rapidly a product that was top of the line two years ago is merely middle of the road now. Take iPhone4S or Galaxy S3 - both top phones then, not so hot now. Or to take a real “outta there” example - Cray Y-MP supercomputer, arguably better built than any mobile phone, but definitely now “so last century”. And I'm going to assume that when you said “value” you were speaking in a more ethereal “value to it's user” sense, rather than crass “dollars and cents” - since we both know that any piece of consumer electronics loses staggering amounts of resale value.

I will say its good how most things can be charged off USB, I charge my 3DS at work with it plugged into the PC, I will say its not a standard connector but the power requirements are so its a 99p cable off ebay.

I do fins it amusing in the office when somebody with an iphone needs a charger, use windows and android users all just shrug with our £1 cables.

Percy1983
I will say its good how most things can be charged off USB, I charge my 3DS at work with it plugged into the PC, I will say its not a standard connector but the power requirements are so its a 99p cable off ebay.

I do fins it amusing in the office when somebody with an iphone needs a charger, use windows and android users all just shrug with our £1 cables.

But therein lies one reason why this is a bad idea - a common standard means you can plug your £500 phone into a £1 charger from China.

Just like PCs, chargers can made made of exacting standards, which built-in protections against problems …. or not. How long before cheap chargers start blowing expensive phones, and/or tablets?

Multiple chargers is a pain, but not as big a pain as having to buy a new device, because a cheap charger fried an expensive device and the manufacturer washed their hands of it.

Phone ‘chargers’ aren't actually chargers as such and haven't been for a long time.
They're just a +5v power supply. All of the battery charging logic is inside the phone itself.
Cheap chargers are far more likely to blow themselves up than a phone, have seen a few cases of this counterfeit apple chargers which only exist because genuine chargers are seen as a rip off.

It got so bad at one point apple would give you a genuine charger for handing in a fake for free.

Saracen
But therein lies one reason why this is a bad idea - a common standard means you can plug your £500 phone into a £1 charger from China.

Just like PCs, chargers can made made of exacting standards, which built-in protections against problems …. or not. How long before cheap chargers start blowing expensive phones, and/or tablets?

Multiple chargers is a pain, but not as big a pain as having to buy a new device, because a cheap charger fried an expensive device and the manufacturer washed their hands of it.

Hmm, at the risk of incurring your wrath, I don't agree with your logic here. After all if we're back in the bad old days of a 1:1 mapping between chargers and phones, then there's nothing to stop your hypothetical idiot with a £500 smartphone from buying a manufacturer-specific no-name “compatible” charger from “dahn the market” and frying their phone.

I'm being unkind here, but there's arguably a bit of Darwinism going on there - if you're dumb enough to trust some really cheap charger, then maybe you deserved to get “burned”, (not literally of course - I wouldn't wish that on anyone … other than perhaps that bozo in a silver Volvo XC90 who tried to run me off the road on Sunday past).

Is dodgy chargers any different to those dodgy batteries that you see on eBay etc?

I'm probably being very naive but maybe an “EU standard charger” would be easier to enforce standards on - some kind of test stamp, CE mark perhaps. Then educate the public not to buy anything without the mark.

I know what you're getting at, but I don't see non-universal chargers as being the answer. Stronger trading standards type enforcement and a better educated public is.

DanceswithUnix
It doesn't seem that long ago that charging by USB was really bad, the low voltage and low current available limited what the phone manufacturer could do and a “proper” high voltage charger seemed better in every way. Things improved, now it works well.

I have two USB leads by the side of my bed for charging stuff. A charging mat would be so convenient compared to finding where the cable has dropped to on the floor of an evening, but if the phone company is forced to include a usb charging socket then they may well never bother with new technology, so it won't get improved to the point that you see it as useful.

If you aren't convinced, how about micro displayport? With DockPort extensions that gives you charging, display and usb3 in a single connector. If that is banned then someone needs a damned good kicking.

Finding the cable on the bedside is already resolved with a dock stand if it's a problem, which IMHO is better than a charging mat, I'd prefer the the efficiency of a wired connection over the slight easier picking up - I'd still prefer a regular cable so I can pick it up, use it *and* charge it though! Wireless charging might improve but it has a long way to go yet.

