CTIA jumps on the micro-USB bandwagon
By Tim Stevens 
posted Oct 12th 2009 7:04AM
posted Oct 12th 2009 7:04AM
Think the CTIA is only good for swank trade shows? Think again! It's actually a trade group created to fight for your interests -- or at least those interests of your duly elected wireless providers -- and apparently top among those lists of interests is plug standardization. Yes, we're not the only ones sick of still having a sprawling mess of a gadget charging station, so CTIA is saying that micro-USB will be the power standard for all handsets and mobile devices. Likewise, the 3.5mm audio plug will be the standard for audio output on those same gadgets. It's shocking, we know, if only because we thought the entire gadget universe was already on board, with everyone and their mommas signing up for micro-USB and even HTC finally making room for a 3.5mm hole in the bottom of their handsets. These standards are set to go into effect in January of 2012, meaning we should get a good 11 months or so of dongle-free gadget harmony before the apocalypse.
News just in... as of February 2012 USB is to be replaced by Light Peak.
;0)
We need wireless gadgets, pcs, everything... man! :(
No.
Wireless some things, yes. Wireless everything, no.
i wish my iphone had a micro-USB port.
I wish my micro-USB port had an iphone.
I don't wish for either of these as micro-usbs are a pain, as is iPhone.
Now low-rank me to oblivion... you know you have to!
How about the amount of current used? Can I use the microUSB charger from my HTC Touch on my new Hero?
Neither Touch nor Hero use microUSB. They both use miniUSB. And, yes, chargers can be interchanged.
I would have thought that might be an issue, if a device draws 2 amps and you plugged it in to a 1 amp charger.
I don't know if they have standardised this or not. If you made all charges powerful enough for any device it would be fine, but that would increase their size.
All phones that use USB to charge should be capable of charging at the max of 500ma when using a usb cable, and at 1000ma when using another charger. Obviously it would charge slower over USB but it will work.
Down with proprietary inputs, looking at you, Sony, Apple and HTC.
The HD2 will be HTC's first phone that uses micro-USB and it also comes with a 3.5mm headphone jack. Hopefully all their future phones will be similarly equipped.
My VZW HTX TP2 has a mini-usb port and a 3.5mm jack. Almost there...
I was excited because I bought two pjhones that both used USB type ports to charge... and then I realized that one was mini, the other micro. So close. So I still have to bring two chargers with me on vacation.
It's about time! I'm so tired of having to by headphone adapters for my Samsung phones. Having all my phones with USB will also be nice.
Omnia 2 has miniUSB.. no more Sammy crappy connector!!
... and by mini, i mean micro....
oh man i love that siemens socket, i missed it and dont know why they put it there whene theres not any siemens phone around anymore
I know I'm a dreamer but this needs to happen for laptops too. Get together, pick a voltage and connector size and have ever manufacturer use it. I'm tired of my 19v Toshiba power cord not working in my Vaio just because Sony decided that they needed an extra 0.5v to work with. A universal adapter with multiple connector heads is not a real substitute either. I lose the heads I need and I'm stuck with a baggy of useless ones.
I'd prefer mini-USB over micro-USB.
So, this is like the 12th universal standard cable proposal in the last year or so. It is a moving target as technology always is. We will never be free of these freaking wires.
When is Nano-USB coming out?