Your points are erroneous. LG changes the charger connector regularly; I have been getting a new LG phone every couple of years for the past decade, and every time I change phones, I find the old charger won't fit the new phone. Point Two is irrelevant. Point Three: Buy them from Amazon. I paid about $3 for package containing an AC charger, a car charger, and a USB cable. Point Four: See point three. Point Five: When theiPhone becomes the standard, I'll abandon cell phone technology. The iPhone is crap, for my money, thanks.

And you'll never get solar charging to work on most of the planet; you obviously don't know the limitations of solar power. I do; I wish it would work, but it won't. Even if you could get 100% conversion of solar energy to electricity (and you can't even get close), there's not enough of it where "overcast" is the normal forecast.

I must say, I had many of these concerns myself. Most people will end up buying multiple ones, like they do already, and it is not only impractical but also unreasonable for everyone in a single household to share a single charger. Besides, technology is advancing far more rapidly than most can believe, and for all we know 3 years is all it will take to change EVERYTHING (and I don't mean that in a 2012-doomsayer way either :-) ).I feel your cynicism (or rather REALISM) is rather well justified. Now, the question is: will they listen?

That Chargepod adapter you have there has dedicated iPod adapter (as well as many other cell phones and gaming devices) to say nothing of full size USB adapters as well. So it's a bad selection for your story I'm afraid.

http://www.callpod.com/products/chargepod

Screw Apple, they always have some proprietary solution.

Your first point has no relevance because people don't worry about the charger when they buy a phone.
Point two is also irrelevant becaus people do this anyway so there will be no change in this habit.
Point three seems a little over thought. If they offer a universal charger and I have to buy it seperatly, big deal, I will only NEED to buy one aand then I won't have to worry about what every phone I buy.
Point four is the same as point two.
Point five, the reality is that while the iPhone is cool there are still more people who won't make the switch for various reasons(ie. don't like AT&T or Apple, satified with current service, don't need all the new features) than are buying it. Also you can already get phones this small but who is going to use them. Unless there is a major change in texting tech there is no reason to believe phones are going to get much smaller, especially with all the crap, excuse me, functions they are trying to cram into them.

As far as your last statement, solar will never be a fully viable option simply because few people can or will just leave a $300-500 easily stolen device just sitting in the sun to charge. And didn't someone already make an induction pad that can charge phones about this time last year. We still haven't seen that capability installed on any phone. Or advertised at all since. We are just going to have to live with the fact that unless companies see a profit or are forced into change for the better they will NEVER do it willingly.

This is the most tone deaf tech article I have read in a while. I would disagree with every point in this article.

HTC has already been using microUSB jacks on its phones as the charger for at least the last 3 years and having used this I believe there is one major fact you are missing... Everywhere you have a computer that has a USB port, you have a charger for your phone. So sure everybody in the house has their own phone, they will probably also have a computer as well which means they wont need to get a charger themselves. Same thing for all your seperate situations. There will be a computer at most of those locations to charge the phone from.

From my point of view this is, like usual, everybody else playing catchup to HTC.

I have to agree with everyone else this entire article is dumb. You do know there are places where full size solar panels don't get enough sun to charge a car battery and there are also places where there is no such thing as AT&T cell service let alone an Iphone. I laugh at visitors to my area when they whip out their sprint, nextel, or AT&T phone and say why can't I call a tow truck? Well maybe because the closest tower for your crap is 100 miles down the road. And the whole point is everyone has at least two chargers now anyway one in the house and one in the car or office. I liked my Moto SLVR I used to have with the (OH how old school) MiniUSB I had one cable for my phone my MP3 and camera it was great.

I seriously can't believe this article was posted on DVICE. I haven't been reading for very long, but I was under the impression there was some editorial process here to filter the nonsense.

I'm guessing the author has an iPhone and is an iPhone fanboy.

To rebutt every single one of your fruity (pun...eh, nevermind) points:

Point 1, sticking with the same brand: I buy whichever phone has the features and look I like. I don't buy it just because it's made by Apple. I don't give a darn about brand...unlike SOME people...

