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European MEPs Back Single Charger Standard

posted by Dopefish on Saturday March 15 2014, @08:12AM   Printer-friendly
from the one-plug-to-rule-them-all dept.
lhsi writes "Members of the European Parliament have backed a regulation for all smartphone devices to use a standardized charger, a Micro USB connector being the favored type (and one that is in use already).

The regulation is still only a draft law and must be approved by Europe's council of ministers. However, that body has already given its informal backing to the law, suggesting it will win final approval.

European member states will have until 2016 to translate the regulation into national laws and manufacturers will then have 12 months to switch to the new design

The reason for this regulation is both to help consumers and to cut down on electronic waste (51,000 tonnes annually)."

 
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  • (Score: 1) by Hairyfeet on Sunday March 16 2014, @03:59AM

    by Hairyfeet (75) <reversethis-{moc ... {8691tsaebssab}> on Sunday March 16 2014, @03:59AM (#17118)

    They would probably standardize which honestly? Sucks. The reason why is obvious if you think about it, no new designs will be coming for quite awhile for fear of falling afoul and not being able to be sold in the EU.

    BTW those that don't like rants please move along, old Hairy is gonna vent...here is what REALLY pisses me off about crap like this, it all ends up going after the wrong target and making a WORSE mess than we had before!!! Take the banning of lead solder, what a giant fuck up that was! Things that would last a decade now last maybe 3 thanks to tin whiskers so you end up with MORE eWaste when the obvious and logical solution would have been to simply make the OEMs support local recycling and free drop off centers!

    Then we have THIS clusterfuck where 1.- They picked what has to be the wimpiest most easily busted connector design I've ever seen, don't know how many devices I've had to shitcan because of bad miniUSB meaning you can't charge the fucker, when your standard RTS jacks just go and go and if you want to cut down on the waste it ain't the jack that needs fixing its all the fucking devices with non replaceable batteries! Its sad when a $40 eCig from China (love those 510 eCigs BTW, 4 months cig free) has a simple, logical, trivially easy to replace battery that is completely standardized while a $250 tablet is a paperweight when the battery dies!

    While I'm all for cutting down waste if its one thing the solder fuckup should have taught us its these politicians couldn't find their ass with a GPS unit!