If you noticed that your new phone was charging faster than your old one, that’s probably due to QuickCharge 1.0, a relatively new technology available on over 70 phones, including the HTC EVO 4G LTE. Qualcomm posted about this on its blog earlier today, unveiling the technology and hinting that it was already widespread.
Unfortunately Qualcomm didn’t say much, other than the technology exists, and that requires 40% less time to charge. The company made generalizations about a generic phone charging scenario, with no details given on what that phone, battery capacity, or charger might potentially be. For all we know, the new charging technology could be the same general concept as the FastCharge Force AC Toggle Widget.
The blog entry really could be read as, “Do you notice your phone charging faster? Yes, that’s our technology. No? Give it a bit; it’s not on your phone yet, but it could be!” It also does not mention if this is available via a firmware update, or if it’s already shipped – just that the capacity exists on these phones. I mentally envision a snake-oil salesman when I’m imagining that quote, stroking his goatee, but I doubt Qualcomm is all that interested in deceiving us.
I don’t particularly notice that my 2000mAh HTC EVO 4G LTE (listed as one of the supported phones) charges any faster than my EVO 3D with a 4000mAh battery does (assuming the 4000mAh should take twice as long), so chances are the technology is coming, or I’m not sitting there with a stopwatch waiting for the charging light to blink out.
It will be interesting to see if Qualcomm details exactly what it is, where it is, when it is coming, or when it was implemented. As it stands, its 40% QuickCharge claim sounds a lot like the SBC kernel charging claims from the early days of the original EVO 4G kernel development to me.
[Qualcomm via Android Central] Thanks, Joseph!
I just got the Galaxy Note 2 for Sprint, after giving up on the Evo line (for now) after having the Evo 3D, and I’ve been noticing it takes about 3 hours for my phone to get down to about 79% (with constant use of the multi-window feature) but takes about only 17-28 minutes to get fully charged again. And within 39 minutes of being unplugged, it’s still at 100%.
I got the galaxy note 2 as well after after having the evo…and I have noticed for having a large battery it charges fast. I left it on the charger for 20 minutes and it went from 15 % to 48%. Thats pretty good.
if it takes (let’s average) 23 minutes to charge roughly 20% (based on your details) that means 100% would be 115 minutes or right at two hours.
Assuming a 1amp charger, and a 2500mAh battery (that’s what I read it has, feel free to correct) a full charge should take 150 minutes minimum.
Somehow the math isn’t working here – either it’s got a higher than 1 amp charger (I can’t find specs on it), I have the battery capacity wrong, your calibration for roughly 80% isn’t correct (which is sounding like it if it’s at 100% more than 10 minutes) or gremlins.
Have you calibrated the battery? Also can you confirm the charger on that thing, if it’s 1500mAh or 2100 my math is shot right out of the gate
The actual charging current is not constant throughout the full charge cycle and depends on battery percentage.
The charger for my Note II says output is 2 amps. The battery is 3100mAh. I’ve never clocked charge times or anything, but my Note II charges ridiculously fast.
Then my maths is off… 2 amps, 3100mAh charge time (perfect) would be ~100 minutes
I’m going to let my phone die tonight, and in the morning I’ll charge it from dead to see how long it takes for a full charge.
The thing you all have to remember is that from 0-90% it will definitely charge much faster (likely drawing the 2A from the charger). From 90-100% it charges MUCH slower while it is in the trickle charge state of the charging circuit. This preservers the life of the internal battery chemistry. Therefore, the extrapolation fro the 80-100% is not necessarily very accurate. I’m not sure what type of battery chemistry the Note II has, but Li-ION batteries do not like to be charged quickly from 90-100%.
Note II has a Li-ion battery just like every other available phone. Charge current is lowered at 80%, not 90%.
I’ll concede I hadn’t done research to investigate the exact point the charging circuit reduces its charging current for the Note II. So if it is at 80%, ok. I just know from experience with my Evo 3D, it slows down considerably at 90%. This is consistent with the research and engineering work I have done designing hi-end battery charging devices for the company I used to work for. Also, I do believe the Nokia Lumia 920 uses a type of Li-ION called Lithium Polymer. This is slightly different than traditional Li-ION. I wasn’t sure if the Note II also used Li-Po, given its absurd battery size. Again, I was stating general Li-ION charging characteristics. Thank you for the info on the exact details of the Note II.