Finally, There's A Standard!

Anyone who has traveled with even the smallest pile of tech-gadgets has realized that you must haul a much larger pile of charging accessories to keep that tech operational.  While the gadgets may get smaller, rarely do the chargers budge in size.  That may be about to change as the GSMA recently announced a standard universal charger for cell phones.

Alleluia!  The future is here!  Or... will be here in 2012 when the standard is supposed to be widely adopted.

Some detractors argue that adoption of micro-USB as the connector of choice was just a) to make us buy a new cable, b) part of the corporate greed machine, c) to piss us off, or d) all of the above.  My vote is for e) none of the above.

First off, as lamented above, this standard is going to be "widely available" in 2012.  More power to you if you think you're not buying another charging cable between now and then.  Since this standard has been announced, I guarantee that you will see more devices using the micro-USB connector for power.

Second, the micro-USB connector is much thinner than the more common, but deprecated, mini-USB connector.  This is crucial for mobile phones designers who do not want to be constrained by a larger connector.  Keep in mind that this standard has to remain viable for years after its "widely available" -- otherwise it will go the way of Web accessibility standards.  Why not go with the thinnest standard connector available?

Finally, detractors complain that this standard doesn't cover MP3 players, GPS devices, PDA's, digital cameras or any number of other items in our travel tech-gadget heap.  That's true.  But if this standard is acted upon by all the major cell phone makers, the other device makers will fall into line.  Remember, if a device manufacturer can assume you've already got a charger for their gizmo, they don't have to include one.  No charger == cheaper devices.

When I shop for electronic gadgets I'm already looking at their power source.  If they support mini-USB, as my mobile phone does, that's a huge plus.  One charger, or a two-foot USB-to-mini-USB cable if I'm traveling with my laptop, will charge everything in my tech-gadget pile.

Hell, even Martha Stewart agrees!