Hi, Bin looking at some of the mobile solar panels you can get for charging your phone on the go. Some seem quiet practical and strap onto backpacks etc.
Anyone have any experience with these? Do they work? How do they fare with our power hungry HD's?
I have Powermonkey eXplorer and it is so usefull! I had it with me on my trip to Bulgaria and for week I didnt have to use wall charger for my ipod nor Touch Diamond.
It requires lots of sun to charge from empty to full but it is very good if for example leaving on car hood (inside) to charge battery.
For straight solar panel -> phone or other device it is good for retaining or slowly charging device. When I was on beach I listened music almost all the time and it solar panel kept battery full always.
Remember, solar panel needs sun! Here Finland it is pretty useless except now that summer comes.
Bought mine from inkino.co.uk for 45£ and always keeping it with me when going little farther from wallchargers.
I have one as well. If your battery is near empty it will recharge to about 25% before draining completely, still enough to get you out of an emergency. You should know that it takes about 10 hours to charge using the solar cells but you can use a notebook USB port to charge it in about an hour. I would say definitely a useful device, I use it mostly if watching movies on my HD.
Thanks Guys, Are there any that will fully recharge the battery from dead?
I've seen some that come with a 1000mAh and you can get replacement batteries for bout £10.
Rekon its worth gettin one with a few batteries n charging each o them? I'm planning a trip where I'm not going to be able to charge the phone during the day, so charging a secondary battery would be useful.
If you dont mind messing with a soldering iron, you might want to try this out.
Not sure if it'll work on our baby, but it looks interesting and fun.
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/800000/solar_powered_usb_charger_cheap_and_easy_to_make/
At least its cheap 8O)
Vey Nice! Maybe as a summer project just to see how well it works. Might try it out on my old wizard 1st
In the meantime! any1 else had any experience with the commercial ones? I'm worried they wont have enough clout to charge a touch HD
I've got the Power Monkey solar charger mentioned above but it only discharges my battery. I have never seen it recharge as it should. Probably not powerful enough.
How about the onion trick? Will be interested if that one works
Done It!
Hi, got an old garden solar panel given to me. Just hooked it up to a USB cable and voila!
Even managed to charge two phones at once!
Follow Link for Images
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/CarlBanbury/USBSolarCharger?feat=directlink
Hi,
Here is some information on free loader charger.
Free Loader charger absorbs the suns energy quickly and can store it as electrical charge for up to three months.
The Free Loader is 120mm long when fully extended, and 17mm thick, made of smooth aluminium. The solar panels slide out when you want to charge it, and can alternatively be charged via USB if the sun hasn’t got his hat on. Then you add on one of the various included adaptors, connect it up to your chosen device and voila- extra juice! It can run a phone for 44 hours, an iPod for 18 hours and a PSP for 2.5 hours. Apparently.
I've tried the Soldius1 and Solio units.
The Soldius1 is a foldable panel with no battery. That means it's a power source only in direct sunlight., so you'd have to carry them around or leave your HD where you leave the chargers.
Unfortunately, one of them wasn't strong enough to actually charge the HD. External power is detected, and the HD wil indicate that it's charging, but any power it thinks it has will appear to be drained in a couple of minutes, so it's just some voltage thing it measured rather than actual charge!
They're relatively cheap however, so i just bought two of them and made myself a cable that connects the two Soldius units in parallel, and this time it actually worked pretty well I put the HD nice and cool in the shade and put the two Soldius1 units in the sun with a USB extension cable, and they were able to charge the HD up to half its capacity in about 2 to 3 hours. Only thing is you'd have to get two of them and make your own cable like i did.
So even though this works, i didn't like the hassle with the working but poorly built cable, so i bought a Solio Classic as well. This is a collapsible charger that has three rotating blades that can form a flowerlike shape when unfolded. This one does have a battery pack, so if you charge it before you go it's even useful if you don't see a single ray of sun In addition, you can leave your Solio out in the sun while you run around with your HD and charge it overnight at the end of the day, since the Solio has been gathering its charge on its own.
It turns out that the Solio can charge the HD up to full capacity if the Solio was fully charged itself. However, i wasn't able to charge the Solio for more than half of its capacity during the day. I left it unattended, so there may have been shadows and clouds, and i only did this for two days (i drained its charge into the HD each time, so it started out empty both times). Then again, they weren't particularly sunny days, so you might get more out them.
