So I found out recently that a mini USB works on our micro USB device. (or is it the other way around) but any way I put a picture of the cable that has replaced the one that came with my Droid Eris.
That is the picture
I realized that the day i got it... 5 minutes after I activated it.
Mini is on the left. Micro is on the right. The Eris takes the mini.
FunkyFender said:
Mini is on the left. Micro is on the right. The Eris takes the mini.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Correct. MicroUSB is for newer devices. My BB Tour had a Micro and man was it frustrating not having any charging sources compared to all the minis I have.
Yeah HTC likes to use their "proprietary" charger most likely to encourage people to buy chargers and cables only from them, but I have known since about 8 months before the Eris even came out because I was interested in getting the HTC Ozone, which uses the same connector as the Eris (luckily I worked for Verizon at the time and got early news that there were "some exciting new phones coming out that were worth waiting for. Glad I listened and ended up with my Eris instead of a crappy WinMo phone." The only difference between our connectors and a standard mini USB connector is the shape. The pin layout is the same, however some smartphones do use a higher voltage wall charger than some standard phones (ie: Blackberry Curve should not be charged with a Moto RAZR charger as the BB needs more current than the RAZR charger suppies). I am not sure if this would apply to the Eris or if it would actually cause damage to the BB in this case but I have been advised not to try it with BB phones in particular.
cstone1991 said:
Yeah HTC likes to use their "proprietary" charger most likely to encourage people to buy chargers and cables only from them, but I have known since about 8 months before the Eris even came out because I was interested in getting the HTC Ozone, which uses the same connector as the Eris (luckily I worked for Verizon at the time and got early news that there were "some exciting new phones coming out that were worth waiting for. Glad I listened and ended up with my Eris instead of a crappy WinMo phone." The only difference between our connectors and a standard mini USB connector is the shape. The pin layout is the same, however some smartphones do use a higher voltage wall charger than some standard phones (ie: Blackberry Curve should not be charged with a Moto RAZR charger as the BB needs more current than the RAZR charger suppies). I am not sure if this would apply to the Eris or if it would actually cause damage to the BB in this case but I have been advised not to try it with BB phones in particular.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
to be in compliance with the standards to be considered a "certified usb device" the max power of a usb is 5v, the amperage is the only thing that changes (from 500 to 900 mA)
all usb devices are compatible with any number of mA, but the amperage get's throttled for lower amperage devices, and for higher amperage it simply will be enough to power the device to stay on, but not charging.
any of the respectable companies (RIM, moto, HTC, etc) will be fully aware of this, and their chargers are specifically made to stay in compliance with this feature, so you can't possibly cause damage using the wrong charger for any of their devices. however! any of the cheaper brands, or brands that just aren't reputable dont always follow these rules can infact overcharge a device. worst case scenario? it overheats your device (which in most instances simply makes it shut down on it's own a lot and get really warm, which can cause problems, but nothing to severe if you notice in time to stop it) the difference between 500 and 900mA is negligible.
there are some devices that use an extra port or two to pull even more power (from 6 to 24 volts) but if you were to plug this into a device that doesnt have said extra ports, it wont have anything to connect to, and thus, still only charge at the standard 5v, 500-900mA.
(just some usb knowledge for fun, also remember to ALWAYS look at the label on the charger, it most of the time is LEGALLY REQUIRED to have the voltage/amperage on the package or the device itself; if it doesnt match, best bet is to not plug it in. remember not to sue me if I'm not right, I take no responsibility for your own actions.)
European regulations to reduce waste from thrown away cell phone accessories has mandated that phones sold in Europe have common connections. They've decided that all new devices should be MicroUSB, which is why everyone (except apple) moved to it. I don't know how this will affect the iPhone.
now almost all phone company use micro usb
like NOKIA HTC SAMSUNG SONYERICSSON and.......
iloveandroid said:
So I found out recently that a mini USB works on our micro USB device. (or is it the other way around) but any way I put a picture of the cable that has replaced the one that came with my Droid Eris.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I knew this the day I got my phone. I have since damaged the HTC proprietary cord and have been using mini-usb ever since. No adverse effects other than the trackball scrolling left issue that has started to show. Related perhaps? I only get the issue when I'm plugged into the charger so...
