I know a few people (including myself) have been wondering what is the best charger I can use for my phone... so essentially whats going to charge my phone the fastest. We have a few options, and it really comes down to how much power the charger puts out, for all intensive purposes all you need to know is Volts and Amps. USB connections all operate right around the 5.0 volt range (4.75v-5.25v depending on device/manufacturer), and anywhere between .5 amps (500mA) - 2.1 amp (2100mA). Just think of it like water, if volts are how much water is there, amps is the amounts of pressure pushing it through the pipe (wire). We are offered various voltage/amp combinations depending on what type of charger you use.
So now that you have a little background lets look at specifics:
Standard USB - Any USB port, any computer, anywhere will supply you with 5 volts and .5 amp (500mA) of output for charging power. That 1/2 amp used to be all you needed to charge mp3 players, phones, cameras etc... but with all these high end - high power devices .5 amps is getting to be not enough.
A/C Chargers - This is where the most variation is as far as power output, they will all put out an acceptable voltage (4.75-5.25 volts), but anywhere from .5 - 2.1+ amps, and just about every value in between, .7, .8, 1.0 etc... so in theory the higher the amps the faster your battery will charge (more pressure in the pipes means the water is going to go in faster), kind of like if you trickle charge or quick charge your car battery.
Car chargers - 12v (cigarette lighter) automobile chargers, i've seen .5 amp and 1.0 amp car chargers, all were 5 volt.
For this test I used the stock Samsung 1.0 amp A/C charger that was supplied with the phone and a 2.1 amp Duracell A/C charger, charged for a while, noted the differences in time and charge, took a screen shot and ran the numbers so here they are. (note: USB charging was not taken into account because we all know it was going to be the slowest one anyway, the real comparison here is between wall chargers)
The first big charging bump is the 2.1 amp Duracell charger. It charged for 1.33 hours (1 hour, 20 mins) which yielded a 36% increase in battery charge. Take note of the relatively shallow angle of the incline as it charges compared to the Samsung charger. This works out to 23.25% charge per hour, or 3.75 hours to go from 0-100%.
The second big charging bump is the 1.0 amp stock Samsung charger. It was charging for the same 1.33 hours (1 hour, 20 mins) which yielded a 65% increase in battery charge. Notice how steep the incline angle is compared to the Duracell charger. This works out to 50% charge per hour, or 2 hours to go from 0-100%. When calculated it was actually 2 hrs 3 mins... but we aren't that picky right?
So the results are rather interesting... the stock samsung charger outperformed the quick charger, you may be asking why? Well, its not defective because I originally thought that and got a replacement to run the test again... same result. So either duracell is crap brand of charger or there is a charge limiting mechanism in the phone (which I highly doubt, because then they both would have charged at the same speed, not different). This is good for me because I like to charge quickly, I don't like standing around waiting for things to juice up so I would always buy the highest amp charger I could find, I never actually tested to see if it was charging faster.
Now its nice to know that the bone stock little charger they gave us not only beats other brands of chargers, but now we know that even with just 1.0 amp a full charge is only going to take 2 hours which in the long run is not bad at all. So in conclusion my friends... don't waste money on a fancy charger in IMO, the stock charger and one for the car to top up is all you need.
So now that you have a little background lets look at specifics:
Standard USB - Any USB port, any computer, anywhere will supply you with 5 volts and .5 amp (500mA) of output for charging power. That 1/2 amp used to be all you needed to charge mp3 players, phones, cameras etc... but with all these high end - high power devices .5 amps is getting to be not enough.
A/C Chargers - This is where the most variation is as far as power output, they will all put out an acceptable voltage (4.75-5.25 volts), but anywhere from .5 - 2.1+ amps, and just about every value in between, .7, .8, 1.0 etc... so in theory the higher the amps the faster your battery will charge (more pressure in the pipes means the water is going to go in faster), kind of like if you trickle charge or quick charge your car battery.
Car chargers - 12v (cigarette lighter) automobile chargers, i've seen .5 amp and 1.0 amp car chargers, all were 5 volt.
For this test I used the stock Samsung 1.0 amp A/C charger that was supplied with the phone and a 2.1 amp Duracell A/C charger, charged for a while, noted the differences in time and charge, took a screen shot and ran the numbers so here they are. (note: USB charging was not taken into account because we all know it was going to be the slowest one anyway, the real comparison here is between wall chargers)
The first big charging bump is the 2.1 amp Duracell charger. It charged for 1.33 hours (1 hour, 20 mins) which yielded a 36% increase in battery charge. Take note of the relatively shallow angle of the incline as it charges compared to the Samsung charger. This works out to 23.25% charge per hour, or 3.75 hours to go from 0-100%.
The second big charging bump is the 1.0 amp stock Samsung charger. It was charging for the same 1.33 hours (1 hour, 20 mins) which yielded a 65% increase in battery charge. Notice how steep the incline angle is compared to the Duracell charger. This works out to 50% charge per hour, or 2 hours to go from 0-100%. When calculated it was actually 2 hrs 3 mins... but we aren't that picky right?
So the results are rather interesting... the stock samsung charger outperformed the quick charger, you may be asking why? Well, its not defective because I originally thought that and got a replacement to run the test again... same result. So either duracell is crap brand of charger or there is a charge limiting mechanism in the phone (which I highly doubt, because then they both would have charged at the same speed, not different). This is good for me because I like to charge quickly, I don't like standing around waiting for things to juice up so I would always buy the highest amp charger I could find, I never actually tested to see if it was charging faster.
Now its nice to know that the bone stock little charger they gave us not only beats other brands of chargers, but now we know that even with just 1.0 amp a full charge is only going to take 2 hours which in the long run is not bad at all. So in conclusion my friends... don't waste money on a fancy charger in IMO, the stock charger and one for the car to top up is all you need.