Micro-USB Cellphone Charger Becomes EU Standard 302
An anonymous reader writes "The European Commission has put into effect a June 2009 agreement stating that major cellphone manufacturers should standardize their charging/data connection ports to the popular Micro-USB format. CEN-CENELEC and ETSI provided the standards by which these 14 companies will abide to make cell phone recharging and data transfer easy." Apple may even bring the next-gen iPad along for the ride.
US (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:US (Score:5, Insightful)
Worse, they might corrupt the whole idea by supporting USB, but requiring the charger to authenticate itself, and either refusing to charge or deliberately drawing less power when you detect the wrong charger.
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"deliberately drawing less power"
Oh you mean, using a conservative figure for power capability so your charger doesn't burn/overheat/explode, etc?
Seems ok by me.
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But shorting D+ and D- has a fixed meaning: a device can draw up 1.8A.
That's interesting, I was not aware of that.
Still, micro-USB charger of my smartphone is only capable of 0.7A. Not sure if D+ D- are shorted there.
1.8A would be great really, but maybe not practical (considering size of charger).
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USB Battery Charging specification (Score:5, Informative)
and either refusing to charge or deliberately drawing less power when you detect the wrong charger.
One could argue based on the power management portions of the USB specification that drawing less power meets the spec, but refusing to charge does not. A device MUST NOT* draw more than one unit of current (100 mA in USB 2.0) until it successfully associates to the host controller. After a device is configured, it MAY request up to five units (500 mA) but MUST NOT draw more than the host says is available. The recent Battery Charging v1.2 spec [usb.org] specifies a protocol on the data lines that devices can use to detect dumb chargers and chargers that can provide more power, so that devices know when they MAY deliberately draw more power. You SHOULD support manufacturers of phones and other devices that support USB Battery Charging.
* RFC 2119 [ietf.org] modal adverbs != shouting.
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ANd the link to to the MoU [europa.eu] that was incorrect in my previous post.
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I don't think they will bring it over to the US by default. Or at least not voluntarily. The main reason why cellphone manufacturers switch to connectors that are 0.05mm smaller than the previous version, is to sell more spare adapters. This practice makes them a lot of money.
I think that they will only switch to one common standard if (a) having two production lines for european and other phones gets more expensive than having one (b) the government forces cellphone manufacturers to do so.
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The main reason why cellphone manufacturers switch to connectors that are 0.05mm smaller than the previous version, is to sell more spare adapters
Who does this? I've only owned phones from Siemens, Sony Ericsson and Nokia, but they've all been compatible with chargers from the previous generation. The only exception is Nokia, but they included an adaptor with each phone that let you use it with the older charger for several years after moving to the newer form factor.
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Bear in mind that a lot of phones get their own specialised outer casing compared to the standard version, so I doubt it would be much work to just make a small modification such as the socket.
Take for example the HTC Hero: Standard Version [letsgodigital.org] and the American Version [zdnet.com].
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In the end - if customers decide to prefer phones with a standardized charger the other models will soon go out of production.
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"It has always been cheaper to go with a 'standard' design but where's the profit in that?"
This logic is extremely circular. Sounds like big business to me!
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Your argument would make sense if it weren't for the fact that it's been possible to buy cheaper third-party chargers for all of the major phone brands for at least a decade. A more likely observation is that it encourages a form of lock in. I have a Nokia phone, and Nokia chargers are standard across their line and you can buy third party ones for under £5, so I have a few lying around. If I buy a new Nokia phone, I already have a load of spare chargers for it. If I buy a {someone else} phone, I
Re:US (Score:4, Insightful)
But, but... the invisible hand of the market?!
(Yes, that was sarcasm).
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I wonder if Apple had been planning on throwing the magsafe power connector on some future iPhone.
Depending on how the EU decree was worded, presumably they'd be disbarred from doing so now.
Does this law sunset? When mini-USB is as much of a relic as DIN-5 keyboard connectors, or when 95% of phones use inductive charging mats, will EU-market phones still have these silly ports on them?
(incidentally, I hate any non-USB interface on a phone. The EU directive certainly appeals to my current shortsighted desi
Smartphones with HDMI out (Score:2)
I hate any non-USB interface on a phone.