CPCookieMan said:
I knew this the day I got my phone. I have since damaged the HTC proprietary cord and have been using mini-usb ever since. No adverse effects other than the trackball scrolling left issue that has started to show. Related perhaps? I only get the issue when I'm plugged into the charger so...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like the trackball issue that occurs because of the location of the trackball pins on the mainboard. The pins get loose from plugging and unplugging the phone and over time cause the trackball to randomly scroll. If you have the extended warranty or insurance, it might be time to use it.
CPCookieMan said:
No adverse effects other than the trackball scrolling left issue that has started to show. Related perhaps? I only get the issue when I'm plugged into the charger so...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It was the charger being plugged in that caused it for me, but it didn't matter whether it was the HTC cable or a regular miniUSB.
any ideas about resoldering to resolve the issue?
also:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=657468
&
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=716681
Related
I have a problem with charging my HTC Kaiser.
When connected to the PC it charges the battery without any problems.
But when connected to the 220volt or 12/24volt, the PDA stops charging after 10 minutes.
With the OEM ROM from Kaiser I had no problems, but now I am running Dutty's DualTouchFlo No.2
Anyone any ideas?
should it be at 115 volts?
You really need to tell us what country you live in.
Shadow7789 said:
You really need to tell us what country you live in.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am living in the Netherlands where there is 220/240 volts
A couple known issues. See: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=355232
My issue originally presented like yours. It was a result of a slightly broken USB port. Look for bowing or anything other than an arrow straight usb port pin block. May be slightly lower on the right side. Also, if you use a tool like sk tools you can see what the power is doing. My charge light would temporarily come on as yours does, but sk tools actualy reported a higher rate of discharge. This issue requires a return, at least for me it did.
MartinKoppen said:
I have a problem with charging my HTC Kaiser.
When connected to the PC it charges the battery without any problems.
But when connected to the 220volt or 12/24volt, the PDA stops charging after 10 minutes.
With the OEM ROM from Kaiser I had no problems, but now I am running Dutty's DualTouchFlo No.2
Anyone any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My suggestion:
Backup data
Reflash to stock
Return to sender
lol
GSLEON3 said:
A couple known issues. See: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=355232
My issue originally presented like yours. It was a result of a slightly broken USB port. Look for bowing or anything other than an arrow straight usb port pin block. May be slightly lower on the right side. Also, if you use a tool like sk tools you can see what the power is doing. My charge light would temporarily come on as yours does, but sk tools actualy reported a higher rate of discharge. This issue requires a return, at least for me it did.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey,
do you know where I can find an technical overview of the five pins with the USB charge port?
MartinKoppen said:
Hey,
do you know where I can find an technical overview of the five pins with the USB charge port?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are actually 11 pins. Here is the chart:
If you click the image, you'll see a bigger pic.
Take a look at this thread.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=354760
Your problem sounds similar. If your USB port is defective, it would not charge at all, no matter where it is connected.
I have found problems using AC USB chargers. Many will not work with PDA phones.
ttt123 said:
Take a look at this thread.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=354760
Your problem sounds similar. If your USB port is defective, it would not charge at all, no matter where it is connected.
I have found problems using AC USB chargers. Many will not work with PDA phones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's just wrong. There are multiple pins. See the chart guy. If it's broke on the right side, you may only lose the 5V charge & maybe left audio. Remember this is USB & there is more than just a single connection you're dealing with. Also, I know for a fact that this is what caused mine because I enclosed a letter with my device & the Tech at HTC Repair called me & confirmed.
The pinout on the Kaiser:
- only pins A, B, C, D, E are used for the USB plug.
- take a look at the USB male plug. There are only 5 pins.
- only pins A=GND and E=+5V are used for charging. (I did some research into this when I was converting a camera charger to a USB charger, by adding a female USB plug)
These are the same charge connections that are used, whether you plug it into your PC, or into an AC charger. If the Kaiser charges normally when connected to the PC, and does not fully charge when connected to an AC USB charger, then it is the charger that is the problem, not the Kaiser.