In any case, if you live somewhere where there is a lot of sun you can do with the Soldius method if you don't mind fiddling with wires and cables. If you want a more compact unit and want the added advantage of having a backup battery pack, go with the Solio.
Related
Hi all,
I've been looking at a solar powered charger for my Jasjam, and the one that seems to catch my eye the most is this one called the "Scotty":
http://www.solartechnology.co.uk/acatalog/Scotty_Charger.html
I know that the limitation in USB Car Chargers about having to solder pins 4 and 5 to get it to charge will probably also affect this solar charger as well, but has anyone had any direct experience with either this one or another brand?
Can you get enough juice out of it to charge a Tytn / Jasjam?
Don't know about that one. But here's a recommended Solio one for mobile devices with press releases:
http://www.solio.com/v2/
thanks for that link, it looks pretty good as well, if not better given that it has a greater total solar panel area. The first one I found can swap the internal batteries for standard AA's for instant power if required which is what makes me lean towards that... hmm... decisions, decisions. I hate making choices like that! haha
galaxys said:
Don't know about that one. But here's a recommended Solio one for mobile devices with press releases:
http://www.solio.com/v2/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, just another FYI for everyone here... I ended up getting the Solio Solar charger (http://www.solio.com/v2/).
Many thanks to Galaxys for the suggestion. It charges to almost full after a full day of sunlight and stores 1 and a half full charges for my Jasjam. It's great for weekends away and is small and compact for that extra peace of mind of having a portable charge. Unfortunately, word has gotten around that I now have it and occasionally some friends of mine who forget to charge their phones ask to use it.
Dinty said:
Well, just another FYI for everyone here... I ended up getting the Solio Solar charger (http://www.solio.com/v2/).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
iam looking for solar charger as well and got two questions regarding the solio. is the solio hard enough to take some outdoor activities (dirt/rain/drops) to a certain level and do i have to solder the pins in order to charge my tytn?
thanks
chaos42
chaos42 said:
iam looking for solar charger as well and got two questions regarding the solio. is the solio hard enough to take some outdoor activities (dirt/rain/drops) to a certain level and do i have to solder the pins in order to charge my tytn?
thanks
chaos42
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
g'day!
It's a well made and solid little device, but by no means is it indestructible... I store it in a ziplock plastic bag just in case it gets wet. If it's raining, then I won't pull it out to use because there won't be enough sunlight anyway (but I guess you could cover it in something if you really wanted to).
Also, in regards to the pin soldering, I haven't had to do that. So far it has worked perfectly each time without it.
It does have one interesting feature which is good and bad at the same time. Once it detects that the phone is fully charged, it stops sending power to the device. I assume it does this to conserve the power in it's own battery (but I guess this stops you from using it as an "extended battery" for the phone.
So far I've used it to charge my Jasjam, Bluetooth GPS and a couple of other Motorola phones and it has worked each time.
If you've got any more questions, let me know. Hope this is useful.
hiho dinty,
thanks for the quick reply. It was indeed very helpful.
I am going to order my solio right now and looking forward to my next trip to the desert in november
cheers chaos42
what about human/mechanical chargers? wouldnt those work good too? at least for short burst charges... u know like those devices u shake and stuff
Wind and Sun charger
Just found this site. There are about to release a wind and sun powered charger. looks quite promising.
http://www.hymini.com/
but no word about a release date or price rigth now ;(
cheers
chaos42
Maplin battery box hacked..
Maplin sell a battery box with solar panel in the lid.
I buy these, take out the panel which is on grp board & well made, wire a diode & charger plug & socket, & glue velcro loop all over the back.
They are cheap, give an open circuit output of 7.5 volts, and can flow up to 250 mA in bright sunshine.
They don't damage my phones or pdas, which in any case seem to have conditioning circuits in them.
Can buy at £15 usual price or £8 when on offer.
I am able to parallel any number of these together for more current, or in series to a cigar lighter smpsu to give a regulated 5 volts.
The panels can get wet, no problem, & the phone being charged stays dry inside a sandwich box.
I discovered that for Wizard/Hermes a current maximum of 1 amp has to be observed up to 80% charge, then reduce to 1/4 amp to top it. For other pdas the current max is lower.
Hope this helps.
Peter
Dinty said:
Hi all,
I've been looking at a solar powered charger for my Jasjam, and the one that seems to catch my eye the most is this one called the "Scotty":
http://www.solartechnology.co.uk/acatalog/Scotty_Charger.html
I know that the limitation in USB Car Chargers about having to solder pins 4 and 5 to get it to charge will probably also affect this solar charger as well, but has anyone had any direct experience with either this one or another brand?