Well there we go see, Dockport - there already is something technically better on the horizon… I'm concerned over standardisation just stifles innovation for very little benefit, if we continue to get given a 5V PSU with every new device (which we probably will) then there will still be a mountain of waste spares anyway.

Percy1983
I do fins it amusing in the office when somebody with an iphone needs a charger, use windows and android users all just shrug with our £1 cables.

I find it even funnier when someone goes looking for a “blackberry” or “kindle” charger, when they could use the same micro USB charger they have been using for some other device You see it offshore a lot. Lots of people with all the gadgets and no real idea how they work or how to use the properly.

This is why the consumer gets screwed over constantly.. Instead of pushing for more progress like these kind of actions to make STANDARDS, there's idiots bashing EU in some manner, talking about Ukraine and Apple or cheap batteries with warped logic they think makes remotely any sense.

crossy
Hmm, at the risk of incurring your wrath, I don't agree with your logic here. After all if we're back in the bad old days of a 1:1 mapping between chargers and phones, then there's nothing to stop your hypothetical idiot with a £500 smartphone from buying a manufacturer-specific no-name “compatible” charger from “dahn the market” and frying their phone.

I'm being unkind here, but there's arguably a bit of Darwinism going on there - if you're dumb enough to trust some really cheap charger, then maybe you deserved to get “burned”, (not literally of course - I wouldn't wish that on anyone … other than perhaps that bozo in a silver Volvo XC90 who tried to run me off the road on Sunday past).

Is dodgy chargers any different to those dodgy batteries that you see on eBay etc?

I'm probably being very naive but maybe an “EU standard charger” would be easier to enforce standards on - some kind of test stamp, CE mark perhaps. Then educate the public not to buy anything without the mark.

I know what you're getting at, but I don't see non-universal chargers as being the answer. Stronger trading standards type enforcement and a better educated public is.

I take your point, but … two things.

First, the danger is that if you give the impression that a ‘standard’ charger means any charger is the same as any other, then in the absence of carefully and effectively enforced standards, you encourage a race to the bottom. And, given the already huge workliad on Teading Standards, my bet is that enforcement will be sporadic, at best. It's not going to be a priority.

And you also risk either, as someone suggested earlier, a mountain of chargers building up, or a race to cut costs on chargers. Or perhaps, manufacturers not including a charger at all, and if that gappens, it opens the possibility for all sorts of physical failure to be blamed on the charger …. which is made by someone else.

After all, people will pay silly money for the latest, high-tech, fashion-statement phone, but the charger? Well, sexy it ain't. So, it'll be a cost reduction target for manufacturers, if they include one at all.

Personally, I don't gave a problem with chargers. When I buy a new phone, I either sell, give away ir ditch the old one, in which case, the dedicated charger gets sold, given away or ditched with it. Whether dedicated or ‘standard’, I have one phone, one charger.

For the computery types here (most of us) ever tried explaining to a non-computer-literate friend why a 500w PSU costing £8 is not the same thing as a 500w PSU cost £60?

Personally, having taken a few apart over the years, I don't take chances on cheap PSUs, because while some of the price of more expensive brands may be marketing, a fair bit is component and design quality. When you make a really cheap variant, something gets sacrificed to get the cost down.

You're picking and choosing what kind of reality/logic you like to follow.. You mention PSU and the choice to go between £8 or £60 and then here you're expecting consistency from the charges.

That's the beauty of it. You buy a charger that YOU want and trust the same way you would with a PSU.. I don't see people crying about that. So you can spend whatever you want on a charger, hell it can be gold plated if that makes you happy.. Have you seen the HDMI cable market? I don't see that being plagued with cheap cables, in fact people are spending stupid amounts of money because they've think the digital signals some how come out better. The argument of “them” not knowing better actually doesn't even hold because the more they don't know, the easier it's to get them to buy the more expensive product.

