One charger to charge them all

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Ten cell phone companies including Apple, LG, Motorola, Nokia and Sony Ericsson have signed up to offer a common charger, which will be based on a Micro-USB connector. Such universal chargers will improve energy efficiency and reduce energy consumption. However they will only work with data enabled phones, which will become widely available in Europe and the UK after 2010. The EU industry commissioner, Günter Verheugen, said, "Consumers will be able to charge mobile phones anywhere from the new common charger. This also means considerably less electronic waste because people will no longer have to throw away chargers when buying new phones."



Photograph: Dan Chung/The Guardian