Can you get enough juice out of it to charge a Tytn / Jasjam?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
chaos42 said:
Just found this site. There are about to release a wind and sun powered charger. looks quite promising.
http://www.hymini.com/
but no word about a release date or price rigth now ;(
cheers
chaos42
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The post is quite old, but nevertheless i will post a reply just in case someone bumps into it and thinks - Wow! a wind charger, let me search the web and get one for myself.
Well, in the latter case stay away from Uniross brand windchargers(I own one)
I have written a review in Amazon. Here it is:
Well, i was very excited to buy this gadget (costed me 30 EUR in Paris ). I bike a lot and this was also meant to be used for outdoor hiking activities.
But..
First of all the lack of any type of power meter renders the device unreliable to the point of uselessness. You take the charger (with a 1200 mAh battery inside) and you have no idea how much of the battery is filled. You can put it to charge from mains, and maybe be shure that it is charged in some 3-4 hours (not mentioned in manual). But then, if i needed an external battery, there are definitely better choices.
Second: You cannot charge your device and charge the device simultaneously, nor you can charge your device "on the go"-directly from wind..
Third: You cannot turn on the quite weak led lights in front of the device and charge it simultaneously (so, for example if you bike in the evenings when it is late, you have to chose, either you use it's light for safety, or you charge the device.)
Forth: in the description on Uniross site it is said "Can also be charged through a computer or through wall plug". Well, it can be only charged using supplied wall plug, no wire for computer charging..
Fifth: It almost has no effect on my HTC HD2 (1230 mAh). The charging current for my device is quite hight ~ 1 A. So make sure your device will agree on some 500 mA of charging current (most of them will probably)
Sixth: It does need quite strong wind to charge, it starts to charge when your speed (in no wind condition) gets around 15 km/h. People say it needs some 15 km of ride to be fully charged. How they managed to estimate that the charger is fully charged - i have no idea.
Seventh: The charging indicator (which tells you that the speed is enough for charging), is placed right in front of the charger, so to see if it does charge you have to dangerously lean forward or ask the aproaching bikers if they see a green LED light- truly stupid design flaw.
Eighth (the most annoying and stupid): YOU HAVE TO CHARGE IT FROM MAINS FOR SOME 20% BEFORE YOU CAN START CHARGING IT FROM WIND!! Can you imagine how dumb this condition is.. first - there is no way to know how long should i charge it from mains to get the necessary 20%. Then, when i am outdoor and lets say charging the phone - if i use all the juice - the charger will become useless, as there won't be a possibility for another startup charging. Then I have to charge till it is decreased to 20% and use the wind to charge it back. HA! there is now way to know that it is on 20%,10% or 30%... how dumb the design and functioning can be... This is truly a raw device they let out on market. Shame for Uniross.
(i will stop here because it is too late...)
I wish i would have read a review like this before i went and got this piece of ... something... Hope it helps someone else.
lusjash said:
.....
Seventh: The charging indicator (which tells you that the speed is enough for charging), is placed right in front of the charger, so to see if it does charge you have to dangerously lean forward or ask the aproaching bikers if they see a green LED light- truly stupid design flaw.
Eighth (the most annoying and stupid): YOU HAVE TO CHARGE IT FROM MAINS FOR SOME 20% BEFORE YOU CAN START CHARGING IT FROM WIND!! Can you imagine how dumb this condition is.. first - there is no way to know how long should i charge it from mains to get the necessary 20%. Then, when i am outdoor and lets say charging the phone - if i use all the juice - the charger will become useless, as there won't be a possibility for another startup charging. Then I have to charge till it is decreased to 20% and use the wind to charge it back. HA! there is now way to know that it is on 20%,10% or 30%... how dumb the design and functioning can be...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unbelievable, pal!
I could not stop laughing with tears (sorry for that) with their stupidity! Unbelievable and really ...funny, but sad at the same time.
Thanks for sharing!
Anyone find a charger that can actually charge the phone while using the GPS? I have a modified charger with the center pins tacked together and the Samsung genuine car charger, neither of which can keep up with the drain.
Anyone have positive evidence that their charging solution will at least maintain battery life while GPS + screen are running?
I'm at a loss and tired of spending money on chargers that aren't up to the task.
