Standard Cellphone Chargers

That’s all I want in the world. Well, not really, but it would add a huge boon to my happiness. My family is late to the “let’s get cellphones” game, but even with our limited exposure, we have had 3 different style cellphones, each one taking a radically different charger. Of the 3, my current Razr is the one that “gets it right” when it comes to power adapter.

See? Standard. Yummy.

See, that’s a standard Mini USB plug. I can charge my phone with the charger, or by connecting it to any Mini USB connector attached to a computer. Why each company (including Motorola, one of the other 3 is a different model Motorola) has to make proprietary power connectors is a mystery to me. I know the claim is to sell more power cords, but with 3rd party chargers, where is the advantage for the OEM?

Cellphone companies: Standardize. And do so with Mini USB.

Thank you. That is all.

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Posted in General Thoughts |

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 15th, 2008 at 9:58 am and is filed under General Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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11 comments

Nathan:
 1 

I need a charging station:

-cell phone
-bluetooth headset
-camera
-ipod

Too much stuff. (The cats love all the wires though).

July 15th, 2008 at 10:30 am
Topher:
 2 

I agree. My old phone did this. My new one does not. Not only that, but my USB data cable will NOT charge the battery. I have to unplug, and plug it into the wall. You can buy a third party wire to do it more righter, but why should I have to?

July 15th, 2008 at 10:40 am
MWT:
 3 

Yeah, I bought all the accessories for one phone brand, and now that I have all of them, I’m stuck with that brand because I don’t want to start over having to buy new ones for another.

July 15th, 2008 at 11:00 am
Random Michelle K:
 4 

All the phones we’ve had have had the same charger. And Michael, my grandmother and I all can use the same charger.

A USB charger would be nice, though not so great for the car I think.

July 15th, 2008 at 11:19 am
Monochrome Rainbows:
 5 

While they are at it why not standardize digital cameras. I have three types of mini USB cables for digital cameras. They are all almost identical to standard mini USB.

Since the subject is up why does EVERY home printer HP makes have a different power cord while EVERY business Laserjet uses a standard PC power cord?

July 15th, 2008 at 11:20 am
mattw:
 6 

It was always frustrating when I worked retail and people wouldn’t know what kind of charger they needed, so they’d open the package, find out it was the wrong one and return it or put it back on the shelf. No one wanted to buy a charger with an open package.

I’m with you, standardize and make things simple.

July 15th, 2008 at 11:34 am
MWT:
 7 

Sounds like the store should’ve put up display models that clearly showed both ends of each cable-thingy.

July 15th, 2008 at 11:42 am
John the Scientist:
 8 

Michelle - I have a USB charger for the car that charges my phone, my Blackberry, and my GPS - all of which have USB charge ports. It’s great.

However, Motorolla’s USB chagers are finicky. I can use the Motorolla wall charger to charge the BB, but the phone says “unauthorized charger” when I use the BB wall unit for the RAZR. WTF?

Same thing when I use the BB USB from the computer to the RAZR. Not only that, Motorolla saw fit not to put a 3mm jack on the RAZR, forcing non-bluetooth headset users to buy a big old goofy-looking dongle that plugs in the USB port, making it impossible to charge and talk hands free without bluetooth. (I have a back-up non-bluetooth headset for when the power runs down on my Jawbone.) Makes me want to hurt a Motorolla Engineer or two, yes it does.

July 15th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Kisintin:
 9 

Sorry to intrude.

MiniUSB is history now. I have a friend, who is an engineer in Motorola here is greater Chicago, and i have asked him to get me a MiniUSB to stereo converter(my new RIZR upgrade from RAZR comes with a music player). He said he couldn’t find one, since Motorola already went to the MicroUSB (a flatter and wider version of the port).

Good luck with the phones. :)

July 16th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Steve Buchheit:
 10 

Heck, years ago Douglas Adams also wrote an essay on “little dongly thingies.” He had a closet full of them, and just like Xerox is really in the toner business, he felt electronics corporations were in the “little gongly thingy” business.

July 17th, 2008 at 10:07 am
Jeri:
 11 

While we’re making random technological requests of the universe can I also ask for standardized digital camera batteries and chargers? Trying to find a disposable CRV-3 battery for my Kodak Z612 near Yellowstone was an adventure, since I’d forgotten my charger.

And if I were to get really impudent, I’d ask for standardized memory card format too - let’s pick one, SD and SDHC by preference. ;)

July 17th, 2008 at 12:29 pm

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