The $1.94 reason micro-USB is the new phone charging standard
By Nilay Patel 
posted Feb 23rd 2009 9:26AM
posted Feb 23rd 2009 9:26AM
[Via Geardiary]
posted Feb 23rd 2009 9:26AM
Portion of "satisfied" Palm Pre owners
Of 40 Palm Pre users polled in August, 2009, 87 percent termed themselves "satisfied," with 45 percent saying they were "very satisfied."
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
Unbelievable!
#$$@#%^ EFFING AY!
Do we need to bleed in order for these EFFERs to pay attention to what the consumers want?
Micro USB is more robust... technically maybe.... Ive had 3 appliances that use MicroUSB so far... pain in the ass.
Just when everyone has gotten down to Mini USB .... "Tard with Ties" want to come in and say.... no no no... change it all again.
Im so tired of this nonsense.
yea i think i have one device that uses micro USB but a whole boatload that uses mini USB. i like to carry the least amount of cables possible but this adapter seems to make it all bearable at least.
Monoprice!
amen. best site for cables, hands down.
Notice the Motorola logo on the adapator in the picture.
What a surprised that company is involved !!, Motorola are the biggest w**kers of the
mobile world.
Motorola you are CRAP !! go away and stop making your rubbish phones for good !
Wow, such undeserved hate. You do realize that the GSM Association, not Motorola, are the ones trying to standardize the plugs right? The Engadget writer picked that photo by random probably because the RAZR was the one of the first phones to popularize the mini-USB connector on phones, and the RAZR2 was one of the first to us the microUSB. So stop hating and give Moto some credit for helping to standardize the mini/microUSB.
If you want to understand why the phone companies insist on avoiding 3.5mm audio and wanting a connector with 6x the number of insertions of mini-USB, go read up on the causes of phone repairs/failures. The #1 cause of hardware failures is connectors. The 3.5mm socket has histrically been crap - maybe someone can design one that is rugged, and should, but in the meantime they have a really bad name for breaking. As the phones do not have profit margin for breakage, plus customers get a bit irate, you can see why vendors obsess about their connectors. I think we can cut some slack with them trying to get to a better place before they fix a standard.
ExLoony, I believe you 100%.
Thats why in my first comment I wrote that all 3 appliances I had with micro usb were a pita.
All 3 connectors broke. At least mini USB is a bit more rugged than that flimsy micro usb
I have several of these little connectors with mixed results. It is important that you look at the amperage that is put out when you add these connectors onto a mini-usb charger. The old mini-usb charger may not put out enough amperage to charge the microusb device. It can also cause problems when connecting to a computer. Usb to mini usb cable to this connector to blackberry storm crade does not work, but if you take out the cradle part it works fine.
It has to do with the boards for a thinner future. It will be more and more difficult to fit a miniUSB as handsets become slimmer and thinner; hence the need for microUSB.
Agreed. Also, wireless charging (like the Palm Pre offers) will also become more common I think, making the connector less of an issues hopefully.
It only shows the Motorola logo because they give the adapters FREE with their phones that require it! I purchased a two RAZR2s and a ROKR last year, and all 3 came with a micro USB charger, Micro USB cord for the computer and the adapter for me to use my old mini USB cables/chargers.
That sounds like greed to me... suuuuure...
Also about amperage, that depends on the original charger.
USB will get 500mA
Motorola chargers are 550mA
Blackberry chargers are 750mA
HTC chargers are 1A (1000mA)
And those are all with mini USB connectors. So the micro USB doesn't really matter, does it? Perhaps they should standardize the charging current before people flip out over a connector. But you can go ahead and fry your motorola phone with your spouse's HTC charger, that's fine. Just because the connector looks the same doesn't mean they are.
(HTC devices will be fine on a lower aperage, they'll just take longer to charge. Motorola phones that are designed for 550mA however may wear out faster or be damaged by the higher current.)
no offense to anyone, but i do agree with the switch from mini to micro. one thing that wasn't mentioned is that the original miniUSB port was pretty bad when it came to phones. i had so many customers that came in with broken or just nonworking charging ports. These range anywhere from the original RAZR to Blackberries and Sidekicks. I've been using a phone with this microUSB port and it seems to fit better and much more securely. it could be possible that manufacturers lost tons of money on defective charging ports due to the design and decided to use one that doesn't fail as much.
Ok sorry guys my bad,
I wasn't aware that it was the GSM association that were behind this possible change.
I have just had some past issues with certain Motorola models, (Z8) however I now have an
I phone and all is sweetness and light ( apart from the 2mp camera GRRRRR).