I have experienced the same symptoms on some chargers, and not on others, on both the Hermes, and the Kaiser. I have tried different chargers, and verified that certain chargers will charge the Kaiser, and others will not.
So, GSLEON3, your symptom may be accurate for your phone, in that a problem on the right side of the USB plug may have affected pin E, and caused a charge problem. However, that would have stopped charging from any source, and not just from a USB/car charger.
My opinion is based upon my own experience. I have about 10 different AC USB chargers. Cheap ones and proper ones, up to 3A output. None of them would charge the Kaiser properly. The iPod one would. I can switch back and forth, and get the exact same symptoms described in this post.
If you had the same symptoms as in this post (could charge OK from the PC, but not from other sources), and HTC service told you that it was a defective USB plug, then I would say that they are just taking the easy way out, and telling you something without really knowing what the problem was. This is not an uncommon thing for service groups to do. As somebody who comes from a service background (though not on consumer electronics), I have seen this happen too often, hearing an explanation from the service department that I knew was wrong.
My analysis/opinion is easily proven right or wrong. Just try it on another charger that is known to work. An iPod charger, Blackberry charger, etc. If it proves out, then you have an answer. If it does not, then there must be another reason.
It's not very good troubleshooting to exclude options without trying them. Try them all, and see which one fits.
Hello all,
So I just bought a new charger (just a wall charger) and now when I plug my TB in, the screen does not respond to anything! I have to take the plug out to work my screen. It is completely unresponsive (regardless of where I'm at on the screen) while charging. As soon as I unplug it, it's fine.
Any ideas?
Where did you buy the charger from? Some crappy no-name/ebay/cheap chargers do that because they are crap. I had bought a cheap charger for my HTC Touch Pro 2 and that same thing happened, used the regular charger, no problems at all.
I know when I used the charger and cable that came with the thunderbolt, it used to become laggy or less responsive. Not terrible, but I could notice it. It was like all the memory was tied up. It doesn't do it anymore though. I rarely use the original cable and charger anyways.
g00s3y said:
Where did you buy the charger from? Some crappy no-name/ebay/cheap chargers do that because they are crap. I had bought a cheap charger for my HTC Touch Pro 2 and that same thing happened, used the regular charger, no problems at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Indeed. The cheap $1.00 chargers may also harm your battery.
daniel178 said:
Hello all,
So I just bought a new charger (just a wall charger) and now when I plug my TB in, the screen does not respond to anything! I have to take the plug out to work my screen. It is completely unresponsive (regardless of where I'm at on the screen) while charging. As soon as I unplug it, it's fine.
Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Today I tried to charge my phone at work using my original.al charger that I always use and while it was plugged in, the screen wouldn't respond at all. I thought the phone was the problem but I later troubleshot it to low voltage from the extension cord, not my charger.
There are in fact quite a few micro-usb chargers that cause the screen to become unresponsive when plugged in.. This doesn't necessarily mean that the charger is crap, but it's best to use your manufacturer-approved (oem) chargers whenever possible. I work in wireless, and although our supplier is reputable, their generic chargers don't work well with the Atrix & a few other smartphones. I use them only when necessary, but do your phone a favor & stick to manufacturer chargers.
I had this problem, when I use a properly grounded surge protector the problem doesn't happen any more. It also happens to me when I charge out of my old macbook pro which tends to have a 'staticy' feel to it.
zoso28 said:
There are in fact quite a few micro-usb chargers that cause the screen to become unresponsive when plugged in.. This doesn't necessarily mean that the charger is crap, but it's best to use your manufacturer-approved (oem) chargers whenever possible...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're two months late with your incorrect post. There's a well defined standard for USB chargers, which the TB follows. Non-OEM ones work every bit as well as the HTC one as long as they, too, follow the standard and provide clean power.