Do you also hate video output interfaces such as HDMI? A smartphone that has been connected to a large monitor to play a video could output the video using USB Video Class as if it were a webcam, but then that'd be silly.
Re:US (Score:4, Insightful)
Self-organized only because the EU threatened to impose it on them if they didn't do it themselves.
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It's not a government regulation, but the CTIA and GSMNA introduced the same measure in the US last year (well 2009) and it's a mandatory feature for all new handsets released from the big carriers now. Next step is to stop bundling chargers in the boxes like Apple did on the iPod. Then get rid of all the CDROM's, wired headsets, manuals and other junk accessories - they are almost gone now. Final step will be to get rid of the boxes themselves and ship in bulk to the stores and have them slipped into a (bi
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At the stores? I haven't bought a phone at a store since my first one in the late 90s.
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Good. Less shit for me to throw away.
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"wired headsets, manuals and other junk accessories "
as long as the manual can be obtained by going online to http://countrycodeoemsite/support/docs/%25model%25/ [countrycodeoemsite]
im all for less bits of paper being included in the box.
Oh btw the box is biodegradable and serves as inner core packaging SINCE SHIPPERS CAN AND WILL THROW THE BOXES AROUND. Now having the box be the minimum size to enclose the phone and a charger would be grand.
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The standard is fortunately leaking into Australia. I just can't see an advantage of micro USB over mini USB.
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Re:US (Score:5, Interesting)
Micro is rated for more insertions (I believe 10,000) than mini. Plus, micro enables thinner devices.
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I kept telling my GF that, she wouldn't buy it.
Try it with a thinner device. It'll seem bigger.
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Micro is rated for more insertions (I believe 10,000) than mini.
I kept telling my GF that, she wouldn't buy it.
Show her a gold plated Monster micro. Add a diamond stud; she won't resist.
Rated for more insertions? (Score:2)
Someone forgot to tell Nokia that. The micro usb in the N900 seems to be rated for 100 insertions, if you are lucky.
http://slashdot.org/submission/1180314/Nokia-N900-Hardware-failure---USB-port-falling-off [slashdot.org]
Re:Rated for more insertions? (Score:5, Informative)
That's not the fault of the actual connector. Nokia just failed to attach it to the circuit-board properly.
It is only surface-mounted in the N900, no solder-through pins or resin.
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I have two Magellan GPS devices, one is a cheapie and the other one was spendy when it was new. The latter has a separate charging port, the former charges from USB. I'd prefer something that could charge either way but you can see where I'm going with this...
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I've had two devices where the mini usb connector broke off in the last few months, while my N900's connector still works fine after over a year of usage. I'd blame faulty production over the connector type itself.
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I just can't see an advantage of micro USB over mini USB.
I have had several mini USB phones where the plug would fall out of the phone or lose connection if I just looked at it in the wrong way.
Micro USB feels much more stable. I can even feel a little "click" when I plug it in, whereas the mini USB was only held in place by friction.
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(Once again, this time with correct quotation tags):
I just can't see an advantage of micro USB over mini USB.
I have had several mini USB phones where the plug would fall out of the phone or lose connection if I just looked at it in the wrong way.
Micro USB feels much more stable. I can even feel a little "click" when I plug it in, whereas the mini USB was only held in place by friction.
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I just can't see an advantage of micro USB over mini USB.
Because most phones on sale in Europe at the moment seem to use mini-USB, so they hope to get at least one more cable sale out of this? (Except to techies like us who already have micro-USB cables lying around, of course).
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I wish they would do this in the US. It's dumb that each company has their own chargers.
Sounds socialist to me. I like letting capitalism sort it out. Just like it did with CDMA, TDMA, GSM, LTE and WiMAX. Thanks to capitalism we have the cheapest and fastest wireless phones known to the world.
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If they did this in the US, you would hear screaming about how it's another example of government's heavy thumb on the "free market" and comparisons to Stalin, Pol Pot and Kim Jong Il. Fox and Drudge would say Obama was "taking over the cell phone industry" and "shoving" "new regulations" down our "throats".
I don't think it's safe to try to do this sort of standardization here in the US. We've got enough trouble. It might be the last straw that sets off violent revolt. "They took our cell phone adapters! Those TYRANTS!"