Thank you.
I have the Samsung car mount that comes with a Samsung car charger. Not sure if that's the same charger you have, but I've used it on a road trip so far and it definitely maintains and charges a little. 14 hours of driving btw.
I attempted to call Samsung Accessory support this morning to find out if that charger is different than the basic charger and they were giving me the run around. I didn't want to spend $XX on another charger unless I knew it had a higher output.
Can you give me the spec's on it?
I know the basic samsung charger only puts out 750mA.
I have used numerous chargers in the car while running GPS and none of them actually seem to charge the device; they just keep it "treading water".
Truth is, with the screen size being what it is, and likely both cores firing at full capacity, I don't think it's entirely realistic to expect the thing to charge while doing something so data intensive as GPS; especially, when you consider that your data signal can and will vary WILDLY while driving through different places, which absolutely and invariably will stress the battery even further, contributing to drain whether plugged in or not. That's a lot of work for a relatively small device to handle.
Just my $.02 coming from a mix of experience and common sense.
-Ryan
Guy above you says that his does.
Hell, I'd be happy with treading water, way better than the steep downhill fall I've got going on.
Can limit processor speed by throttling it manually with my OC kernel or by enabling the saving mode the phone has innately. Can reduce data by switching off 4G.
It doesn't need those things to run as a GPS. The GPS itself doesn't seem to eat much battery at all but I realize the screen is huge. However, how can this be a viable device if we can't figure out a way to make it WORK?
I hope that camaroz28 can get back to me on this.
fellstar said:
I attempted to call Samsung Accessory support this morning to find out if that charger is different than the basic charger and they were giving me the run around. I didn't want to spend $XX on another charger unless I knew it had a higher output.
Can you give me the spec's on it?
I know the basic samsung charger only puts out 750mA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is no writing on it at all so I have no idea what it's output current is.
As an aside, I've heard of a lot of people just getting a small DC->AC converter and then using the original wall charge adapter to charge in the car.
There are two very good posts about this very topic.
This one recommends a charger:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1538341
It also has a link in the OP to the other post about charging the Note.
camaroz28 said:
There is no writing on it at all so I have no idea what it's output current is.
As an aside, I've heard of a lot of people just getting a small DC->AC converter and then using the original wall charge adapter to charge in the car.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can confirm that your phone will charge, albeit slowly, with the provided adapter that comes with the Nav mount?
I'm not a big fan out DC to AC car adapters.
lactardjosh said:
There are two very good posts about this very topic.
This one recommends a charger:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1538341
It also has a link in the OP to the other post about charging the Note.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Only did a couple quick searches for "GPS Charging" before making this thread, and didn't find that one!
Thank you guys.
fellstar said:
You can confirm that your phone will charge, albeit slowly, with the provided adapter that comes with the Nav mount?
I'm not a big fan out DC to AC car adapters.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, after driving for 7 hours, my batter went from something like 52% to 60%. Don't remember the exact numbers, but it went up. This was while switching between google navigation and an app called "GPS HUD" with Pandora running in the background. Data was mostly HSPA/HSPA+ except for the beginning and end of the trip where I was in LTE cities.
camaroz28 said:
Yes, after driving for 7 hours, my batter went from something like 52% to 60%. Don't remember the exact numbers, but it went up. This was while switching between google navigation and an app called "GPS HUD" with Pandora running in the background. Data was mostly HSPA/HSPA+ except for the beginning and end of the trip where I was in LTE cities.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks again Camaroz28.
Maintain a fully charged spare battery in auto
Tried about every auto charging fix I could find on this forum. Still get about 2% per hour discharge. I'm routinely in and out of my car 8-10 hours a day so end up with a dead battery. My fix (not elegant but works) is to maintain a fully charged spare battery in my van using a charger for extra batteries.
Of course could not do this with my iphone which is now relegated to my grandkids for games and music.
I love this forum. Great help to me.
yogidad said:
Tried about every auto charging fix I could find on this forum. Still get about 2% per hour discharge. I'm routinely in and out of my car 8-10 hours a day so end up with a dead battery. My fix (not elegant but works) is to maintain a fully charged spare battery in my van using a charger for extra batteries.
Of course could not do this with my iphone which is now relegated to my grandkids for games and music.
I love this forum. Great help to me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same, I actually have 3 spare batteries and a spare battery charger. I don't want to have to fool with changing my battery in the car though. I've already ordered the charger from the other thread, should have it by Saturday to try that puppy out.