mike.s said:
You're two months late with your incorrect post. There's a well defined standard for USB chargers, which the TB follows. Non-OEM ones work every bit as well as the HTC one as long as they, too, follow the standard and provide clean power.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry my timing bothered you I was just browsing around for info about the touchscreen issues i've seen. I'm well aware of the standard, 5 +/- 0.25 volts 500–900 mA, and they all seem to charge perfectly well but certain phone/charger combos cause some screens to lag & I just wondered why. For example the motorola adapters all seem to be 5.1 volts @ 850mA, whereas samsung adapters are 5.0 volts @ 700 mA, and the samsungs charge fine on our standard 5/500's while the moto's lag.
zoso28 said:
SI'm well aware of the standard, 5 +/- 0.25 volts 500–900 mA, and they all seem to charge perfectly well but certain phone/charger combos cause some screens to lag & I just wondered why. For example the motorola adapters all seem to be 5.1 volts @ 850mA, whereas samsung adapters are 5.0 volts @ 700 mA, and the samsungs charge fine on our standard 5/500's while the moto's lag.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not clear where the "500-900 mA" and "standard 5/500" figures you give come from. Neither is from the USB Battery Charging Specification.
The spec supports up to a 1.5 A current from a Dedicated Charging Port. The HTC charger is rated at 1 A, and it seems the TB will use all of it. I've seen charging rates of 800 mA, with the phone also running screen, GPS, and more.
Cheap ones, regardless of output, may be poorly filtered with a significant AC component. Those are the ones which will really cause problems.
I know some people use chargers other than the stock HTC charger...
does using a different charger with lower or higher milliamp ratings make a difference or hurt the battery in any way?
Dont know anything about damage, wouldnt think so.
In my experience, my HTC desire has two modes of charging USB (500mA) or AC (1A).
If the two middle pins of the usb cable are shorted it assumes its connected to an ac charger so it pulls 1A. This is due to the max rating of a pc usb connection being 500mA, so everytime it thinks its connected to a pc it wont draw too much and damage your pc motherboard etc.
Now coming back to your question, some chargers have their pins shorted, some not. Apart from longer charging times, the only real issue is for car chargers, where some poeple have found that if you use one that sets the phone to USB mode, and you are running lots of thing like nav software etc, the battery will still drain even with the charger connected. ie its using more juice than its taking.
Personally I have charged my desire with many USB devices, like ipod chargers, etc etc with no ill effect. I found out thtat my ipod WONT charge from the HTC charger, whereas my phone would happily charge from the apple charger. Prob due to some usual Apple rubbish about who gets the accessory money, so for travelling I just take the Apple charger now.
k.aalai said:
Dont know anything about damage, wouldnt think so.
In my experience, my HTC desire has two modes of charging USB (500mA) or AC (1A).
If the two middle pins of the usb cable are shorted it assumes its connected to an ac charger so it pulls 1A. This is due to the max rating of a pc usb connection being 500mA, so everytime it thinks its connected to a pc it wont draw too much and damage your pc motherboard etc.
Now coming back to your question, some chargers have their pins shorted, some not. Apart from longer charging times, the only real issue is for car chargers, where some poeple have found that if you use one that sets the phone to USB mode, and you are running lots of thing like nav software etc, the battery will still drain even with the charger connected. ie its using more juice than its taking.
Personally I have charged my desire with many USB devices, like ipod chargers, etc etc with no ill effect. I found out thtat my ipod WONT charge from the HTC charger, whereas my phone would happily charge from the apple charger. Prob due to some usual Apple rubbish about who gets the accessory money, so for travelling I just take the Apple charger now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Both my kid's iPod 3G charge from their Htc chargers just fine so I'm not sure why yours wont. I bought a dock last week for the phone and when I plugged it in I got the screen problem that a lot of others have had where it doesn't respond much. It was like this for a while after too. The charger was some cheap **** 800mA that came with it but I doubt it was just down to mA.
> Both my kid's iPod 3G charge from their Htc chargers just fine so I'm not sure why
> yours wont.
The Problem is with the generation and Software of the Ipod, older ones charge from
normal wall chargers i.e. HTC just fine, but newer ones are more picky. Notices this
myself with my Ipod Nanos...
you should be able to use anything up to 1.5A just fine with a usb port. Just watch for excessive over heating when the phone is on and charging. When its off and the usual over charge protection in many chargers these days they will stop once the charging has finished. I have a bunch of RC lipo batteries and have never had a problem with anything up to 2A+ for ANY battery i have charged no matter the battery makeup.. over this and you can get quick and significant problems...
