why we have to have so many different fittings....

[eileithyia]

...we have to have so many different fittings.

1. Why can't all mobile phones have the same size charger socket, we have lots of defunct ones but can we find one to fit son's phone when his went missing recently, of course not!

2. Bike light fittings. Just bought a new "eurolight" rear, it looks like a cateye that I used to have with a square on the back that slots into a bracket. The bracket that came with it is "angled" ie it is designed to fit on the back of a seat post, but no use to me as I fit it to a rear rack, so turned through 90 degrees it means it is slightly off at an angle. No matter maybe it will fit one of the numerous defunct brackets I have, but of course not it is either slightly loose or it does even go on!

Bah humbug!

[pete75]

They have, at last, decided on a universal phone charger/data connection standard - micro usb. It seesm an odd choice as few existing phones use it but many use mini usb which is only slightly bigger and seems more robust.

[GrahamNR17]

Humbug indeed

There is some good news;
1. On its way. From next year or there abouts there will be a standard charger across all manufacturers, phones won't come with a charger, you just use the universal charger you already (will) have.

2. Yeah, that's a real bugger. I have several bikes and wanted to have identical fittings on each. The old Cateye fittings don't even fit the newer Cateye lights My favourite lights (RSP) don't fit cateye even though they look similar. The Smart lights do fit each others fittings though. We need an ISO standard, a bit like in the old days when all lights fitted the great big 'spades' on the front and back.

+1 for Humbug on that one

[thirdcrank]

The clever people who design all these things think it is very important to make theirs different to show how clever they are. (Credit card machines are one example, rear windscreen wipers are another, along with every form of video, DVD recorder etc.)

I was unsuccessfuly trying to get my quite new computer with slots for every known memory card to take an SDHC card. I now find I have "legacy equipment".

On the subject of standardisation through USB, I've read within the last couple of days about USB 3.

[Bill D]

I think that the point is that it's actually quite an expensive and time consuming process to develop international product standards. So industries only do it either if they think it's a money spinner for them, or they are required to by law.

[mw3230]

As far as mobile phone charger fittings go, Argos sell a universal charger (choose from car or mains) which has numerous ends to fit virtually all phones. Perhaps if the industry changed its practice and didn't supply a charger with each phone they could reduce the costs to us and the use of resources. This would avoid the situation where almost all of us have a collection of redundant phone chargers in our houses

[Bill D]

I think that the point is that it's actually quite an expensive and time consuming process to develop international product standards. So industries only do it either if they think it's a money spinner for them, or they are required to by law.

PS I forgot to mention patents. If a manufacturer wants to make something new it's usually better for them to make it quite look different from anything made by competititors, who have probably patented their own designs. Copyright infringement lawsuits can be much more expensive to defend than the sost of a simple new product design.

[MacBludgeon]

Anything at home, with a charging unti, is a total pain, I just had to buy a new laptop one, despite having 4 others kicking around.

Bikes drive me mad, I like to tinker and experiment, trying to match up bits like brakes to frames, brake levers by amount of cable pulled, controls by bar diameter, stems by steerer/bar clamp, seatposts. It all seems designed to get you buying specific extras to make things work.

[reohn2]

........................ It all seems designed to get you buying specific extras to make things work.

I'm surpised anyone would think it was for any other reason,its simply not in any company's or number of companies interest to make a universal lamp braacket/charger/gizmo of any kind,any company wants you locked into their system that way you build up a number of their brackets etc and are less likely to change manufacturer.
They're not daft and we in most cases don't have an option.
The worst case scenario is when a company changes brackets after years of using the same one as CatEye are begining to do at the moment,I have eight Cateye front lamp brackets for the four lamps I use only to find they are now begining change the design slightly ,but the worst is the constant adding of a sprocket to cassettes 7,8,9,10,etc Grrrrrrrrr

[drsquirrel]

BTW. Some standards require royalties (ie. DVD).


1. I've tried to get everyone to use mine, but Nokia had the same idea.... so did Samsung. The problem is, WHICH socket do you use. And then, do you unify one voltage? amperage? what about when someone wants a higher current? etc.


We all think we have something right the first time, if we keep on using it and using it, we will eventually find it does not fit what we want any more. Even this new mobile group standard to use microUSB(-B), eventually someone will decide it doesn't fit their needs and use something else.

Why on earth did they use microUSB instead of miniUSB? Well my best guess is to try and preempt the "wanting to use a smaller form factor" break down of the latter's usage. Granted, I honestly see very very little difference in mini and micro and it feels more like a pseudo standard than anything else.



You could argue that SD was just around because CF was too big, well they kind of shot themselves in the foot with the 4gb "limit", have fun non SDHC devices...



I try to unify my life. Sticking to USB charged gadgets. I have a usb backup charger which I carry on the bike, wall USB charger(rarely use) and car usb charger. For items which don't have USB charging ports (my current n96) I made a usb to nokia charger, and I do the same for the others.

Downside, 500mA (max, some can be standard 100mA) can be pretty slow at charging.



thirdcrank, USB3 are working towards making sure the socket can be dual purpose (usb3 uses new pins), allowing backwards compatibility.

[gilesjuk]

Some manufacturers have products that have a standard clip.

fizik's saddles have a place where a rear light or back can clip onto it.

In an ideal world everything would be interchangeable. But look at cars, every car has different parts that typically only fit that brand.

[NUKe]

In an ideal world everything would be interchangeable. But look at cars, every car has different parts that typically only fit that brand.

Car manufactures are slowly catching on may modern cars Have shared part across different models brands and even manufacturers. Admitted it doesn't quite stretch to body panels, but often engine suspension and interior parts are often shared these days

[Edwards]

Car manufacturers for many years have used the same platform (basically the floor) engines gearboxes and a lot of the other fittings across many manufactures (Berlingo/Kangoo Alhambra/Sharan). They have done so for years.
It is such a pity that light fittings etc are not standard. This would help the customer and I for one would buy from the fist company that standardised letting others use its fitting.

[drsquirrel]

But I am sure every car manufacturer would be like, yes fine you can use mine. And even for bikes (I'm not sure if you are referring to cars or bikes).

[Edwards]

The point is not just car but other manufacturers do share the development costs, where as a lot of cycle manufactures do not want to share the costs or expertise.
How ever the Taiwanese company's are now co operating in a big way so maybe we can hope for more in the future. That way there might be some standardisation.
It would even be more environmentally friendly