Point 2, chargers for every cell phone: Yes, my home is crawling with cell phones. No, actually, just one. But still, you're missing the point of universal. Forget your charger at home while on a business trip? You'll be likely to use a friend's. Unless you have Apple.

Point 3, where to get one--it won't be in the box: Um, that's one of the points of having a universal charger. THEY WON'T HAVE TO MAKE SO MANY! Buy one and you're done! Why the hell would you keep buying phones that come with more universal chargers!

Point 4, buying multiple chargers: Yeah, and when you're done topping off your battery at the office after you just charged it up overnight, your buddy can top his off too. Same with everyone in the office.

Point 5, deadline for [willful] "compliance": My god, get a life and eat an orange! USB has been around for at least a DECADE!

Yeah, I have to agree that this article doesn't make much sense at all. Oh, and like many of us, I already have several micro-usb cables, so I wouldn't even need to buy one. A universal cellphone charger based on the micro-usb standard is a fantastic idea all the way around.

This article is one more reason not to waste my time with reading dvice anymore. Nuff said.

sorry but like others i think you suck...

if there is anyone who would prove your theorie wrong it's me.

why ??

becouse i stopped dooing what others did like 5 years ago !!

after my third phone i got fed up that my parents had differant chagers then mine and my brother had a differant 1....

gooing on holiday or vacation to them for a visit became a pain just becouse i could not use there charger on my phone , so i had to bring my own.

that's why i started to boycot every electronic device that did not have an micro usb port !!

and like someone said htc has made there phones standard withe a micro usb.

i have a 5" htc x7500 advantage , wich is actualy a mini pc you can cal withe.

i have a bleutoothe remote also withe mini usb.

bought myself a mp3 player from iriver also withe mini usb.

usb hub has mini usb

card reader has mini usb

portable hard disk has mini usb

digital camera has mini usb

etc etc...

it's why i did not buy an iphone , nor an ipod.

and no i dont have 15 chargers in my home.
and yes i just use the 1 for al my stuf.
and yes i just take 1 charger on vacation.

i think this is a positief thing.
part from power the mini usb is also good for data etc , and they brake les then leys say a sony charger wich the contacts burn out on sometimes.

the way to go is what htc has done withe it's later models by taking a standard usb chagerer and giving that withe an usb to micro lead.

same as apple but they stil have that stupide flat conector.

what people forget is that if you have a pc you can charge your stuf from that when it's on.

so when i'm at work that's what i do.
i just plug the stuf in when i'm working and when the bateries go down.

some cars also now come withe an usb port and some car radio's also have them.

so no need for a sperate charger.

what you also forget is that an usb port on every aircraft seat would also be much more handy.

or in your long distance high speed train.

i can understand in some ways what your artile sais , but in some ways i think you havent thought it trough....

yes it would mean les verstilety.
but it would mean that phone makers had to make better phones becouse they can no longer bind people trough unstandard chargers.

this means greater competition on the phone market and better products and prices.

so far i think there is a good future for the new invention of the humbel usb port.

that combined withe micro usb cables.
it's better then those square usb cables on scanners and printers...

also a good reason not to buy those mashines.
whel not for me.

i think that's about it.
the future wil tel if you were wright.
so far i say no.

To OLD MAN DOTES,
I find it funny that you said, "Even if you could get 100% conversion of solar energy to electricity (and you can't even get close), there's not enough of it where "overcast" is the normal forecast."

Now the conversion now is about 5 to 15% and even high 20's on the expensive side, but if you could get 100% conversion then the energy you harvest in a hour could power the earth for a YEAR! Of course that would be a huge array of cells, but to state that 100% conversion isn't enough to run a cell phone is laughable, when solar cells on phones now that charge for an hour can get you ten minutes of talk time. that's not a whole lot, but its a start.

Overcast you say! ha. 80% of the suns rays still penetrate through the clouds. That's why you can still get sun burned on an overcast day.

and lastly,
"And you'll never get solar charging to work on most of the planet," are you serious. give it 30 years and i bet you that most of the energy we get is directly from the sun.

i dont know what's worse, the biased tech articles or some of the responses.

I don't know if this has been brought up yet (I stopped reading the comments when people stopped using spell check [I know I can't spell worth beans, but at least I try to go back and check for mistakes])

but anyways...

