Is the old charger rumor true?

[FoxKat]

My moto charger is hard to read but says I believe output 5.1v 850ma. My moms LG that I use says output 5.1v 0.7a. So what's the difference? According to FoxKats post I should be fine cuz the voltage is the same rating right?

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You are right, to a point. The voltage is the same, and the amperage is at least as much as your Moto charger (though I am wondering what charger?), but there is nothing on any of these chargers that talk about how CLEAN the waveform of power is. Just because LG is a top manufacturer, and so is Motorola, doesn't mean both chargers will be comparably good at smoothing out the spikes and noise on the power waveform. Since these devices use a Capacitive Touch display, and they are extra-sensitive to such things as dirty current, RF interference, moisture, dirt, etc., we'd do ourselves good to stay away from using power supplies that aren't designed specifically for these devices.

Also, having more amperage (either ###ma or 0.##a), isn't necessarily a good thing either. MY RAZR charger, the one that came with it in the box is rated at 750ma (or 0.75a). Motorola obviously chose 750ma for a reason, since the ones that came with my Droid 1 and Droid 2 both were 850ma. A lower amperage means slower charge, which can be translated into many different and beneficial things. For instance, lower charge rate will heat the battery up less, it will give the battery a better chance to move all the free ions into their available spaces to store power more efficiently, it will draw less current from the wall (not really a concern considering the minute amount it pulls, but still...), it will likely be physically smaller (it's tiny for mine, ). and perhaps other reasons I can't come up with at the moment.

See below. The cute little cube charger with the folding power prongs...RAZR!! The other one, D1/D2.

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[JohnJ1017]

Why is it then, that the car charger Verizon offers as a bundle with the new phone purchase is the same charger they give to any phone that uses a micro
Usb plug?

the one they gave me with my razr is the same one they gave with my Samsung charge and the same one they gave my friend with his thunderbolt?

 

[Stevetx1989]

Why is it then, that the car charger Verizon offers as a bundle with the new phone purchase is the same charger they give to any phone that uses a micro
Usb plug?

the one they gave me with my razr is the same one they gave with my Samsung charge and the same one they gave my friend with his thunderbolt?

Probably because car chargers are for a quick charge. Not to be used from dead to full battery. That's why people say not to leave it on a car charger for more than hour.

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[Snow02]

Probably because car chargers are for a quick charge. Not to be used from dead to full battery. That's why people say not to leave it on a car charger for more than hour.

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That's a pretty old-school adage and not applicable anymore. Todays smartphones use better charge circuitry than old feature phones. Car charging is perfectly fine.

 

[Stevetx1989]

Good to know. I just hold information. Old still sticks, not up to date with new. Ya learn something new everyday.

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[JohnJ1017]

The Razr comes with a small "Cube shaped" adapter that gets plugged into an electrical outlet and a USB cable that plugs into the "cube" and the phone.
Is it ok to use a different USB cable (longer one) as long as I am using the adapter plug that came with the phone?

 

[Snow02]

Yep. Shouldn't be a problem. There are slight differences in the plug depth of some cables. Primarily, Samsung phones like a more shallow plug, and may not work properly (no data and/or charging) with deeper plugs. But for the most part they're all interchangeable.

 

[JohnJ1017]

Yep. Shouldn't be a problem. There are slight differences in the plug depth of some cables. Primarily, Samsung phones like a more shallow plug, and may not work properly (no data and/or charging) with deeper plugs. But for the most part they're all interchangeable.

Ok, thanks.. so to be clear here, it is the adapter plug (cube thing) that everyone here is saying must be the one that came with the phone?

 

[bws2007]

Just make sure that the charger has the smart chips in them and u will b fine i was a manager and b4 that a tech rep and it was the chargers with out the smart chips that had problems with most of the Android based phones!!

Not so...there are considerable differences between one and another wall-wart (charging wall blocks). Some are very good at smoothing out the power to eliminate or minimize any fluctuations in voltage, reduce or eliminate any Radio Frequency Interference, and make sure that the current is consistent (Motorola chargers are one of them). Others are much less successful at minimizing these effects. The result for me has been that when using a non-Motorola charger on either the Droid 1 or Droid 2, and if I was trying to use the screen (digitizer) to scroll or select, the dirty power of the non-Motorola chargers caused the screen to be jittery and in some cases downright unresponsive, instead jumping all over the place, selecting things, moving icons, starting apps, etc., all with only one finger trying to scroll the screen. Disconnect the rogue charger, plug in the Moto charger, and the problems disappear.

I believe that for charging only, as long as the charger is rated at 800-850mah, it will do a fine job of charging, but you are likely to have the difficulties described above if trying to use the phone while plugged into one of these non-Moto chargers. It also didn't seem to matter if it was a name-brand charger or a China import no-name.

 

[Snow02]

Ok, thanks.. so to be clear here, it is the adapter plug (cube thing) that everyone here is saying must be the one that came with the phone?

The bottom line - use any charger/cable combo unless it gives you problems. The most common manifestation of a charger-related problem is a wacky touchscreen.

 

[Erikbal]

Yeah it's weird even tho I can charge with my mom's charger perfectly fine, as stated earlier it will not work to connect to the cornputer.

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[Heywood]

I charge my DX2 with a Samsung prepaid phone charger. No issues, been using it for 6 months.

 

[FoxKat]

I charge my DX2 with a Samsung prepaid phone charger. No issues, been using it for 6 months.

No doubt. Charging is most often not a problem, it's as Snow02 said "a wacky touchscreen", and this is only apparent if you use the phone while connected to one of the chargers that have this issue. Still, if the phone fails, make sure you don't tell them you were using a non-Motorola or Verizon charger approved for use with this phone. The phones are getting smarter as time goes on, and there's the possibility that at some point the phones will know whose charge is being connected and will either refuse to accept, or may make history notations of such.

As it is now, I have non-Motorola batteries for my D2 (no hologram, but the label looks legit), that I got on auction at eBay, and when they are fully charged on an external charger, and then inserted into the phone, the battery level indicator shows a "?". When I plug the phone in, the phone responds that the battery is not approved and it refuses to charge that battery. It still works but there's no battery meter, so I don't know how long it's going to last and when it's going to shut down, and it does so without any warning from working to dead in the blink of an eye. I keep them only to use as backups until I can fully charge the Motorola batteries again.

 

[CN0TE]

So I'm having the "wacky screen" problems (Unresponsive screen, screen turns off randomly, etc.) even though I'm using the charger that came with my Razr. Any ideas why?