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Manic! · 03-26-2011, 10:46 AM

USB for ther win!!!!

http://www.thestreet.com/story/11058...-chargers.html

Those @#$% Tablet Chargers!
Anton Wahlman, Contributor
03/24/11 - 07:47 AM EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Remember the maze of cell phone chargers from a just a few short years ago? Yes, you had two drawers full of incompatible chargers for Nokia(NOK), Motorola, Research In Motion's (RIMM) BlackBerry, Samsung, LG, Sony Ericsson and many others. Over the last three years, we evolved into just two ones: MicroUSB and Apple's(AAPL) 30-pin connector. I'd say that's a 90% improvement.

With this disease cured, a new menace has now emerged: tablet chargers. In recent weeks and months, numerous tablets have been announced, and some are already for sale, from companies such as Samsung, Motorola, Dell(DELL), LG and HTC, just to mention a few. With this new world of tablets rushing in to compete with Apple's dominant iPad market share, the world faces a new evil, and this time it's not Saddam Hussein. It's the re-emergence of the incompatible charger, this time in tablet edition.

Seriously, while Samsung, Motorola, Dell, LG, HTC and all the others managed to finally implement a single solution for their smartphones, they suddenly lost their minds with the tablet. At this week's CTIA show (the last day is Thursday), as with CES in January, I looked at all the major new tablet releases and found only headache. What are these guys thinking?

There is one refreshing exception: The RIM BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. It uses MicroUSB, and you can use this MicroUSB to charge any smartphone (except Apple's, of course). If RIM does not use this critical advantage in its advertising for the PlayBook, its marketing people should be fired.

Yes, I know there are some minor caveats to this: Some tablet makers claim that MicroUSB can be used to charge their tablets, but only at a "trickle" (i.e., extremely slow, such as nine hours) rate. But all of them ship with only a proprietary charger, which in turn cannot be used to charge regular MicroUSB smartphones. So for all relevant intents and purposes, my key point still stands in the way that 99% of people would define the issue.

I would love to be proven wrong on this. In fact, it's a big world out there and I may have missed someone who can match the RIM PlayBook in being the only tablet who passes the MicroUSB fast-charging test. If you can verify the existence of one of those, let me know!

I know this is a relatively brief point to make, but I'm shocked that nobody else seems to have talked about it, and it's worth a rant. In the meantime, it looks like RIM has scored at least one important point in its battle against all the numerous Android tablets.

At the time of publication, Wahlman long AAPL, GOOG and RIMM.

03-26-2011, 10:46 AM	#27
Manic! Need to Shave n Shower, but I CANT STOP POSTING ON RS Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Nanaimo Posts: 17,671 Thanked 8,547 Times in 4,004 Posts Failed 1,523 Times in 659 Posts Member's Picture Albums	USB for ther win!!!! http://www.thestreet.com/story/11058...-chargers.html Those @#$% Tablet Chargers! Anton Wahlman, Contributor 03/24/11 - 07:47 AM EDT NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Remember the maze of cell phone chargers from a just a few short years ago? Yes, you had two drawers full of incompatible chargers for Nokia(NOK), Motorola, Research In Motion's (RIMM) BlackBerry, Samsung, LG, Sony Ericsson and many others. Over the last three years, we evolved into just two ones: MicroUSB and Apple's(AAPL) 30-pin connector. I'd say that's a 90% improvement. With this disease cured, a new menace has now emerged: tablet chargers. In recent weeks and months, numerous tablets have been announced, and some are already for sale, from companies such as Samsung, Motorola, Dell(DELL), LG and HTC, just to mention a few. With this new world of tablets rushing in to compete with Apple's dominant iPad market share, the world faces a new evil, and this time it's not Saddam Hussein. It's the re-emergence of the incompatible charger, this time in tablet edition. Seriously, while Samsung, Motorola, Dell, LG, HTC and all the others managed to finally implement a single solution for their smartphones, they suddenly lost their minds with the tablet. At this week's CTIA show (the last day is Thursday), as with CES in January, I looked at all the major new tablet releases and found only headache. What are these guys thinking? There is one refreshing exception: The RIM BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. It uses MicroUSB, and you can use this MicroUSB to charge any smartphone (except Apple's, of course). If RIM does not use this critical advantage in its advertising for the PlayBook, its marketing people should be fired. Yes, I know there are some minor caveats to this: Some tablet makers claim that MicroUSB can be used to charge their tablets, but only at a "trickle" (i.e., extremely slow, such as nine hours) rate. But all of them ship with only a proprietary charger, which in turn cannot be used to charge regular MicroUSB smartphones. So for all relevant intents and purposes, my key point still stands in the way that 99% of people would define the issue. I would love to be proven wrong on this. In fact, it's a big world out there and I may have missed someone who can match the RIM PlayBook in being the only tablet who passes the MicroUSB fast-charging test. If you can verify the existence of one of those, let me know! I know this is a relatively brief point to make, but I'm shocked that nobody else seems to have talked about it, and it's worth a rant. In the meantime, it looks like RIM has scored at least one important point in its battle against all the numerous Android tablets. At the time of publication, Wahlman long AAPL, GOOG and RIMM. __________________ Until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.