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Comment by sophacles | Hacker News Reader

Fast charge plus an actual, real standard for connecting my devices to charge would be great. Seriously, the world has come a long way - there's now only a few options... iphone 30pin, iphone lightning, micro-usb and "wierdo".

But what I really really want is a standard way to plug in my devices (including laptops!) and be done with it. We've had the same interface to wall current since forever - and it just works. I want the same for my devices. These things should be commodities and exist everywhere, for every device, basically for free. Right now I keep usb wall warts all over my house, and a box of cables in a central location, so guests can just charge as needed. It sure would be nice to just have each of those wall warts be something else... with a retractable "the one cable". It would reduce a small but persistent issue go away.

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I thought Micro-USB is now the de-facto standard (for mobile phones/tablets at least). All the manufacturers except for Apple (that's playing special) are using them.

Micro-USB has a 1.1 amp maximum current as specified. That's half the charge rate of a current lightning connector. The upcoming type C connector will do 3 amps, so thats an easy 15 watt charge rate which would probably start hitting thermal limits of the batteries. If you make more circuitry you can run them up to 100 watts (um, maybe 60 watts) by negotiating higher voltages.

And it's reversible!

Sadly, adoption will probably be slowed somewhat since there are governments that mandate the nasty old micro usb connector for mobile phones.

The EU seems satisfied with adapters (that's how Apple complies, for example), so I don't imagine it will be a big impediment even if the regulations aren't updated for the new standard.

That's the case in the EU, where all smartphones sold must use Micro-USB by law. In America and elsewhere I believe every manufacturer still has its own proprietary "solutions."

America is now microvusb except Apple.

> Right now I keep usb wall warts all over my house

That's my current strategy, but now that USB 3 is finalized I think my next place (which I'll be buying) will have integrated USB power in the outlet plates.

Doesn't solve the cable problem, but gets rid of a lot of wall warts!

The Lumia 920 I bought over two years ago has wireless charging (via the Qi standard) that I consider so convenient and revolutionary, I was stumped when Nokia released subsequent models without this killer feature. If I need to charge it, I just set it on a pad. I want this so badly in portable devices, including laptops, for everyone in my household. Whenever Apple creates yet another "new and improved" charging port that requires a proprietary "smart" cable, I cry a little.

>Whenever Apple creates yet another "new and improved" charging port that requires a proprietary "smart" cable, I cry a little.

How many times have they done that?

> How many times have they done that?

iDevice 30-pin, iDevice Lightning, MagSafe 1, MagSafe 2. To make matters worse, MagSafe stuff is patent restricted, so there's not much competition for chargers...

So … exactly once for each type of device? In something like a decade?

Complain that it’s not what everybody else is using, do not complain that it’s frequently changing. Because it isn’t. That’s just empirically untrue and a very weird statement to make. It’s non-sensical.

You can also hardly complain about the original Magsafe since that one is actually different from other power cables for a reason. These complaints are just so fucking weird and disconnected from all reality to me. Like you don‘t really understand the world or something.

Relatively speaking, it is frequently changing. I can plug a depression-era radio into an electrical outlet and it will work. Delivering power via a cable, even with AC/DC conversion in the middle, is a solved problem. I can think of five Apple devices currently in use in my house that can't share the same cable. None of them are more than seven years old. That's nonsensical. The fact that none of them can use the same connector as other non-Apple devices merely adds to the annoyance.

As for MagSafe, it's only a partial success. All of my MacBooks have outlasted their original MagSafe power supplies. They aren't robust, can't be easily repaired, and are expensive to replace. I'm happy they're easy to use and help to prevent damage to the laptop, but Apple should have fixed the other problems by now.

Both my MacBook Pros have outlasted the MagSafe power supplies. As nice as they are--and even with careful usage--the cord has split at the base twice leaving the inner wires exposed.

I only discovered the issue when I felt a mild tingling sensation on my leg. Apple has let this issue slide for some time; there's over 2,000 1 star reviews on the Apple Store site [1]. This stands in stark contrast to the superb build quality of the MacBook Pro itself.

[1] http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC461LL/A/apple-60w-magsaf...

To be completist add:

* the original iPod which used a Firewire port

* the original iPod shuffle which you plugged in like a USB flash drive

* 2nd gen iPod Shuffle which used a special 3.5 mm minijack docking station for charging

* 3rd-4th gen iPod Shuffle which used a 3.5 mm minijack to USB cable

Update: If you do include MagSafe, you might as well include the 3/32" sub-mini and Barrel plug variations for the really old Powerbooks and iBooks http://support.apple.com/kb/TA32393

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