Closer To A Universal Mobile Power Adapter?

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micro-usb

I doubt we’ll ever see a single, universal cable or connector to power each and every single mobile gadget… However, given the various devices that pass through my home and auto, it appears like we’ve settled on a solid trio of options.

Of course, there’s the iEcosystem’s dock connector. Yeah, it’s mostly proprietary. But given the vast number of iPods, iPhones, and iPads in circulation, it’s essentially the standard for many. Mini USB seems to be broadly deployed as well. Although, it’s clearly losing ground to the slimmer Micro USB connector. In fact, that revelation is what inspired this post. Just about every non-iDevice I’ve come across in recent months sports Micro USB. See my Blackberry Tour, Droid X (loaner), and Kindle above, for example.

Even though the industry hasn’t settled on a single, common connection, the majority of cables fortunately terminate with a standard USB connector for charging and/or syncing purposes. Making the nearly flush Belkin USB auto charger below a handy universal adapter. I picked up a pair last fall for our vehicles, and they’ve served us (and our gadgets) well. The ultimate home solution is probably a small, powered USB hub and some short cables from Monoprice. Unless, there’s an attractive charging station that already meets this need. Bueller?

belkin-car-usb

15 thoughts on “Closer To A Universal Mobile Power Adapter?”

  1. I picked up the belkin auto charger in an emergency once at best buy, and it came with a home plug (similar to the apple home usb charger) and an iPod cable. They are both so handy…

    I also bought a Mini Surge Protector with USB Charger that I keep in my travel bags to keep the 3 phones, 2 ipods, 2 nooks, and 1 gps charged when we are on the road.

  3. Oh boy, Dave is as OCD as I am about this.

    For years, I had an iGo that charged my laptop and mobile devices. It was also an emPower inflight adaptor, which I used a lot because I was traveling frequently overseas (and was often upgraded to Business Class). Later, I switched to one mini iGo that charged my mobile devices, plus a separate laptop power adaptor (darn you, patented MagSafe adaptor!).

    Nowadays, I’m less concerned about the mini plugs than I am about the AC adaptor. So I have a nice Belkin 3-socket USB power adaptor. With that, I can carry a bunch of wires – mini-USB, Apple iPod/iPhone, and Kindle for Mrs. G. But the wires take up virtually no space or weight in my bags.

    And if I’m traveling alone, I usually leave the USB power adaptor at home and just charge devices off the USB outlet on my laptop.

  5. henderpa, nice to see so many phone manufacturers mostly getting behind one specification.

    Still looking for a home charing station solution… anyone?

  8. Hopefully it moves beyond the phone manufacturers… it’d be nice to have Nintendo portables, TomTom GPSs, more Bluetooth headsets, digital cameras, even my Xbox controller, etc covered as well. But, like I said, things are looking much better lately. And I’m sure it’ll feed itself – the more on Micro USB, the more that will want to also join in. Except Apple, of course.

  9. Their is a huge problem. Manufacturers are using the micro-usb but chipping the ports so you have get one of their adapters. If not one of their adapters device says not unauthorized power supply. What the hell is with that?

  10. I agree with you, Dave. It would be nice to power phones and non-phone devices all with a single cable.

  12. I can charge my Eris via USB on my computer or with a generic car charger in my car in addition to using the supplied charger.

  14. I’ve been carrying around a couple of iPhone wall/USB charger blocks since they’re the smallest USB chargers I’ve found. Also a Griffin Power Jolt Dual which is a very small dual USB car charger. Again, smallest I’ve found. And of course the gamut of cables required to charge everything I take with me–USB to iPod Dock, USB to micro USB, USB to mini USB, etc. Works for most things.

    What it DOESN’T work for is my Sprint Mifi 2200 which is irritating the hell out of me. From reading BradB’s article above it sounds like it might be the fault of Apple’s USB power bricks, but I’m not sure. Would have to try others. I have already tried the Boxwave iPhone adapter and it doesn’t solve this one. Not sure what my next step is here…

  16. Hi,

    I’ve been doing a lot of research for the past few days and have yet to find an authoritative view on laptop charging.

    Is there a (universal by nature) laptop charging adapter via USB (high powered or what not…)?

    Many thanks,

    Zevae

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