Huawei SuperCharge crowned best of fast charging standards

SuperCharge beat out Google and Apple's simpler systems as well as other adapter-based systems like OnePlus's Dash Charge and Motorola's Turbo Charge.

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This super-smart Razer Power Bank is aimed mainly at laptops, but can also fast-charge smartphones

By no means affordable, at $150 stateside, the "intelligent" Razer Power Bank has Quick Charge 3.0 support going for it, and both USB-A and C ports.

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Qualcomm unveils faster, safer, more efficient Quick Charge 4 technology

A number of Android device manufacturers these days, including OnePlus, Huawei and OPPO, seem to be building on Qualcomm’s basic Quick Charge strengths while always looking to take things to the next level with their own personal changes and implementations of fast-charging technology.

But once Snapdragon 835-powered flagship phones come to light sometime “in the first half of 2017”, Quick Charge 4 could be all you need to make sure “you don’t have to spend all day chained to your charging cable.”

Unlike the mostly mysterious SD835 SoC, we know quite a few things about the Qualcomm Quick Charge 4 standard, starting with its main claim to fame – five minutes of charging for extended “premium” smartphone use by five or “more hours.”

Also, “roughly 15 minutes or less” for up to a 50 percent battery charge. Then you have equally impressive generic figures like “up to 20 percent faster charging and up to 30 percent higher efficiency compared with Quick Charge 3.0.” Bottom line, this is blazing fast and ultra-efficient.

Perhaps more importantly though, it’s fully compatible with USB Type-C and USB-PD (Power Delivery) specifications, thus working on the “widest variety of cables and adapters” in the industry.

Last but certainly not least, Qualcomm fine-tuned the heck out of its in-house Quick Charge 4 safety, implementing protection at “multiple levels and throughout the entire charging process to more accurately measure voltage, current, and temperature while protecting the battery, system, cables and connectors.” All to reduce your explosion concerns.

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Android may require USB Power Delivery support in the future

Google is “strongly recommending” to its manufacturer partners that they follow proper USB specifications for devices running on Android Nougat and even requiring compliance with specific specs.

The latest Android Compatibility Definition Document has expanded upon implementations for a USB port in both peripheral and host modes. There are specific recommendations and requirements now applied in support of the USB Battery Charging specifications, revision 1.2, including USB Power Delivery. Here

  • It SHOULD implement support to draw 1.5 A current during HS chirp and traffic as specified in the USB Battery Charging specification, revision 1.2 . Existing and new Android devices are STRONGLY RECOMMENDED to meet these requirements so they will be able to upgrade to the future platform releases.
  • Type-C devices MUST detect 1.5A and 3.0A chargers per the Type-C resistor standard and it must detect changes in the advertisement.
  • Type-C devices also supporting USB host mode are STRONGLY RECOMMENDED to support Power Delivery for data and power role swapping.
  • Type-C devices SHOULD support Power Delivery for high-voltage charging and support for Alternate Modes such as display out.

Google goes on to strongly recommend manufacturers to not support proprietary charging methods that stray from default voltage controls or switch sink/source roles as to render chargers not interoperable between devices. Yep, abandon ye Qualcomm Quick Charge if you want to hop on the Nougat train.

“While this is called out as ‘STRONGLY RECOMMENDED’, in future Android versions we might REQUIRE all type-C devices to support full interoperability with standard type-C chargers,” the listing goes on to read.

Charging over USB-C has been a little bit more of a trick to handle on Android. The Quick Charge 3.0-capable HTC 10 didn’t work friendly with the charger of the Pixel C. Google engineer Benson Leung also has been adamant about having USB-C peripherals following proper charging spec, be it so that a bad cable doesn’t get to fry a phone.

So, Google definitely wants to make sure that OEMs are headed in a safe direction. But will the company continue for a unified, un-fragmented direction, even with hardware spec? We don’t necessarily think so.

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Nexus Quick Charging explained

Just when we thought we had this whole “quick charging” thing all figured out and knew which car- and wall-chargers to get, Google went and confused everyone all over again. Yes, it’s true that the new Nexus 6P and Nexus 5X support quick charging, but no, despite both phones being built around Qualcomm Snapdragon SoCs, neither has “Qualcomm Quick Charge” of any variety (1.0, 2.0, or some other version). What they do have is pretty good, if specifications are to be believed (we’ll reserve final judgement after our full reviews), but there is quite a bit ...

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Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

You’ll be hard-pressed to find someone who would turn down a phone with a bigger battery than a smaller one, all things being equal. Unfortunately, phones with bigger capacities generally mean thicker dimensions and heavier devices. Even a few dozen mAh can add significant costs to the bill of materials. The solutions to this conundrum come in four varieties: OS and SoC optimizations to reduce battery use, and wireless and quick charging schemes to help keep the battery full. Targeting the latter, and following up from a successful 2.0 release, Qualcomm’s solution is Quick ...

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Is “fast charging” a marketing ploy?

Fast charging is everywhere. It’s called out on the box of every phone it’s implemented in. It’s advertised online. It takes form in multiple variants. But does it really help drive sales?We’ve seen fast charging take many identities. Qualcomm’s Quick Charge, Oppo’s VOOC, Samsung’s Adaptive Fast Charge… Our own Joe Levi already took a look at the different fast charging options a few months ago, and his tests indicated a clear benefit to ...

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Move over Qi-charging – every smartwatch should have third-party battery bands

By USB or by wall outlet, our gadgets receive energy and store it in their batteries. Once they’re unplugged, they’re immediately powering through your day. That is, if they can last as long as you do. And in the case of wearable technology, where battery capacity only goes so far as the technology inside of it and the limited physical footprint, sometimes they don’t.With discharge cycles lasting anywhere between 18 hours and seven days, we’re not excited with having ...

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