Printers all standardized on the B-type USB connection, and I don't hear too many people complaining...

Others said it before. This is lousy.

But there is another reason this is lousy. The mobile phone is an international thing. Your USA-limited view does not apply everywhere. In my country there are no CDMA phones; everybody has a normal GSM based mobile. And hence all mobile producers will follow suit sooner or later.

Once that happens, they'll start putting those UCS connectors on their CDMA phones as well. I can imagine that parts of GSM and CDMA phones (CPU? display? sw? battery?) are common between the two. The power plug could easily be part of that. Another reason is they can close down their charger dept. which is only a burden.

'm with the majority on this one. I talked about a standard adapter with friends and family for years and finally someones doing something about it. I think it's a great idea, micro USB is the way to go. I recently got an enV2 and that has a miscro USB connector, great phone by the way.

To continue the pile on...
Your last sentence proves you are completely clueless about the technology. Magnetic Induction charging is only about as efficient than solar conversion (~15%). You talk about wanting an environmentally friendly solution, then propose a VERY wasteful method of charging because it's "cool" to have no cables?
Dumb.

Nice article, but it's based on the premise that I "live with lots of people", which I don't. I don't have a chock-a-block of different cell phone chargers.

I do have a couple things to point out though.

"I have no figures on this, but my gut tells me that if you buy, say, a Motorola, a Nokia, a Samsung or an LG cellphone, and you like it, you're likely to replace it with another Motorola or Nokia or Samsung or LG phone, which means you don't need a universal charger. Just use the charger you bought with your previous phone. But, yes, many cellphone makers use different jacks on different models.."

Currently, cell makers DO use different jacks on different models, but as far as I know (I don't have actual numbers on this) if a univeral "charger" was chosen (mini-usb for example), wouldn't all the jacks on the phones have to be mini-usb compatible? I don't see mini-usb being universal, and then the phone jacks not following suite....just doesn't make sense.

The second point, really isn't directed at you, but just more as a "wow" statement.

"Once you're forced to buy one charger, there's a good chance you'll buy more than one. You'll buy a charger for home, you'll buy one for the office, maybe you'll even buy one for the car. If you're a frequent traveler, you might even buy one to toss into your travel kit so you don't forget it when you pack for a trip."

WTF!! how many chargers does a person need? Great Jebus. I could understand, at MOST a person would need a charger at home and one at work. If you need more than that, then it sounds like you just need to get off the phone and work or something. And as far as traveling goes, travel chargers are the biggest joke/gimmic around. Seriously, how big is a phone charger that you would need a smaller one to travel with? It's not like they are bricks. They are all pretty small, it's not like you can't take it with you.

People are suckers, and companies know that. It's advertised as a way to make your life easier, but in the end, it all comes out of your pocket.

@THEXFILE:

"after my third phone i got fed up that my parents had differant chagers then mine and my brother had a differant 1....

gooing on holiday or vacation to them for a visit became a pain just becouse i could not use there charger on my phone , so i had to bring my own."

OOHHH THE HUGE MANATEE!!! Just because your parents paid for the phone didn't mean you had to use their charger.

Now there are a few issues I have with your statements, and I will address them accordingly.

First, you stated that you "started to boycot every electronic device that did not have an micro usb port", yet every single example you listed has a mini usb. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and say that you mistyped somewhere.

Secondly, pretty much All the examples you listed require mini usb to work/transfer files. With the exeption of the MP3 player which most likely only charges when plugged into the computer. So your boycott of any product without a micro usb plug really doesn't matter in this situation because all these items (either using standard usb or micro/mini usb) still have to plug into a computer. 6 of one, half dozen of the other.

Thirdly, I find it hard to believe that you are using 1 charger to charge whatever decives you need to charge. Pretty much all devices that need charging (phones,mp3 players, etc) come with the charger required to charge them.

