One Phone Charger to Rule them All!

The debate has been raging since the inception of the cell
phone itself; why do we need all these adapters anyway? For decades cell phone
manufacturers have been recklessly building proprietary power adapters for
their endless lines of communicative bits of plastic. Now a major cell phone
industry group has announced plans for a universal charger and all the major
players, except one, are on board.

The new adapter is of the microUSB variety and it will
launch in 2012. All major mobile manufacturers are signed on except—what do you
know—Apple.

Such a move has numerous upsides. Firstly, it’ll greatly
reduce ‘manufactured waste’ by ensuring that although the lifecycle of a cell
phone may be rather brief, each new handset can make use of the universal power
adapter you bought way back in 2012. Secondly, with a power adapter that works
across all brands, engineers can then spend their collective efforts improving
the efficiency of such adapters, addressing common issues like drawing excess
power even though a device is fully charged.

Andrew Heining writing on the Horizons Blog for the
Christian Science Monitor notes a few quirks with such an industry shift.
Heining remarks that such a move would make all other adapters obsolete,
essentially ensuring a spot in the local landfill for all non-microUSB adapters.
Since this was one of the driving forces behind the shift, it seems a little
counter-intuitive. What’s more, Heining notes, a universal adapter would
squeeze out shelf space for the now obscured kinds, putting some consumers in
the unenviable position of misplacing their adapters only to be forced to
purchase an entirely new phone. Again, more unmitigated waste in the form of
that that now powerless cell phone.

Is this misplaced ‘good intentions’ or is it simply a case of short-term
loss for long-term gain? Heining makes the suggestion that developing wireless
charging stations should be an area of consideration, doing away with the
dongle altogether. But I think one has to consider what such a move would do
for renewable energy sources. Many camera’s already charge via microUSB. Add
cell phones to that list and those portable, solar charging pads suddenly
become not just versatile but almost a given. Or consider that gadgets like the
iPhone have 3rd party solar panel cases. If the iPhone natively
doesn’t need that extra surface area, why not build the solar-charging
capability directly into the device?

Either way, the age of the dongle-drawer is coming to a
close.

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