Palm Charger for Moment?

[Moment]

Hey,
I went to the Sprint store and bought an extra charger for my Moment. They gave me a Palm charger. The palm charger outputs 5 volts and 850 milliamps. I believe the charger that comes with the Moment outputs 5 volts and 700 milliamps? They said it's a "universal" charger and that it's fine.

Anybody know if this will cause any problems? The new charger fits when I plug it in to the phone but it's not as smooth fitting as the charger that came with the phone.

 

[CriticalCritic]

Hey,
I went to the Sprint store and bought an extra charger for my Moment. They gave me a Palm charger. The palm charger outputs 5 volts and 850 milliamps. I believe the charger that comes with the Moment outputs 5 volts and 700 milliamps? They said it's a "universal" charger and that it's fine.

Anybody know if this will cause any problems? The new charger fits when I plug it in to the phone but it's not as smooth fitting as the charger that came with the phone.

Car charger I assume? Stay away, it will stretch the Moment's dock and render it completely useless. I know from experience. Take it back NOW

 

[AndroidSPCS]

Should be fine. Palm Pre uses micro USB port to charge, which is the same as the Moment.

If it fits it should be okay.

 

[agent0014]

Car charger I assume? Stay away, it will stretch the Moment's dock and render it completely useless. I know from experience. Take it back NOW

Didn't you ultimately find out that this wasn't the case? Or is my memory failing me? I remember that thread... I know I posted about something similar happening to my HTC Touch in response.

 

[CriticalCritic]

Didn't you ultimately find out that this wasn't the case? Or is my memory failing me? I remember that thread... I know I posted about something similar happening to my HTC Touch in response.

Right, I found conflicting evidence that led me to believe I was mistaken... until other reports popped up in Sprint's Moment forum about the Sprint charger messing up the phone. So I believe my initial assessment was correct. And even if by some chance it wasn't (and the others on the Sprint forum were also wrong) then I think he's better safe than sorry (and save $20)

 

[AndroidSPCS]

I bought a generic microUSB charger from Fry's for $3.99. It is a really tight fit on the Samsung Moment.

I gingerly inserted the car charger by slowly wiggling it in, and now it fits better, no harm done to my Moment.

I can see how damage can be done if the microUSB charger is tight fitting, and someone just shoves it in with brute force.

However, if you take care with the charger, and slowly wiggle the charger in over a few minutes, take out, repeat, it will help ensure that no damage will occur as the charger will loosen up and fit in easier in the future.

 

[agent0014]

I bought a generic microUSB charger from Fry's for $3.99. It is a really tight fit on the Samsung Moment.

I gingerly inserted the car charger by slowly wiggling it in, and now it fits better, no harm done to my Moment.

I can see how damage can be done if the microUSB charger is tight fitting, and someone just shoves it in with brute force.

However, if you take care with the charger, and slowly wiggle the charger in over a few minutes, take out, repeat, it will help ensure that no damage will occur as the charger will loosen up and fit in easier in the future.

right, it'll loosen it up for the charger that was a tight fit... what's it going to do for cables and ports that weren't so tight to begin with? Trust me, you don't want the problems I had with my Touch... getting the cables to sit "just so" to get a connection, if someone walks by and bumps it, the connection is lost. Makes me want to cry just remembering... ugh.

 

[AndroidSPCS]

I'm talking about the charge plug, not the Moment charging port.

 

[agent0014]

I'm not sold, mostly because I know the male ends of the micro USB stuff have a plastic support structure inside, which is mostly inflexible. The female ends, while surrounded by plastic at the very tip, look to me like they'd still have an easier time deforming if something's a bit snug. As always though, I could be wrong... and my Touch was mini USB, which is known for being a lot easier to deform (which is why manufacturers had decided to universally adopt the micro format instead of the mini).

 

[AndroidSPCS]

When I scrutinized the microUSB plug very closely, it was clear that the two prongs on the bottom of the plug are very stiff, and thus causes quite a bit of friction inserting and removing the plug. Otherwise the plug fits in fine.

I think that if the two prongs are stiff, people tend to jam it into the port, thus damaging the port. By carefully wiggling the plug in and out a few times, it loosens up the prongs, making insertion easier.

So I really doubt any damage will occur to the port on the phone, as long as you're careful. I'm very anal about the condition of my phone, as I use a skin and a leather case to protect the phone, and I feel pretty comfortable that the plug is the problem which will be remedied by carefully tweaking it / wiggling it in & out a few times.

 

[dkjones96]

Back to the OP's original question. The charger specifications are just fine. All you need is a charger that has the same voltage rating and at least 500mA. I say 500 because that is what USB allows and the phones charge on it. I use a 1.5A(1500mA) usb charger at home with my Moment and it is fine. It will only pull the current it needs unless there is an internal short.

 

[dbpaddler]

If you're using nav or streaming content in the car, I would go with a 1amp charger. They drain the battery quicker and lesser chargers have a hard time supplying enough juice to actually charge and not just maintain.