Universal phone chargers are on the horizon

One of the most annoying things about about mobile life is dealing with various chargers. Several cell phone companies have their favorite styles of proprietary connectors, and even mini USB can have different plug heads.

But there’s been a growing movement toward a universal charging standard for a while now, mainly surrounding a micro USB solution. Now, another step forward has been made this week, with a big nod of approval from the United Nations–backed International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Okay, ratification from the ITU isn’t going to force any phone manufacturers to play ball, but it’s always good to have additional support for something that will make life less irritating.

Forgetting to pack a charging cable wouldn’t be such a pain (standardized ones would be pretty ubiquitous), and if your battery levels die while you’re hanging with your buds, you’d be able to juice up with whatever he’s got. Nice, huh?

But aside from the convenience factor, there’s an environmental angle too: Universal micro USB chargers would mean that we’d be able to use and reuse the same charger over the span of several different phones. And thanks to advances in charging technology, current ones are more energy efficient than older models (even ones released just a couple of years ago).

Things are looking really good that the industry will successfully move toward a standard solution. Already, many of the big phone makers are embracing micro USB, and there haven’t been a whole lot of arguments against it. Thank goodness. I’ve got a dozen of these puppies from various old phones littered all over my house. I didn’t relish the thought of a dozen or more over my lifetime.

[via Engadget Mobile]

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