Modern smartphones use many different technologies, among which there is fast charging. For many users of mobile devices, the concept of fast charging is not clear, in addition, there is an opinion that it is harmful to the device. The following describes how this function is implemented and what its pros and cons are.
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What is a fast charge in phones
Fast charging, as the name suggests, allows you to charge your phone faster. If you look at a conventional power supply, you can see the values - 5V / 1A. In other words, the power supply in such a smartphone works with a voltage of 5 volts and a current of 1 ampere.
The models that support the fast charging function usually come with accessories that can provide it - a 5V / 2A power supply and a cord with better bandwidth. At the output, the increase in charge speed is about 40%. For the modern rhythm of people's lives, reducing the waiting time for a full battery charge is quite important, because waiting for 2-3 hours is sometimes simply impossible.
Important! Do not think that buying a powerful charging unit and cable with high bandwidth automatically gives you a speed boost.
Smartphones with function support have a built-in controller that understands the current strength of the charger connected to it and allows you to safely charge the device. For such smartphones, it makes sense to separately buy a powerful unit and cable if standard accessories are offered in the package.
How does fast charging technology work on mobile devices?
By and large, the principle of technology is to increase the current or voltage. Depending on the manufacturer, the principle is different, some companies simultaneously increase voltage and amperage. Process control is provided by a special function that the processor of the device must support. It's no secret that the chipset is the heart of any mobile device. It controls not only fast, but also wireless charging, and also participates in the operation of the camera and other nodes.
Curious! Fast charging is not just the availability of function support in the smartphone and the corresponding accessories, it is also special work protocols.
In modern smartphones, several work protocols are used, the most modern is called Quick Charge 3.0 This is the development of the company. Qualcomm and the bottom line is that the chipset receives information about the state of the smartphone’s battery. Based on the data, he makes a decision - what current strength and voltage should be applied to the phone.
If you read reviews about specific devices, you can come across some interesting information - the phone gains 40-50% of capacity in 30 minutes, and after that, it takes about an hour or a little less to get the rest. It is logical to think about why in the second case time doubles. The solution is that the chipset consistently reduces current and voltage in order to avoid damage to the mobile device, fire and other unpleasant things. Fast charging is inherently uneven and is divided into certain intervals.
Today we can distinguish the following technologies and protocols:
- Quick Charge
- Quick Charge 2.0
- Quick Charge 3.0;
- Turbo Power - Lenovo's development for Motorola smartphones, is based on Quick Charge 2.0 and has backward compatibility with it;
- Pump Express - technology from MediaTek, is considered the main competitor to Quick Charge;
- Adaptive Fast Charging - the brainchild of the Samsung brand, used in S series smartphones from Galaxy S6 and Note, starting with Note 4;
- VOOC Flash Charging (Dash Charging) - BBK technology, used in OPPO devices;
- Super Charge - development of Huawei, used in Huawei P10 and P10 Plus, Mate 20;
- Super mCharge - created by Meizu in 2017, the technology is presented to the world community, but so far it has not been used in smartphones.
Which smartphones support fast charging?
Due to the popularity of technology, more and more buyers when choosing a smartphone look at the presence of fast charging technology. Of course, due to the presence of different creators of this function, there is no single list of devices that can charge quickly. Also, there are no specific agreements between manufacturers, which leads to the inability to quickly charge the phone with the accessory support function from another manufacturer. At the moment, this is a serious minus and perhaps in the future some kind of agreement will be concluded between the brands, which will allow an equal sign between the different standards of the charger.
Returning to the topic of support, one thing should be clarified - when buying a phone, you should make sure that it has this function or not. If a year ago it could be argued that fast charging is exclusively in the flagships, today it will not be a true statement. In the struggle for the consumer, companies introduce different chips from expensive devices to more budget phones, so it is best to verify this personally. To do this, look at the description of the smartphone on the official website or its specifications. Support for fast charging is prescribed with battery information.
Important! When buying, you need to not only clarify whether the phone works with fast charging, but make sure that the box has the necessary cord and power adapter for this.
How to enable the fast charge function
Not every smartphone has fast charging technology. Therefore, the question itself is how to turn on fast charging is not the most accurate. The answer will be this - if it is not provided, then nothing. Of course, the buyer can connect a more powerful power supply to his device, for example, a regular telephone, and even see that the battery charge time has decreased, but very soon another thing will open for him - the battery has deteriorated. If the device is not equipped with a function, then connecting a powerful unit for it will not bring anything good. The battery will deteriorate quickly.
However, if the device has technology support, then you can enable it in the device settings. Pulling the curtain up, the user needs to find the "gear" icon, which opens access to the settings and go to the "power", "battery" or "optimization" item. Here, among other things, there will be a separate item where you can enable or disable fast charging.
How to turn off fast charging
If the device is equipped with fast charging, but the owner for some reason wants to turn it off, then the logical option is to use the advice above. Enter the tinctures and uncheck or move the slider to the inactive position. But what if the manufacturer did not consider it necessary to add the option to enable or disable fast charging.
It is logical to resort to a simple but effective solution - take a weak charge from another gadget. If the house has a tablet, then you can take its memory or buy the easiest option in the store. An important point in quick charge operation is a suitable charger and cable. Violation of one of the conditions leads to the fact that the processor perceives the accessories connected to it as simple and automatically charges in the most standard slow mode.
Is fast charging harmful for phones
The technology of work, the support by various phones of the function, its advantages are of course interesting to the buyer, but the most important point is whether the mode spoils the battery of the smartphone.And here the opinions of experts differ. It is no secret that there is no special value what current and voltage are supplied to the battery. By themselves, these parameters are safe for the device, but the parameter that can affect the life of the smartphone is the temperature. And it directly depends on the above parameters.
The task of the processor is not just to control the process of charging the device. First of all, the chipset monitors the temperature of the battery during the procedure, and if it exceeds the specified parameters, then the current strength and voltage decreases, the temperature starts to drop and the chipset raises them again or leaves them at the same level. It all depends on the specific technology. By and large, the security of the technology depends only on how well the processor monitors the data.
Conclusion
Fast charging is a useful feature that does not harm the smartphone if the buyer uses high-quality accessories and provided that they have the necessary work standards for a particular manufacturer.
If the process is provided with accessories from your own smartphone, then there is nothing to fear about. If you purchase a suitable cord and unit from third-party manufacturers, make sure the gadget and accessories are compatible to avoid problems. Then there will be no problems.