The real benefit here is you buy your preferred charger and you don't need to replace it. It's very simple. You've instantly cut down on WASTE and you also help yourself. Everybody wins… What's so hard about this to understand?

If they fry their product, they'll know it was the dodgy charger they used, if it was the chargers fault, that doesn't mean globally everyone else's items have been fried at the same time.. Personally and I think most people will do is buy from a trusted place and not spend another second thinking about it.

Savas
You're picking and choosing what kind of reality/logic you like to follow.. You mention PSU and the choice to go between £8 or £60 and then here you're expecting consistency from the charges.

That's the beauty of it. You buy a charger that YOU want and trust the same way you would with a PSU.. I don't see people crying about that. So you can spend whatever you want on a charger, hell it can be gold plated if that makes you happy.. Have you seen the HDMI cable market? I don't see that being plagued with cheap cables, in fact people are spending stupid amounts of money because they've think the digital signals some how come out better. The argument of “them” not knowing better actually doesn't even hold because the more they don't know, the easier it's to get them to buy the more expensive product.

The real benefit here is you buy your preferred charger and you don't need to replace it. It's very simple. You've instantly cut down on WASTE and you also help yourself. Everybody wins… What's so hard about this to understand?

If they fry their product, they'll know it was the dodgy charger they used, if it was the chargers fault, that doesn't mean globally everyone else's items have been fried at the same time.. Personally and I think most people will do is buy from a trusted place and not spend another second thinking about it.

There are cheap PSUs with very poor filtering, voltage stability and so on, and there are properly designed PSUs with good design, good component quality, and so on. You use the cheap ones at you own risk. The same applies to chargers, at least for the more popular phones, and other devices, with cheap devices from typically less reputable far eastern sources. The buyer chooses, and takes the risk. But many buyers don't understand the risk, thinking that one 500w PSU is the same as another, but just a lot more expensive. If you “standardise”, one risk you run is that people think any charger that fits a “standard EU connector” is the same as any other …. so they'll buy the cheap one, not realising that cheap manufacturer, poor quality control and lack of decent quality components can, and regularly does, lead to poor, and even dangerous, results.


And Savas, knock off the patronising remarks about “choosing reality” and “what's so hard to understand”. You're welcome to disagree with anyone here, and say so, but that kind of tone is not welcome here.

kingpotnoodle
Finding the cable on the bedside is already resolved with a dock stand if it's a problem, which IMHO is better than a charging mat, I'd prefer the the efficiency of a wired connection over the slight easier picking up - I'd still prefer a regular cable so I can pick it up, use it *and* charge it though! Wireless charging might improve but it has a long way to go yet.

Well there we go see, Dockport - there already is something technically better on the horizon… I'm concerned over standardisation just stifles innovation for very little benefit, if we continue to get given a 5V PSU with every new device (which we probably will) then there will still be a mountain of waste spares anyway.

That would require a dock stand for at least a couple of different phones, a couple of different tablets and a Nook e-reader. As the items are all different sizes with charging ports all over the place, that would require at least 5 docking stands.

Wireless would work regardless of device size so just one mat. If you assume headphones are bluetooth, TV output is over WiFi and charging is wireless then that would be all the ports removed from the case and perhaps we could have waterproof phones.

My Nook reader and my Dad's Moto-G phone didn't come with a charging adapter, just a USB lead. I guess that for cheaper devices the mountain of chargers is already dropping.

Savas
You're picking and choosing what kind of reality/logic you like to follow.. You mention PSU and the choice to go between £8 or £60 and then here you're expecting consistency from the charges.

Actually going to disagree on this - to an extent. Getting down to basics, there's not that much difference between basic PSU and phone/tablet charger, both fulfilling the same core function.

Where I'm going to agree is that the standardisation that the EU's bringing will - like the PSU market - surely encourage the better producers to want to differentiate their products from the “£5 from Tesco, no name” ones.

What I'd like to see - and it's easily done - is for the phone chargers to follow that PSU route. Sure you can get the no-name, don't-ask-any-questions ones (but you're a prat if you buy those), but I'd guess most of the Hexians will be looking for features like modular connections, good efficiencies, low noise, etc.

