Nowadays, if you have a relatively modern phone, it is normal for it to have relatively fast charging even if it is cheap (on Android, even on cell phones under 200 dollars, you will find charging at about 25 – 30 W), but if it’s a half or a whole high-end flagship, even more: there are very fast charges that exceed 100W.
In fact, if you take a look at our ranking of cell phones with the fastest charging, you will see terminals that reach 240W and 300W charging is already in the oven. But one thing is your cell phone has fast charging and another that: 1. it comes with a charger in the box and 2. that the included charger allows you to reach the maximum available charge of your phone.
And if you choose to buy a charger or take the one you have at home, you might get the unpleasant surprise that it has little or no fast charging. We tell you How to tell if a charger has fast charging and is compatible with your phone.
What is the maximum load supported by your mobile
The section of The battery of a cell phone has its influence when choosing a phone. Thus, characteristics such as battery capacity (measured in mAh), estimated autonomy and also its fast charging capacity are of interest. All of this appears on the product technical sheet and may be subject to complaints upon release.
Regarding the fast charging, this feature is quantified with charging watts
Before you begin: watts and charging technologies
Those charging watts are actually electrical power, fast charging could therefore be defined in a simplified manner as the increase in the electrical power supplied to a battery, that is to say the increase in the energy supplied per unit of time. Thanks to this increase, loading times are reduced.
And it is now that we return to the institute and to the famous Ohm’s law, the one which connects the voltage (Volts) to the product of the intensity (Amps) by the Resistance (Ohms). But in addition the Power is the product of voltage and current.. Stick with the units of measurement because we’ll come back to them later.
For reference, a traditional slow charger It has a power of 5W resulting from its voltage of 5 V and an intensity of 1 Ampere. From there, there are different combinations of voltage and current that give higher, i.e. faster, charging powers.
But the matter does not end there. In addition to charging power, other characteristics influence such as fast charging standards, cable specifications, connector type, battery type and even the type of device we use.
Regard ing fast charging standards, we will find some on the market such as Qualcomm Quick Charge, MediaTek Pump Express, Power Delivery, SuperCharge, OPPO VOOC or OnePlus Dash Charge, among others. Some are developed by mobile phone manufacturers, others by chip manufacturers, but there are also more general ones like Power Delivery, the universal standard, taken up by different manufacturers like Google, Samsung or Xiaomi.
The important thing here is that Each charging standard has its own characteristics and conditions, which means that not all chargers, cables and devices allow us to achieve this maximum fast charge. Regardless of its achievements at W level, fewer minutes needed for charging or less heating, it is a way to differentiate yourself and that in practice, if we want to maximize fast charging, we end up breaking down and buying brand accessories.
Regarding the rest of the conditions, keep in mind that the type of cable must be able to withstand the voltage and current supplied by the charger, minimizing energy losses (pay attention to its quality or thickness, as this can result in a bad experience) and that the connector type must be compatible with the charging standard. Finally, the battery type is related to the capacity and maximum charging speed and the device has its own internal circuit to regulate the energy transfer and also be compatible with the cable and charger. What problem.
Depending on your phone and its specifications, the most determining factor is charging power. Because? Because if at the moment of truth you have your cell phone and you use a charger from another brand with different power specifications, two things can happen: if the charger has fewer watts, the charging will be a little slower. If the charger has more watts than those supported by the phone, don’t panic: the devices have technologies that absorb this additional power to minimize the risk of damage to the terminal and its battery. However, It is recommended to use a fully compatible charger.
A look at the charger
We come to the point that interests us: we have a cell ph one with wattage charging specifications on one side and a charger on the other, which may be the one in the box, another one we had at home or the one which we bought for the occasion.
If you are considering purchasing the charger, its specifications will include both the charging technology (especially if it is yours) and its power, but these electrical parameters will also appear screen-printed on some sides of the item and on its own box. The information is literally in the fine print., so look carefully, stay in a well-lit area and even put on your glasses. It may not appear in watts, but we will see a list with the output voltage and current (Output) and we will only have to multiply.
There you will find that it is completely normal for various voltages and currents to appear, such as: 5 V/3 A, 9 V/2 A, 12 V/1.5 A. How do you know what your maximum charging power is? This will simply be the most important result when multiplying the volts by the amps, in this example it would be 18 W. In other words, we would be looking for a (relatively) fast charger
This means that the charger can adapt its power to different voltages and intensities depending on the needs of the device. In this case, we must look at the largest result that we obtain by multiplying the voltage by the intensity. Thus, we see that the maximum power that the charger can offer is 18 W (12 V x 1.5 A), which makes it a fast charging charger.
The above is the most appropriate and general way to determine the maximum charging speed of a charger. Here are other alternatives that can complement it:
- With messages and animations. While charging, Android may display a message with information such as “Loading”, “Fast loading” and even “Slow loading”. Brands like Xiaomi, OPPO or Realme differentiate between standard charging animation and fast charging animation.
- With an app. If you want more information, you can find apps on the Google Play Store that provide real-time charging data, including speed or remaining time. Some free and very useful apps for this scenario are “Electron: Battery Status Information” and “AccuBattery”.
Cover | Ricardo Aguilar (Realmte GT3, Xataka analysis)
In Xataka Android | Fast charging: what it is, types and how to know if my smartphone supports it