Comments on: microUSB to Become Industry Standard Mobile Connector

News.com is reporting on the recent announcement that the members of the Open Mobile Terminal Platform (OMTP) have agreed to settle on microUSB as a common, industry-standard mobile phone connector. The consortium is comprised of both operators and handset manufacturers such as Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, Sony Ericsson and LG. These companies have agreed to bypass the current mini-USB standard in favor of its smaller successor, microUSB. Mini USB has been employed by numerous devices on the market over the past several years but was truly popularized by Motorola’s iconic RAZR V3 handset of 2004 yet has failed to approach industry-wide adoption. In addition, manufacturers such as Apple and Motorola have employed lock-out chips designed to cripple functionality from unlicensed or unofficial accessories.

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Zire 71

legodude522 @ 10/3/2007 1:41:18 PM #

THe Zire 71 did not have a miniUSB connector, it had the Palm Universal Connector.

Palm m125 > Palm Zire 71 > Tapwave Zodiac 1 > Palm Zire 72 > Sharp Zaurus SL-C1000 + 4gb MicroDrive + Palm Tungsten T|3 (1100mah)
My T|3 is too [i]sexy[/i] for me.

RE: Zire 71

hkklife @ 10/3/2007 4:30:15 PM #

Legodude, thanks for the catch. How'd I manage to overlook that one!?! LOL!

That's what happens when you get old and try to do a news item on an empty stomach.

Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX-->Treo 700P

RE: Zire 71

maceyr @ 10/5/2007 11:55:35 AM #

The mini-USB was the main reason why I didn't upgrade from my Zire 71 to the Zire 72, which I lusted after but kept reminding myself that all my old accessories wouldn't work.

http://palmdiscovery.net

MiniUSB connector

dvoulgaris @ 10/3/2007 2:07:39 PM #

"The 500v has the distinction of being Palm’s first-ever device solely with a miniUSB connector for both charging and synchronization. All previous Palms were designed with a separate AC charger port with the USB port delegated to HotSync duty only."

The Palm Z22 also has a miniUSB 5 pin connector only for connecting to the PC or to the AC adapter, then the Z22 would be the first, if the 500v uses this one.

AFAIK, there's also a miniUSB which has 4 pins and another with 8 pins. I really couldn't get to know which one is on the 500v.

See ya!

RE: MiniUSB connector

hkklife @ 10/3/2007 4:29:24 PM #

I'm not quite following your point. Let me restate my earlier comments.

The Palm Zire, Zire 21, Tungsten E, Zire 72, Zire 31, and Z22 all had the same design. An AC adapter and a miniUSB HotSync cable shipped with each of those devices in the box. Each of those Palm devices had two ports on the top or bottom panel of the handheld. One port was for syncing and the other port was for charging. Some of those units (Zire 72, Zire 31 and Z22 I know of for certain) permitted trickle charging via USB alone but it was sort of hit or miss depending on your PC's USB port voltage, chipset, OS etc.

Now, the Treo 500v still ships with separate AC adapter and miniUSB sync cables but they both interface via the SAME port on the bottom panel of the Treo. The 500v has ONE port for both charging and syncing. All earlier Palm devices that did not use MultiConnector or Universal Connector had TWO separate ports for charging & syncing.

See a pic of the bottom panel of the 500v here:
http://www.thetreoblog.com/index.php/2007/09/12/palm-treo-500v-official/

The 500v does NOT use microUSB. It uses miniUSB. I just gave a quick summary of Palm's past devices to show that they've not made the transition to microUSB on any device thus far.

Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX-->Treo 700P

RE: MiniUSB connector

ChiA @ 10/3/2007 7:27:20 PM #

AFAIK, there's also a miniUSB which has 4 pins and another with 8 pins.

The official USB specification for miniUSB has 5 pins: anything else doesn't conform to the official USB standard, even though it may have a similar appearance.

The microUSB defines a physically smaller miniUSB, again if it's got more than 5 pins then it's not (micro)USB.

Visit www.usb.org for info.

I'm all in favour of a standard adapter. It can be such a drag travelling with chargers for your mobile phone, laptop, camera, media player etc. I suspect the Chinese have had their influence too, didn't they recently ask mobile manufacturers to standardize on a single connector design for chargers?