Houwald said:
> Both my kid's iPod 3G charge from their Htc chargers just fine so I'm not sure why
> yours wont.
The Problem is with the generation and Software of the Ipod, older ones charge from
normal wall chargers i.e. HTC just fine, but newer ones are more picky. Notices this
myself with my Ipod Nanos...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Funnily enough mine is a very old 4G white one, the one with the round click wheel in the middle! But somehow it just refuses to charge...
joshndroid said:
you should be able to use anything up to 1.5A just fine with a usb port.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
??
Per Wikipedia:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB
A maximum of 5 unit loads (500 mA) can be drawn from a port in USB 2.0
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
odd.. claims I did not hit 10 char...
zim2dive said:
joshndroid said:
you should be able to use anything up to 1.5A just fine with a usb port. /QUOTE]
??
Per Wikipedia:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB
odd.. claims I did not hit 10 char...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that doesn't mean the device is not capable... you have 2 ends, the charger/usb port and the phone side.. the charger gives 1A, normal USB gives 0.5A, and only HTC knows what the phone side can take.. but at least 1A
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The one I got from verizon easily falls out of the socket. ANd plus the usb cable broke within a week.
I love my verizon one. It never falls out of the socket and I've had it since November in the USB cable looks like new (even tho I'm an Android developer, so I move it all the time).
Yeah my original one that cam with the phone works fine, cable doesn't let me access USB any more but it still charges the phone. I also have used the charger for an old Kyocera dumbphone, multiple blackberry chargers, HTC, Motorola, etc... I hang out with friends a lot and sometimes use theirs. All the chargers work pretty much the same, the only difference was USB cords. Oddly, the HTC cords were terrible at staying in my phone, and would fall out if i wiggled it. The motorola ones worked even better than samsung's. Just any microUSB charger from amazon should work.
I just got 2 of the original chargers shipped to me for <$8
Ok, I have two similar but also distinctly different issues here...
First, I have 2 different USB-C charging cables (yes, I'm late to the party, the note9 is my first type-C device), and they likely present the (supposedly) best and (presumably) worst option...
Cable #1 is, of course, the OEM cable that came in the box from Samsung.
Cable #2 is a generic USB-C cable I picked up for literally $1 at my local Dollar store.
Both are plugged into the OEM Samsung fastcharge AC adapter (I use 2 different adapters, one from my old Note4 and one from the Note9, but I've noticed this same discrepency on both so I'm asuming hardware revisions are, at most, extremely minor between the two chargers)
Plone us usually only drained to ~50-70% (normally closer to 70%) to try and maintain the battery as long as possible and except overnight, removed as soon as I notice its at 100%
When I plug in with the $1 cable, I almost always get ~1:45 (one hour, forty-five minutes) till full charge
When I plug in the OEM cable it seems to usually be closer to 1 hour to fully charge.
I have not actually swapped them out to be 100% sure, but given the battery % is usually the same, I'm almost certain that the phone is charging faster with the OEM cable.
Does this actually make sense? Is it worth the extra $$$ to shell out for Samsung's own cables? Is it likely to damage the phone? (the last point I'm not quite as concerned with since I usually use wireless charging, but I know with some products instead of a "very slight amount each time but eventually it gets noticeable" you have "works fine 99% of the time, but the 1 time it doesn't work right it kills the device" which is what worries me on a $1000 phone...)
Second issue...
