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O2 and HTC are just about to start selling phones without a charger in the box. Of course, the phone will still come with a microUSB cable, so you can charge it from any old USB socket or plug. But is that being kind to the environment, or just plain cheap?
For what its worth, I’m erring on the side of better for the planet, but of course it saves HTC and O2 money here. Do we really need a charger with each and every phone we buy these days? No, no we don’t. Do I still want one in the box? Hell yes.
Give me the option to buy one cheaper without the charger in the box, and it might be a different story. In fact, why not have a charger amnesty — supply one charger to rule them all and let people trade in their multiple USB chargers for it. Just make sure it’s a 10W one, as my iPad’s monster battery isn’t going to charge itself using a puny phone one.
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Ok i’m going to be the arsehole: Screw the enviroment, I want a charger with every phone AND a big fuck off instruction booklet that i’m not going to read. That also goes for games too!
Too right! I hate it that games don’t come with an in-depth manual these days.
Back in my day you got lovely manuals for games like Donkey Kong Country, had the story in it and everything. Now days games like Mario don’t have instruction manuals, they have an instruction leaflet. wtf?!
The answer is probably Cheap, but being presented as Eco-Friendly by the companies concerned so as not to appear so. Maybe they should provide chargers in the shop and sell them at cost (or even give them away free) to people who don’t have one.
I’d be interesting to see what an O2 shop would do if you said “Wait, before I sign this two year contract, and earn you a nice commission, I’ll expect you to throw in a free charger…”
If you’re doing that you should at least try for two chargers!
If they give them away I’m heading to every store I can find and snaffling them away like a squirrel with acorns before winter.
I meant giving them away free if you buy a phone. If they just handed them out to greedy squirrels that wouldn’t be very Eco-Friendly.
You will be able to buy one for cost price if you need one. They won’t make a penny profit
may I enquire what your source is for this statement.
When I renewed my O2 contract they gave me touch-screen gloves, universal chargers, and a car holder for free. I’m sure if anyone asked nicely, they’d give you one.
A car holder? But I don’t want to carry a car around with my phone.
Fine by me – I’ve got more than enough microUSB cables and chargers floating around the house that I’m not desperate for another one.
From the manufacturer’s point of view, they’re also going to be able to significantly shrink the packaging of the phone which should reduce shipping costs.
Everyone in my family had an iPad – iPod or iPhone but we still dont have enough chargers!! where the fuck do they disappear to – by logic I should have 6 iCharger’s – But I’ve got one with a fucked up sell o taped to hell wire. Still find myself buying cheap wires from ASDA!
So yea, I would like a charger with my next phone please. to charge it.
A standardised charger that allows the attached device to select a higher current for faster charging if appropriate, but default to 5v 500mAh otherwise.
Kickstarter, go.
The chargers just deliver what the device draws up to their own limits, as far as I know. I think a 10W can safely charge anything lower than 10W.
Yup!
Hence how I can safely charge my 5V 550mA camera from my 5V 1500mA phone dock supply!
And how I can charge my iPhone from my iPad charger
You’ll probably find that the 1500mA charger defaults to 500mA so it doesn’t damage lower rating devices.
Nah, if the supply current’s too high it would probably damage the battery and/or the charging circuit. The device would need to signal to the charger to use the higher rate.
Of course I may be wrong.
The device sets the amounts of amps it will use by the resistance across the terminals. The equation is V = I x R, so for 500 mA from a 5V supply you need a resistance of 10 ohms, 5 = 0.5 x 10
it’s then up to the charger to be capable of delivering that many amps.
Ta. The more I thought about this after posting the more I suspected I’d gotten it wrong.
You can never have enough chargers.
I want that bloody charger with every single device I buy – I currently have 4 chargers used on a daily/nightly basis.
Why not have one charger with multiple tips — one plug 10 devices charged at the same time. Now that I would buy.
I’d be all for this scheme if the chargers were packed separately and you were asked when you bought it if you would like to save the environment by not accepting a free charger.
The way O2 & HTC are doing it is more likely an exercise in making a tidy profit from selling the chargers separately to people that need them.
agree with you there mate
Again, you will be able to buy one at cost price if you don’t already have one. No profit made.
Following Amazon’s footsteps, the Kindle doesn’t come with the brick, just a cable.
I’ve got a few bricks left from the MiniUSB days so I don’t mind.
I want a charger, i use this at my bedside as my main charger, during the day i use USB chargers in car/laptop or other places
seeing as I now have 3 USB atapters (1 of which actually charges the ipad in a reasonable time) I can go without it but you can’t sell a phone without a charger unless you make it an option. Silly.
It shouldn’t be forced on people, its kind of getting silly that all these companies start using the environment as an excuse to cut back on costs.
Before you all shout at me, consider the fact that not everyone has access to a USB socket. A lot of people dont have jobs where they sit in front of a computer all day. I noticed the introduction of USB sockets in cars and even in wall plugs/extensions but until it is widespread in use WITHOUT a computer, then not supplying a plug is kinda of a equivalent of me walking into a Disney store, spending a heap of money on some large toys, only to be asked if I need a bag and it will cost me 5p (yes this did happen).
If I’m not mistaken, minimising the supply of chargers was why the EU wanted to standardise the charging port.
But it also a nice little perk for mobile phone vendors.
It’s eco friendly not to supply a charger, but sadly I suspect that the phone won’t be any cheaper, the manufacturer will just make a bit more profit.
If the savings of not including the charger with the phone DO NOT reach the consumer they are just being cheap. Period.