My wife and I have blackberry's, and they both came with mini usb chargers. Her mp3 player she uses to workout with, came with a mini cord to charge it/transfer files. My blu tooth headset came with a mini usb charger. My wifes blu tooth speakerphone came with a mini usb charger. My PS3 controller uses a mini usb charger. Now I LOVE the fact that they are all the same and I can charge what I need to charge whenever I need to charge it. But as far as using 1 charger for all devices, it just doesn't make sense. You already have the charger, why limit yourself to 1 charger?

Also if the devices you need to charge, come with a charger, then your boycott really didn't work because you either get a mini/micro usb charger, or a non mini/micro usb charger.....either way you get a charger.

1. My wife and I use one charger for 2 phones and never have overlap problems.

2. So what if each person in a house hold has a charger??.. The point is that they will not need another when they change phones therefor throwing the other one away.

3. It is the RESPONSIBLE thing to do even if I do have to buy it separate from my phone. We all need to start to step up and take responsibility for what we use and throw a way.

4. I have been saying for the past 7 years that we need a standardized charger that everyone in the industry needs to adopt. You may not care about having 10 different chargers but I do.

First, the wife had her phone, then I got married, and then we both got the same Motorola phone. Then the kids got phones. We upgraded to V3s, they had some piece of crap that worked for awhile, and then I bought them V3s. Then those wore out, my wfie got a Blackberry from work, one kid went for Sony Ericsson which was a POS and then went with an LG. The other kid went with a Samsung. And I went to a Nokia. The Motorola warts are good for charging Blackberries, but the Blackberry wart won't charge a V3 in any case. And I had to get a new car charger for my Nokia. And I got the USB cable for the Nokia thinking that it would also charge it, which has turned into a complete false move.

Concerning point 3, do you think you are not being charged for the "charger" by the cell phone company now?
If you make the charger universal, then anyone can manufacture the device. Ultimately, this will bring the lowest cost, best enviromental solution to the customer.

just bought a new phone on a new plan other day an HTC Touch Pro... from Altel (now Verizon) and it uses the new Mini USB standard... cant say that they are all switchin to the new plug cause i just didnt sit there and go through their inventory of phones to find out... but i think maybe you are gettin ahead of yourself on this report...

to OLD MAN DOTES:

on your comments bout solar power...

you seriously have no clue how solar works man, please do some research before posting, solar is still a viable means of power on an overcast day, especially if you build your 'GREEN' power array correctly

the problem is not the charger it is the capitalist drive toward planned obsolescence of technology. If we could get a handle on the fact that progress is a created phenomenon that isn't only good (look at all the waste it creates as it happens so apparently quick), that new models usually have only minor upgrades to old, that this (and many other things on this site) is really only supporting and enabling the consumerism that is the biggest threat to our habitat. I think you'd find that underneath it is not the gimmicky add-on of a new product that is the problem (pardon the repetition)
Cell phones don't do that much else that is very useful, save perhaps for push email, that they didn't do ten years ago. Television, movies on your phone? Why? I personally get enough and more at home. That is opinion, of course, but why not make a good phone that with only firmware updates can last ten years. I'd pay even double for it. I actually know why but...

Here's my problem -- it occupies the USB port! Some phones (including two that I have) can also use the USB port in host mode, so I can connect keyboards, wired ethernet adapters, etc to the phone. Well, if I'm using an external keyboard for a long period of time, you'd think I might want to be able to charge the phone at the same time, wouldn't you?

My mother has a light bulb from the '30s that still works!

What the heck, it's like your boss told you to write something negative about this potential future trend. All of your points are just petty, there's no real. Seriously, you could write a better article on the benefits of a universal charger. It's almost as if so many people think this is a great idea that you must say that it's not.

Umm, I already had a Razr v3, it already uses the miniUSB charger idea, and I bought 5 of the Razr AC adapters for my family. The only thing I can do with the data port on my enV is I can get a USB port to charge the phone, that is all. I use Linux, Verizon/LG doesn't give a rats rump about Linux so the port on the bottom of my enV is just the charger port. For the standardization aspect, yeah, I could have saved $30 for purchasing an 'enV only' car charger and a spare AC adapter for use at work, if I could have reused the Razr devices for the LG that replaced the Razr. That is why this standardization WILL succeed: Verizons "New every 2" plan makes reuse of chargers and data cables very worthwhile.