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Murtazin is not a "trusted insider" (Score:5, Informative)
The claim that iPad 2 will have Micro-USB port in TFA hinges on this:
The most recent rumor, courtesy of the Mobile Review blog editor-in-chief Eldar Murtazin, says the iPad 2 will include a USB port. ...
AppleInsider reports that Murtazin is a trusted insider with good sources
That's as incorrect as it goes. He's an "editor-in-chief" of an organization that consists of precisely one person, namely him; and he is well known in Russian Internet community specifically for making wild and unsubstantiated predictions, often also claiming "insider info". The majority don't come true. So if that's the only source of that information, I would be wary about its correctness.
That said, if EU mandates micro-USB, it would seem that Apple won't get much choice there for iPhone, and then it would make sense for them to align the rest of the line-up with it, even if the law doesn't apply there. So it doesn't take an insider to make an educated guess here.
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I know a read somewhere, who knows where... cite my sauces? nah
That Apple will be held to this and provide basically and adapter dongle to use with the standard iPhone connector type.
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You mean like the dock to usb wire they ship from the start ?
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That said, if EU mandates micro-USB, it would seem that Apple won't get much choice there for iPhone, and then it would make sense for them to align the rest of the line-up with it, even if the law doesn't apply there.
Considering that the current iPad requires more power for charging (even the iPhone charger doesn't work on it due to that), I doubt that.
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Power in will not be the issue. What Apple will allow software and hardware related will be the issue.
Re:Murtazin is not a "trusted insider" (Score:5, Insightful)
It's not hard to see what will happen there. Nothing. 3rd parties that pay $$$ will get to licence limited access to whatever APIs expose music streaming, volume control etc.
I expect by default that the change in cable will let you charge via a standard cable and preciselessly nothing else.
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Non-amplified line out for docking purposes. FM radio aerial. Does the remote control need a full USB stack? My guess would be no, there's too many spectacularly cheap chinese knock-offs for that to be the case.
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I know Apple is popular around here, but they engage in a lot of dickish behavior that harms competition and the consumer.
Re:Murtazin is not a "trusted insider" (Score:5, Informative)
What can Apple's connector do that micro USB can't?
A great many things. The dock connector has pins for:
In contrast, micro USB has pins for:
You can, for example, use an iPod dock to directly drive a TV (useful for presentations - Keynote will export for the iPod so you can give presentations without needing to take anything bigger than an iPod with you). The second audio output in the dock means that you don't need to unplug the headphones when you drop the device in the dock. I don't think the FireWire pins are connected anymore, which is a shame because that allowed simple device-to-device connectivity (and, for example, plugging in an external hard drive directly to the device without needing a computer - iPod Linux let you do this and so did some other third-party firmware).
Samsung Captivate (Score:5, Interesting)
So, are they legally allowed to recess the port in such a fashion that only the official cables can reach the "standard" Micro-USB port, or is that just a mistake on Samsung's part? (It's pretty much my only gripe with the phone FWIW.)
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I have an HTC phone that has a slightly misshaped micro-USB female port that has only one wedged corner instead of the regular two corners and it comes with the a cable with a male side of the corresponding shape. This do not stop me from connecting other regular cable or micro-USB charger to the phone, but it does prevent me from using HTC's cable on other device (not that I intend to do that).
I understand if you want to make an odd-shaped port to make people buy accessories exclusively from you. But th
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It's called ExtUSB.
From Wikipedia [wikipedia.org]:
HTC manufactures Windows Mobile and Android-based Communicators which have a proprietary connector called HTC ExtUSB (Ext[ended] USB) which is present on the Touch Pro2. ExtUSB combines mini-USB (with which it is backwards-compatible) with audio/video input and output in an 11-pin connector.
And will this allow for innovation still? (Score:2)
I fully know standards for all types of things have been around for a long time, but either they were voluntary or just a number a company could work towards or surpass but with a design of their discretion. I'm specifically thinking of a company wanting to include some type of induction scheme like a soniccare toothbrush to charge their phones -- perhaps in an attempt to waterproof it without it needing to be "plugged" into a charger.
And considering the push into smart phones and bigger and bigger batteri
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There's no reason they couldn't inject silicone around the connector to make it waterproof and compliant.
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And considering the push into smart phones and bigger and bigger batteries, will the 5 watts that USB MAY provide be enough to charge it in time?