I'm an engineer, and I travel quite a bit.
The GPS software you use makes a huge difference. If you want the phone to charge, don't use Waze. During a test one day, Waze plugged in drained more battery than Navigon did while unplugged. Mine charges with Navigon and Pandora running simultaneously. I haven't tested Google Navigation yet, I'm going to do that today. The charger I use is a 2.1A Belkin AutoCharger made for iPhones. I'm using a USB extension cable with manually shorted data pins. I get 800-something mA out of it, unfortunately not the full 1000 the stock wall charger puts out. Running an inverter in the car with the stock charger I can get Waze to charge, but that's just not worth it for me. Too much gear in the just to charge a phone.
I was I just wondering has anyone used their note for a long distance drive. the reason I ask is because using my stock charger or Any one as a matter a fact my Battery still drains even while.plugged.in.and pretty fast maybe 1 percent every 6 minutes if not Sooner.just wanted to know if anyone has the same problem?
Galaxy note LTE
Go ahead and get yourself one of these babies, and you're set
http://www.amazon.com/Motorola-Vehi...Q9CA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1339221289&sr=8-1
Long story short, it's shorted so that the Note receives more power. Someone can explain it to you in a more verbose fashion, but rest assured, my Gnote still charges slowly up, even when running google maps, music, and screen brightness on high.
demonchild1786 said:
I was I just wondering has anyone used their note for a long distance drive. the reason I ask is because using my stock charger or Any one as a matter a fact my Battery still drains even while.plugged.in.and pretty fast maybe 1 percent every 6 minutes if not Sooner.just wanted to know if anyone has the same problem?
Galaxy note LTE
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use my note for 2-3 hours drives each week, and here's the key....if you're comfortable with your GPS app like I am, its a breeze, and an awesome solution. But there are a few key things. 4g is a battery drain enough on its own. Add that to the fact that you'll be driving through multiple cell zones, often with 3 or more cell sites in each one, and the note will he speaking to all of them. That alone will eat your battery like Michael Jackson ate children (all celebs are cannibals...ya know?), so there are two options for the battery issue.
Option one: Turn off mobile data completely, and use one of the many offline mobile GPS apps out there...start your route with mobile data on to pull down traffic data, and to route you around traffic jams, construction, or accidents...I use Navigon, and its the only app I've seen that can do all of this seamlessly. For other reasons too, Navigon is the best. It shows the speed limit, and warns you about red light cameras, or gives you audio warnings if you're going a certain preset amount over the speed limit. Also, when your driving on the toll way looking for an exit, it displays a HUD like visual representation on which lanes are okay to be in. Instead of just saying "stay right" it'll show you a picture of the toll way with 4 lanes...and 3 of them might have arrows in them, while the other has an x-mark in it. There are multiple voices and a dons, and once you download the maps, you're finished. In just 1.8 gigs, I can have a complete map of the whole contiguous United States and Canada.
This is the best software option for me. I've tried solutions that are free, and even for iOS, the graphics and design is better with navigon than Tom Tom or Copilot. Its well worth the 40 dollars, but you can often buy a region....say, the Midwest, the east coast, or the west coast for cheaper. Or you can wait for it to go on sale, and grab a North America or USA & Canada, or USA and Mexico Combo for 20 dollars. Whenever I've looked, its been on sale about fifty percent of the time.
Next, the battery options, you can do what I do, and use a travel battery pack that will charge a second battery without the phone having to be plugged in, and without the awkward cable setup that comes with mounting a plugged in phone, or keeping one on your lap.
Since our phones charge extremely slow from a car/cigarette port while using them, I find this to be the best option for staying juiced.
Secondly, its possibly to keep your battery at a certain level, or even charge it at a slow rate if you use good practices: know your route in general, and get familiar with the general outline of your route. After about an hour of using the app, you'll become confident in the solution enough to work on audio instruction alone. Use a headset--a wired one preferably...Bluetooth sucks in every way possible...its short range, it eats batteries like al roker ate funnel cakes, and it is terribly unstable and difficult to use, even for the jedi-minds here. Its improved somewhat over the years...but the goal here is to use a reasonable amount of power. Download your podcasts or music over wifi before you leave, and save power by only using the screen when you need to.
