Help Why can't I / Shouldn't I charge whilst using my S4?

[James Blonde]

I saw the warning in the manual and dismissed it as just health and safety nonsense, but when the battery got low on my new S4 and the phone battery warning / charge request told me not to use it whilst charging I was fairly surprised and very irritated.

To my mind, the fact that the phone requesting you not to using whilst charging, and the manual warning you not to use it whilst charging makes this one of the least usable electronic devices I've ever had! Yes it is supposed to be a portable device, but as a device that will probably have to be charged once a day, to be unable to use it half of the time when it has to be plugged in massively devalues it.

So Samsung are saying that I can't listen to music before sleeping? I can't use it with a car charger? I can't plug it in to save battery? I've never had an electronic device or phone that tells me not to use it whilst plugged in, and I've never had a phone that has been unable to charge whilst I've been using it.

So why is the S4 so different? Have I misunderstood? I suspect I have as I haven't seen any other discussion on this. Should I just ignore it, or is this a real issue?

 

[spin360]

I guess I never paid attention to the warning but just yesterday, while playing a fairly basic game and charging, my phone heated up to the point that it was very hot to the touch. That was concerning to say the least.

 

[Szadzik]

I have been using my phones while charging for years now. None of them exploded, imploded or even complained at all about that

 

[damewolf13]

I have to admit that I was not aware of this, and I have been using both of my S4's while charging without giving it a thought.
If anyone finds out the reason behind this request, please post it here.

 

[lotus49]

I have completely ignored the warnings and I shall continue to do so.

I would be astonished if there were any negative consequences other than my phone charging slightly more slowly than it otherwise would.

 

[tjreishus]

I've used all my android phones while charging and I continue to use this one while it is charging. Especially in the car. The phone is immediately placed in a charging dock and I use it to bluetooth my music to my truck stereo and handle all my phone calls hands free. If im in my truck, it's on the charger. I have had it on the charger while on a phone call, navigation running and sending glympse to two different people (If you haven't tried glympse yet, it's pretty awesome). When I wasn't on the phone I was still sending glympse, navigating and streaming pandora. Haven't had a problem yet and I plan on continuing to do it. Even if someone were to prove that it will decrease the life of the phone, it doesn't really matter to me. I can have a phone that does these things with a reduced life, or a phone that is worthless. I'll take the reduced life.

 

[James Blonde]

To be fair, I'll be continuing to use the phone on charge regardless of the warnings, I just find it odd that they'd appear in the first place, both in the manual and on the screen at charge time! Never had that before!

 

[Ageless Stranger]

I can only imagine that the charge for the S4 is optimized for speed and therefore puts a slight strain on the battery. Also using the phone under heavy load will also put a slight strain on the battery. Thus, with the two combined the strain is increased and will increase the load on the battery, increasing heat and decreasing life expectancy. Combined with previous health and safety fears with exploding batteries (Sony had this issue), issuing a warning not to overload the battery with concurrent usage and charge may save them from a lawsuit or two.

 

[Nick The Great]

I'm guessing it's heat related. Phones get hot while charging and phones get hot when being 'used.' Combine those two and you got more hotter more faster

I do it too, though

 

[Ageless Stranger]

I only ever need to charge my phone when I go to bed, I get a whole day out of it under moderate use (music, phone calls, texts, browsing, a few photos, the odd game or two and some general messing about with settings). So I've never had the need to use it and charge at the same time.

 

[jrmckins]

I always plug mine in while using it as a GPS and have not had any problems.