Just a short while ago we had various handsets and roughly four thousand different types of charger. Some of you might still have an old Nokia, and you may be familiar with the, “charger hunt” as you search drawers and desks for “one of those with a small round pointy bit” to charge your aging brick.
Lucikly the EU sort-of put a stop to all this, and we all started to use the microUSB charger…apart from Apple, who decided to do their own thing.
However, there’s a problem isn’t there folks? It’s that moment, just after you’ve put your “special cream” on and you’re getting ready for bed … You try to plug the microUSB plug in and find that, whatever direction you initially try, it’s the wrong way. Some phones have it one way up, others have it the other way around and you’re guaranteed to be jamming it in the wrong way round.
So the good news is that the next version will – like the Apple lightning connector – work any way up. According to reports, the new USB plugs will be designed to work no matter which way you insert them.
The new spec, which is agreed by the Promotor Group, is due around mid-2014, so the first new USB devices will arrive in 2016. The new full-size USB plug will be similar in dimensions to the current microUSB plug and will offer charging of up to 100 watts. Data speeds will also ramp up, with up to 10 Gbps on offer.
This is great news, and means that you can stick it in anyway up before you fall asleep.