RE: MiniUSB connector

dvoulgaris @ 10/4/2007 10:40:05 AM #

hkklife: Sorry, didn't mean to hurt you or contradict you. All I wanted to say is that the Z22 has only one connector, which is a miniUSB 5 pin, being the first machine to have one connector for plugging the hotsync cable or the AC adapter; thus making the 500v the second one.

All the others you mention yes have 2 connectors, a mini USB 5 pin for syncing and a separate one for plugging the charger.

In the Z22, that connector is on the top side of the device.

Peace. :-)

See ya!

RE: MiniUSB connector

hkklife @ 10/4/2007 10:50:53 AM #

No hard feelings at all, I was just confused by your statement.

Wow, I never knew that (i've not spent much time with the Z22) about the Z22 having just one port. I've only played with the Z22 a few times in the past and it was always fully charged so I never had reason to really think about its charging method.I was too busy paying attention to the screen, buttons etc.

I'll definitely correct that part of the article.
I just assumed the Z22 used the same arrangement as the older white Zires (I used to have a classic white Zire) with 2 separate ports.

Thanks for the tip!

Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX-->Treo 700P

We need an industry-standard POWER CHARGER

Gekko @ 10/3/2007 5:25:17 PM #

we really do.

RE: We need an industry-standard POWER CHARGER

Poopie @ 10/3/2007 7:38:20 PM #

Get a wall outlet to USB or cigarette charger to USB, then get a USB hub, then use your USB to *WHATEVER* cables for charging.

Apple does this with the iphone and it makes a lot of sense. If you separate the wall bit from the usb charger, you have two useful pieces.

USR Palm Pilot 1000 --> Palm Pilot Professional --> TRG SuperPilot --> Palm IIIc --> Palm V --> Palm M505 --> Palm M515 --> Tungsten T|2 --> Treo 600 --> LifeDrive --> iPhone

RE: We need an industry-standard POWER CHARGER

ChiA @ 10/3/2007 7:40:39 PM #

http://www.mobileburn.com/news.jsp?Id=2968&source=SEARCH

Careful Gekko, that's just what those reds in China are thinking and I know just how much reds, be they communists, socialists or liberals annoy you!

;-)

RE: We need an industry-standard POWER CHARGER

SeldomVisitor @ 10/4/2007 7:06:43 AM #

> Get a wall outlet to USB or cigarette charger to USB,
> then get a USB hub, then use your USB to *WHATEVER* cables
> for charging...

-- http://tinyurl.com/3y6sut

(the original: http://tinyurl.com/yhrsjs)

Giggle.

Is Athena DOA

Gekko @ 10/3/2007 5:25:33 PM #

???

RE: Is Athena DOA

bcombee @ 10/7/2007 6:59:53 PM #

The Palm Multiconnector, aka Athena, arrived a long time ago -- it's shipped on at least ten devices (T5, TX, Lifedrive, E2, 650, 680, 700p, 700w/wx, 750, 755p) with the Centro about to ship with it. Dead on arrival? Nope.

RE: Is Athena DOA

twrock @ 10/7/2007 10:37:01 PM #

Ben, just ignore Gekko when he uses the "dead" word. Clearly he doesn't know what it means. ;-)

[OT: Ok, it's vacation time! Five days at the beach. I hope you all have as much fun as me this week.]

Thinking about Vista? Think again: http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.txt
Want an alternative? Try this: http://www.ubuntu.com/ or http://www.mepis.org/

RE: Is Athena DOA

jnunez @ 10/9/2007 12:07:51 AM #

I think he means that the “Athena” multi-connector should be put to sleep. Seriously! This is the worst adapter I have had to deal with. Works great for the first few months but after daily syncs it will start dropping out during a sync or not charge over night. I purchased a new one a few months back but when this one goes it will be my last and any future smartphone that I look at will have the mini-usb.

RE: Is Athena DOA

twrock @ 10/12/2007 10:45:39 AM #

Good comment about the "flaky" Athena connector. I too have had trouble with connections dropping. I'm guessing it is an issue with corrosion on the contacts, either on the Palm or the cable/cradle. Cleaning the contacts seems to help for a while. But in any case, if there is a problem with corrosion, just goes to show the lack of quality somewhere.

However, having the Athena connector has meant that I could easily put a microphone and vibrating alarm in my TX, so there is some "value" from my perspective. But it can also be pointed out that I really should not have ever needed to do that if Palm hadn't scrimped in the first place.

Thinking about Vista? Think again: http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.txt
Want an alternative? Try this: http://www.ubuntu.com/ or http://www.mepis.org/