Saw this image on BoingBoing today.
Both of these items are US mains power to 5V USB adapters. They both do exactly the same thing. One is made by Apple, for the iPhone. The other is by Microsoft, for the Zune.
This is an example of when dedication to design is very very pleasing.
I suspect that the Zune charger costs less. Possibly not much less, but hey, every little bit counts when you’re shipping product in big enough quantities, and baby these Zunes will FLY out the door!
August 3, 2009 at 7:56 am
They have to include room for the noisy fan.
August 3, 2009 at 11:29 am
and the reset switch for when it locks up.
August 4, 2009 at 1:18 am
I wonder of either of those units includes a USB host? The Problem with so many of these USB chargers is that they do not include a host. Any USB device is allowed to draw 100mA which is generally not enough to charge a battery quick enough. A USB complaint device asks the host for high power and if the capacity is available etc the device is given the go ahead to draw up to 500mA.
This is added complexity required to make the device compliant. Non-complaint devices will simply try to draw more than 100mA without the handshaking process, which can cause problems.
My 4th gen iPod has a car charger which outputs 12V onto the Firewire power pins. Connecting my iPod to a 5V source in a USB socket will not charge it as it needs the host scheme, yet there are a lot of products out there with a USB connector and a basic 5V supply that are supposed to charge my iPod.
Um O.K. this has nothing to do with your post. Yes the little white box is much more elegant.