Barring a major development in battery technology, yes.
What about data transfer?
Are you proposing that USB3 is not sufficient?
Re:And will this allow for innovation still? (Score:5, Insightful)
Sometimes the invisible hand of the market needs a little nudging from the mighty foot of the state.
Re:And will this allow for innovation still? (Score:4, Informative)
Camera manufacturers have been making weather-resistant DSLRs for years now (there have been well known instances where entire EOS 1Ds and EOS 7D Canon DSLR+Lenses combinations have been dunked into 3' of sea water and continued working without any problem), and they have a lot more connectors to contend with as well as a couple of microphones and speakers. It should not be difficult at all for phone manufacturers to start offering water-resistant smartphones.
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As opposed to forcing you to buy a 30$ charger and a 15$ charger cable from every single handset producer?
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It has always been a bit of a limitation that officially you can only draw 500mA at 5V from a USB port, especially when FireWire can provide between 18 to 30V at up to 1A or more - leading to ridiculous things like a portable hard drive that requires two USB connectors - one for data and power, the other to draw more power, when a single FireWire cable will do.
I know apple has got around this with the dropping of FireWire support on the iPod line (and all subsequent 30 pin dock connector products) by having
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Micro-USB is not popular (Score:3)
In fact, I'd not seen a device which had one before a few months ago when a couple of phones started to use it. Mini-USB has been the standard for years and is only fractionally larger whilst being much stronger.
I would suggest that that has been the primary reason for this choice - to continue the decades old tradition of delicate connectors to facilitate the upgrade path.
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Mini-USB has been the standard for years and is only fractionally larger whilst being much stronger.
Mini-USB does look stronger, although according to Wikipedia, Micro should tolerate more connect-disconnect cycles.
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Re:Micro-USB is not popular (Score:5, Informative)
About damn time. (Score:2)
This has only been obvious for about ... 10 years.
Technologies change. But it's ridiculously obvious that they keep changing chargers so they can charge $29 bucks for a $11 piece of hardware with a new plug.
Re:About damn time. (Score:4, Insightful)
This is so ridiculously obvious that lots of libertarians will scream murder. Forcing a standard down our throat, oh the arrogance! I will only buy phones with a different connector just out of spite!
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Now, if we could just get Apple to release the Patents on MagSafe, so we could use this for all laptop...
What I don't understand is how they got a patent on MagSafe in the first fucking place. Somewhere around here I have a cord from a waffle iron or something that is based on two contacts and a magnet. It appears to be bakelite and thus from the 1980s at the latest. The last time I knew where it was my camera's batteries were dead, because it apparently won't charge NiMH batteries from the wall wart, so I have to keep cycling sets through a charger.
Finally caught up to China - after 4 years (Score:3)
Didn't they mandate this back in late 2006. What the heck took the EU so long?
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Coordinating a binding mandate over a union of dozens of sovereign states, including one of the world's largest cellphone manufacturers, probably takes a bit longer than doing the same thing with one country with a notoriously closed cellphone market.
Here we go again. (Score:2)
One of two things I see could happen.
1) Apple uses its sway (and breaks a few thumbs) in the EU so that they are exempt because they already use USB in a way.
2) They actually include the USB port (integrated into the dock connector slot somehow) and market it as a revolutionary feature that they thought of.
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Option is that they'll release a 30 pin dock connector to female micro-USB connector, since it is cheaper than redesigning the input boards on various iOS devices.
And for a little flame bait, they're not far off popularizing USB, although they didn't think of it. ;)
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Considering that they can't even make a standard mini-jack for audio without crippling to only accept their authorized accessories, I would say option 1. If they can't sway enough then option 2 obviously.
About frigging time (Score:2)
So much for eco friendly (Score:2)
Once again, misusing consumer technology. Using a data-technology to transfer power, doesn't sound like it'd be very power efficient. Fine by me, capitalism works best with waste. But I still wouldn't force the inefficient standard over an efficient alternative. Good way to waste money though.
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Re:So much for eco friendly (Score:4)
Afaict 5V is about right for charging a single lithium ion/polymer cell. Go much higher and unless you use a switched mode converter you are just wasting more power. Go much lower and you don't have enough headroom to charge it properly. Most of the phone "chargers" I saw seemed to be tending to 5V output even before the use of a USB connector came on scene.
