Looking around the office, we yearn for the day when cellphone chargers become standardized. It can get really tired, really fast, trying to figure out which of the dozen proprietary charging cables strewn all over the place belongs to which mobile phone. To that end, the GSMA has proposed that mobile phone chargers become standardized to use microUSB ports. And, today the CTIA has announced that it is also backing microUSB as the future cellphone charger standard.
The microUSB-based charging standard will be known as the Universal Charging Solution, and will soon make it possible to charge different cellphones from different manufacturers with a single microUSB cable. The Universal Charging Solution will meet “Energy Star” requirements, helping to reduce energy consumption by 50% in stand-by energy use. And, by eliminating the need for multiple charging cables, the Universal Charging Solution may even reduce the number of charging cables that hit landfills around the world – a fitting way to celebrate Earth Day.
Many smartphones these days already sport miniUSB ports that pull double-duty for data-transfers as well as power-charging. The future will hopefully be filled with smartphones featuring microUSB ports that charges your phone, transfers data and solves the global financial crises. That would be nice.