As I mentioned, I use wireless charging most of the time. I have 2 charging pads. One was literally the cheapest one on eBay that shipped from within the USA (which, to be fair, I bought years ago when I was attempting to add aftermarket wireless charging to my note4 and it was just as successful as I had expected it to be, so I didn't want to shell out top dollar for hardware that I knew was unlikely to work for me) the second charger was one I picked up from Wallyworld (I think it's "Onn" brand? whatever Walmart's "store brand" of electronics is) for $10
At first, both chargers seemed equal except for how the phone reacted to being misplaced on it (the larger Chinese one is about the same size as the phone and if not lined up right it would start-stop-start-stop-start-stop, while the Wallyworld one would not even start unless the smaller disk was centered under the phone) but now after using them for a while, the Wallyworld one seems to be charing slower than the cheap Chinese one... and its almost like the "time till full charge" doesn't go down accurately (i.e. "1:45 till full charge" then 45 minutes later "1:15 till full charge") though the battery % does go up it seems slower than it used to be...
Also, I had a weird issue where the phone was "charging wirelessly" but it never charged, several hours later it was at the same or possibly slightly lower battery% than before - on both chargers! Right now I'm chalking it up to the phone software glitching since after charging it over cable and rebooting, the next time they both charged like normal.
Again, does this sound like its a quality issue (where hilariously the cheap Chinese pad is better quality than the Wallyworld one)? Is using these 3rd party chargers possibly screwing up my phone's wireless charging circuit? (this time I'm very concerned with the risk to damage of the phone since I use wireless charging so often --- I'm even looking at buying a car windshield-mount with a built-in wireless charger)
So... thoughts?
Ashton_Durkhun said:
Ok, I have two similar but also distinctly different issues here...
First, I have 2 different USB-C charging cables (yes, I'm late to the party, the note9 is my first type-C device), and they likely present the (supposedly) best and (presumably) worst option...
Cable #1 is, of course, the OEM cable that came in the box from Samsung.
Cable #2 is a generic USB-C cable I picked up for literally $1 at my local Dollar store.
Both are plugged into the OEM Samsung fastcharge AC adapter (I use 2 different adapters, one from my old Note4 and one from the Note9, but I've noticed this same discrepency on both so I'm asuming hardware revisions are, at most, extremely minor between the two chargers)
Plone us usually only drained to ~50-70% (normally closer to 70%) to try and maintain the battery as long as possible and except overnight, removed as soon as I notice its at 100%
When I plug in with the $1 cable, I almost always get ~1:45 (one hour, forty-five minutes) till full charge
When I plug in the OEM cable it seems to usually be closer to 1 hour to fully charge.
I have not actually swapped them out to be 100% sure, but given the battery % is usually the same, I'm almost certain that the phone is charging faster with the OEM cable.
Does this actually make sense? Is it worth the extra $$$ to shell out for Samsung's own cables? Is it likely to damage the phone? (the last point I'm not quite as concerned with since I usually use wireless charging, but I know with some products instead of a "very slight amount each time but eventually it gets noticeable" you have "works fine 99% of the time, but the 1 time it doesn't work right it kills the device" which is what worries me on a $1000 phone...)
Second issue...
As I mentioned, I use wireless charging most of the time. I have 2 charging pads. One was literally the cheapest one on eBay that shipped from within the USA (which, to be fair, I bought years ago when I was attempting to add aftermarket wireless charging to my note4 and it was just as successful as I had expected it to be, so I didn't want to shell out top dollar for hardware that I knew was unlikely to work for me) the second charger was one I picked up from Wallyworld (I think it's "Onn" brand? whatever Walmart's "store brand" of electronics is) for $10
At first, both chargers seemed equal except for how the phone reacted to being misplaced on it (the larger Chinese one is about the same size as the phone and if not lined up right it would start-stop-start-stop-start-stop, while the Wallyworld one would not even start unless the smaller disk was centered under the phone) but now after using them for a while, the Wallyworld one seems to be charing slower than the cheap Chinese one... and its almost like the "time till full charge" doesn't go down accurately (i.e. "1:45 till full charge" then 45 minutes later "1:15 till full charge") though the battery % does go up it seems slower than it used to be...
Also, I had a weird issue where the phone was "charging wirelessly" but it never charged, several hours later it was at the same or possibly slightly lower battery% than before - on both chargers! Right now I'm chalking it up to the phone software glitching since after charging it over cable and rebooting, the next time they both charged like normal.
