New USB Spec Promises Standard Connectivity And Faster Recharge Times

[Nurhisham Hussein]

http://www.theunwired.net/?itemid=3773

"With the announcement of the new Battery Charging specification, the USB-IF Battery Charging Workgroup has defined a standard way for portable devices to draw current from wall chargers or PCs. In addition, the Battery Charging specification allows PCs and hubs to provide increased levels of current, in order to shorten the charging time of connected portable devices."

For those of us who have been into Windows Mobile for some time, two of the bigger bugbears have been non-standard connectors and battery life. The former meant that every change of device necessitated buying new cables and accessories if you needed more than what came out of the box. The latter problem of course meant that you did need more than what came out of the box. While this new spec doesn't come close to solving issue 2, it does mean that stumping up for new cables and connectors may be a thing of the past. Manufacturers have tried to solve this in their own way (e.g. the HTC connector, and standard connectors across mobile phone brands), but one standard across all devices - phones, PDAs, and everything in between - would be a fantastic development. The change in the charging specification also means that even high draw devices (VGA comes to mind), have a chance at USB charging. Thoughts, everyone?

[Nurhisham Hussein]

http://www.theunwired.net/?itemid=3773

"With the announcement of the new Battery Charging specification, the USB-IF Battery Charging Workgroup has defined a standard way for portable devices to draw current from wall chargers or PCs. In addition, the Battery Charging specification allows PCs and hubs to provide increased levels of current, in order to shorten the charging time of connected portable devices."

For those of us who have been into Windows Mobile for some time, two of the bigger bugbears have been non-standard connectors and battery life. The former meant that every change of device necessitated buying new cables and accessories if you needed more than what came out of the box. The latter problem of course meant that you did need more than what came out of the box. While this new spec doesn't come close to solving issue 2, it does mean that stumping up for new cables and connectors may be a thing of the past. Manufacturers have tried to solve this in their own way (e.g. the HTC connector, and standard connectors across mobile phone brands), but one standard across all devices - phones, PDAs, and everything in between - would be a fantastic development. The change in the charging specification also means that even high draw devices (VGA comes to mind), have a chance at USB charging. Thoughts, everyone?

[alese]

Nice idea, but there is a "small" problem.
In order for this standard to actually come to life, the manufacturers have to accept it and actually start using it.
And here is the real problem, many manufacturers want you to buy their accessories and they don't want you to use accessories across brands.
We use HP Notebooks at work and not only HP uses their own connectors for charging the notebooks, they even change them between different models in the same series...

[TOCA]

Just one word to put the idea to the grave: Sony :evil:

The day when they start to use standards, exept their own, the world will be a nicer place.