Cradle? (Score:2)
Did they fix the position and allow easy pluggable possibilities so you can have a cradle or car adapter?
No, of course they did not.
Clumsy connector (or maybe just me) (Score:4, Interesting)
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Purely out of curiosity... (Score:2)
Does the spec detail exactly how a device wanting more than 100mA of power gets it when it's plugged into an adaptor rather than a computer? IIRC, the USB spec states that such requirements must be negotiated with the computer.
A little research suggests that this is simple - the PSU shorts the data lines, the phone recognises this and draws whatever current it needs. But AFAICT, if phone from Vendor A draws 800mA and your PSU is rated at 500mA - well, if it's been designed without any sort of protection (
Re:Purely out of curiosity... (Score:4, Informative)
Someone is gouing to have to spend some time in cell block number 9.
Of course, in the USA, consumers have no rioghts, because APPL has bought them all.
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Does the spec detail exactly how a device wanting more than 100mA of power gets it when it's plugged into an adaptor rather than a computer?
There is a USB Battery Charging Spec. It specifies how a dedicated charging port (which can be bower brick with a USB-A port, or something with a permanently attached cable) shall act to be USB compliant.
But AFAICT, if phone from Vendor A draws 800mA and your PSU is rated at 500mA - well, if it's been designed without any sort of protection (quite possible on a cheap & nasty adaptor) - that's the end of that.
Adapters without even basic current limiting are illegal in many countries, so in practice all adapters have at least basic current limiting. Basic current limiting drops the voltage when trying to draw more than the desired current. The cheap systems will still provide more current, but will do so at a lo
I hope they standardize driver-less charging (Score:3)
What this means in practice... (Score:4, Funny)
An EU standard means the following in practice:
The Germans will complain that everyone else does it inefficiently.
The Austrians will tell the Germans how to do it.
The Spanish will promise to do it tomorrow.
The Greeks will fake the documentation saying they've done it.
The Dutch will give parents and same-sex partners time off to do it.
The Czechs will charge foreigners extra for it.
Nobody will have any idea what the Portuguese are doing about it.
The Luxembourgers will interview everyone else on the radio about it.
The French will block the roads protesting about it.
The Danes will claim to have done it a thousand years ago.
The Swedes will only do it for six months a year.
The Polish will blame the Romanians and Hungarians for not doing it, or doing it too much, or not quite right.
The Maltese will earn a medal for it.
The Irish will invest their whole economy in it.
The Scottish will demand a subsidy to do it.
The Welsh won't do it until it's translated into a language that only people in Herefordshire and Shropshire actually use.
The English will do it immediately but moan about it forever after.
Turkey will pass a law making it illegal to do it in a headdress. The rest of the EU still won't let them join their club.
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As long as the opt out grants the consumer the right to beat the decision maker with a wet squirrel if they choose not to use the standard connectors, then fine, otherwise I'm all for mandatory. I think most people are tired of "snowflake connectors". A very carefully crafted exception clause would be OK, but would have to assure that if there was any practical way at all to go with the standard, then it is mandatory to do so.
I have yet to see an actual device that couldn't have used a micro-USB connector.
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You will have to upgrade wet squirel to rancid fish to get my vote.
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It's mandatory. I'm not sure if it was actually a law or "if you cellphone manufacturers don't work this out, we'll make it a law"-kinda situation. But I do remember that they were left not much of a choice.
Normally, I would agree with you: let demand meet supply. But somehow, this hasn't worked in the cellphone industry. In my company we have about 50 cellphones, all of them Nokia's. For some reason, these phones have 4 different types of charger connectors. With a simple converter cable ( http://tinyurl.c [tinyurl.com]
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these phones have 4 different types of charger connectors.
I've only seen 2 types of charge connector on nokias in recent memory (plus there are some micro USB ones now but I haven't seen one of those in person yet). Some REALLY old stuff used much higher voltages with different connectors but that was a long time ago. Got any info on the other two?
With a simple converter cable ( http://tinyurl.com/39xhy98 [tinyurl.com] [tinyurl.com] ), we don't have to replace chargers that are built in cars.
Be aware that not all charger
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As does the E75.
(And standard it is - I also charge my Amazon Kindle off the Nokia charger, and vice-versa).
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