Similarly for the phone chargers, increased efficiencies is the most obvious route - maybe even take on the “80+” certification scheme used for PSU's? We're already seeing dual chargers that can do phone and tablet (although not Samsung ones - don't get me started on that!), and charging points included in normal mains extension leads/blocks. Someone I was speaking to was asking why someone doesn't do an extended battery pack that includes wireless charging - so you gain more capacity and wireless charging on your phone at the expense of a little bit of extra bulk.

Oh Saracen, I've found the “£8 v's £60 PSU” argument dead easy:
1. You've got zero comeback on the £8 charger - good luck trying to get a warranty claim from “Wang Cho Puk Industries”. On the other hand folks like Corsair, beQuiet, Antec, etc are easily reachable - even via Hexus in the case of Corsair.
2. £8 will be noisier;
3. £8 will be less efficient, using up valuable electricity to produce heat that then has to be got rid of;
4. The £8 one will be “just good enough”, whereas the more expensive PSU can probably be redeployed for the next build. It's only the move from 20pin to 24pin ATX plug that forced me to junk my 6 year old Enermax PSU, (and yes I know, there's converter plugs, but it didn't have SATA plugs either).

Funnily enough #3 and #4 are usually the key points for most people.

crossy
Where I'm going to agree is that the standardisation that the EU's bringing will - like the PSU market - surely encourage the better producers to want to differentiate their products from the “£5 from Tesco, no name” ones.

That has already happened, I have a couple of multi port chargers that proudly claim they can charge two tablets at once distributing 2.5A or 3.5A between the two ports. Given that devices only seem to pull 2A from the socket when they are first plugged in and tail off as they charge up, 2.5A works well.

OTOH, I am getting used to cheap PSUs coming bundled with things like routers and phones from dying long before the device they are supposed to be powering.

A plea if any manufacturers read this post: If you insist on including an ultrabright power on blue LED in your charger design, please give me a facility to turn it off or at the very least turn it down from the weapons grade “on” that still lights the room at night under 10 layers of brown parcel tape.

DanceswithUnix
That has already happened, I have a couple of multi port chargers that proudly claim they can charge two tablets at once distributing 2.5A or 3.5A between the two ports.

I'm still amazed that Samsung managed to get away with their “our cable and our charger” rubbish for the larger Note and Tab tablets.. Strangely enough the smaller (8“ and below) devices seem to use the ”standard" lead but a 2A charger. Now I can see a point to the dedicated cable where that charging point is also used for battery/keyboard docks, but the dedicated charger seems like protectionism.

DanceswithUnix
A plea if any manufacturers read this post: If you insist on including an ultrabright power on blue LED in your charger design, please give me a facility to turn it off or at the very least turn it down from the weapons grade “on” that still lights the room at night under 10 layers of brown parcel tape.

Agree, the Virgin Media Stupid, sorry “Super”, Hub rev 1 had that "feature. No exaggeration to say it can light up a small bedroom by itself. Since I assume a lot of these routers will be in bedrooms, this seems like a massive oversight. Even if it's in the living room (lounge if you prefer) then what happens if you're trying to watch a film.

I tried the parcel tape too - didn't work that well. I've had best results from using Maplin's white double sided foam tape - two layers of that mute the light nicely. Actually Maplins sell a black coloured tape that's a good width to cover up leds, that might be even better at attenuating the light pollution - I think it's marked as for motoring uses.

crossy
I tried the parcel tape too - didn't work that well. I've had best results from using Maplin's white double sided foam tape - two layers of that mute the light nicely. Actually Maplins sell a black coloured tape that's a good width to cover up leds, that might be even better at attenuating the light pollution - I think it's marked as for motoring uses.

Hmm good call. I have some insulating tape in the garage in various colours including black, but one year on from moving house that area is still a work in progress so not sure where it is. That does sound like the tool for the job, I shall have a look.

For small LEDs I often find a small blob of blu-tak can discretely block them over, I had a bedroom TV before with a slight recess for the power LED where that worked really well.

Perhaps we need the EU to standardise non stupid power status lighting too :D