Uniform cellphone chargers in EU in 2011
Last Updated: Friday, July 30, 2010 | 2:48 PM ET
The Associated Press
The European Union will soon bid a fond farewell to a hassle that spares few cellphone users: A dead battery and no suitable power charger.
Starting next year, cellphones will have a one-size-fits-all charger. The uniform model, part of an agreement by at least a dozen cellphone makers, means new phones will no longer come with chargers, and there will be less electronic waste.
It will also let owners easily borrow someone else's charger when the juice is gone.
"How cool is that?" asked EU spokesman Dennis Abbot on Friday. "This will make a lot of people extremely happy."
He said the uniform charger is the product of an agreement by cellphone makers such as Apple, Emblaze Mobile, Huawei Technologies, LGE, Motorola, NEC, Nokia, Qualcomm, Research in Motion, Samsung, SonyEricsson, TCT Mobile and Texas Instruments.
The uniform charge will be available for all data-enabled phones, those that can exchange pictures, files, and music with a computer via a USB port. That covers just about all new cellphones models entering the market in 2011, said Abbott.
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