Again, does this sound like its a quality issue (where hilariously the cheap Chinese pad is better quality than the Wallyworld one)? Is using these 3rd party chargers possibly screwing up my phone's wireless charging circuit? (this time I'm very concerned with the risk to damage of the phone since I use wireless charging so often --- I'm even looking at buying a car windshield-mount with a built-in wireless charger)
So... thoughts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Regarding issue 1, yes there is a difference in cables. Especially with USB C. There are several good brands including Anker and Samsung. Some of the cheaper Chinese ones on Amazon are decent too. Cheap cables will affect charging rate and also transfer rate if you ever use it to copy data.
Issue 2: The ONN ones from Wal Mart are also cheap Chinese crap. I don't know a lot about wireless chargers, but my Samsung one works perfectly and I use it daily at work. From what I understand getting a decent one that has 3 coils makes placement much easier. As they are very picky about placement, my guess is that when it didn't charge you were off slightly. Even with my Samsung one, I have placed it just a mm off and had it look like it was going to charge and then noticed the indicator light was red and my phone wasn't charging. Also getting one with fast charging capability is nice.
As with everything, but it seems to apply even more so to our beloved electronics, you typically get what you pay for. Dollar store electronics and accessories will almost always disappoint, even if not immediately. Same goes for most of the cheap stuff at Wal Mart. Most of the "branded" stuff there isn't even made by the oem. Wal Mart's electronics are cheaper because they are made to "spec" with lower quality components than the real deal.
dragunbayne said:
Regarding issue 1, yes there is a difference in cables. Especially with USB C. There are several good brands including Anker and Samsung. Some of the cheaper Chinese ones on Amazon are decent too. Cheap cables will affect charging rate and also transfer rate if you ever use it to copy data.
Issue 2: The ONN ones from Wal Mart are also cheap Chinese crap. I don't know a lot about wireless chargers, but my Samsung one works perfectly and I use it daily at work. From what I understand getting a decent one that has 3 coils makes placement much easier. As they are very picky about placement, my guess is that when it didn't charge you were off slightly. Even with my Samsung one, I have placed it just a mm off and had it look like it was going to charge and then noticed the indicator light was red and my phone wasn't charging. Also getting one with fast charging capability is nice.
As with everything, but it seems to apply even more so to our beloved electronics, you typically get what you pay for. Dollar store electronics and accessories will almost always disappoint, even if not immediately. Same goes for most of the cheap stuff at Wal Mart. Most of the "branded" stuff there isn't even made by the oem. Wal Mart's electronics are cheaper because they are made to "spec" with lower quality components than the real deal.
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First off, thank you for your reply and the info
I figured as much about the cables, though I was hoping since, as you mentioned some of the cheaper ones are good. to say they are "disappointing" to me is not 100% true, since, as I said, they're mostly used when I'm away from home and using my phone extensively --- and in those situations, they're perfectly OK - not great, but certainly adequate.
I knew the wireless chargers were lower quality but its very interesting to know HOW they're lower quality (number of coils) and that even the higher-quality ones are still a little picky about where the device is placed (one of the only things I miss about those clunky first-gen wireless charging products was how large their surface was, its a lot easier to toss even a large phone on a charging pad the size of a mouse mat.) I agree that Fast Charge would be a nice feature, but given how long the battery lasts and the fact that the highest intensity activities I do require it to be plugged into the PC (tethering and file transfer) I don't really see it as a huge deal --- I personally could probably charge my note every other day if I let it get down to the ~20% range.
Though I'm still laughing that the <$5 shipped, several-year-old charge pad from China is higher quality than the modern ~$11 Walmart one XD (really says something about Wallyworld's price markup policies)
Thanks again for the info!
Sometimes you luck out with the Chinese stuff. I've taken the gamble before and been very happy. Your old one may use a better coil design. Choetech is an example of a Chinese brand that has a good design and quality and has made something of themselves. Their wireless charger is 3 coil and available for $20 on Amazon.
As far as cables, copper is very expensive these days. I would hazard to guess the cheap cable does not have very good conductors running through it. Personally I am not a huge fan of Samsung cables either. They do work well, but I question their durability as they are quite thin.
I'm glad I was able to help you out.