With a headset, my podcasts going, and my phone in 2g mode, I've found that my phone actually charges with the screen on its lowest setting (seeing any screen in the daylight is almost impossible for any device, no matter how powerful, or premium, or expensive it is, but using g it like this at night isn't an issue), and the audio is playing through the onboard speaker, or I'm playing music through the device via headset. I can sometimes even stream audio and use the speaker....though its not really loud enough to hear over almost any car going 55 MPH.
Make sure your car charger is rated for 1.0 amps, or 1000miliamps..at least. I don't know if the note can pull more or not...but even in the worst case scenario, if you had the travel battery pack (which, for thirty dollars gets you a wall charger, an additional stock OEM battery (none of the voodoo-magic extended battery crap that actually gives you worse battery life, under or over powers your phone, or only lasts 100 charging cycles), and a external battery case which will fit into any pocket you have (unless you wear skinny jeans....ew.), and will charge any note battery)) if you're phone died and you forgot to place your extra battery on the charger, in about 20 minute or so, you'd Be powered back up with enough juice to get you going again. After you placed your battery in the charger and plugged it in.
Lastly, you could get a power inverter from amazon or best buy (I would never buy some cheap Chinese version from amazon. I'd buy a brand name one from walmart or radio shack or even best buy) and you'd be able to charge your device at home/wall speeds.
Just using a few tricks, you'll never need to replace or run out of battery, and its likely you'll never even use a percent. But doing dome things with any phone will ensure you either don't make it to your destination, or that when you do arrive, you do so at 1-2%, of even worse....0%.
I think the Note charger travel pack is the best thing since sliced bread. I don't ever plug my phone in anymore. I bring the battery pack with me, and use a collapsing wall plug with a retractable micriusb cable to plug the pack in and charge my second battery...this means I can just plug my extra battery pack in at Barnes and nobles, my friends, etc...while still using my phone. I can even plug the pack into a computer and walk away. Which is great for long days at work, and means I can use my note 24/7 and never ever have to worry about battery life.
Sorry for the walk of text...and my goofy disposition. Its late and I'm so tired that I'm slap happy. But, to summarize, every device has it's shortcomings, but by spending only thirty dollars...I found away around the only real problem with the device--battery life.
The device is amazing in every way now.
I stopped using my $1300 laptop when I got my TF101 a year ago, and I stopped using my tablet for anything but reading and one fishing game since I got my phone.
AMAZINN!
Yeah I've noticed that my note charges indefinitely with that charger. My mom has one in her car and I thought I was crazy at first thinking that it charged my phone faster than stock.but I noticed that using that charger in her car no matter what I did using GPS and on lte the phone would still charge.when I turn my phone off and let it sit it's like magic.my phone charges really quickly.are there any threads that can explain more in dept why this happens with this charger?
Galaxy note LTE
Jamesyboy said:
I use my note for 2-3 hours drives each week, and here's the key....if you're comfortable with your GPS app like I am, its a breeze, and an awesome solution. But there are a few key things. 4g is a battery drain enough on its own. Add that to the fact that you'll be driving through multiple cell zones, often with 3 or more cell sites in each one, and the note will he speaking to all of them. That alone will eat your battery like Michael Jackson ate children (all celebs are cannibals...ya know?), so there are two options for the battery issue.
Option one: Turn off mobile data completely, and use one of the many offline mobile GPS apps out there...start your route with mobile data on to pull down traffic data, and to route you around traffic jams, construction, or accidents...I use Navigon, and its the only app I've seen that can do all of this seamlessly. For other reasons too, Navigon is the best. It shows the speed limit, and warns you about red light cameras, or gives you audio warnings if you're going a certain preset amount over the speed limit. Also, when your driving on the toll way looking for an exit, it displays a HUD like visual representation on which lanes are okay to be in. Instead of just saying "stay right" it'll show you a picture of the toll way with 4 lanes...and 3 of them might have arrows in them, while the other has an x-mark in it. There are multiple voices and a dons, and once you download the maps, you're finished. In just 1.8 gigs, I can have a complete map of the whole contiguous United States and Canada.
This is the best software option for me. I've tried solutions that are free, and even for iOS, the graphics and design is better with navigon than Tom Tom or Copilot. Its well worth the 40 dollars, but you can often buy a region....say, the Midwest, the east coast, or the west coast for cheaper. Or you can wait for it to go on sale, and grab a North America or USA & Canada, or USA and Mexico Combo for 20 dollars. Whenever I've looked, its been on sale about fifty percent of the time.
Next, the battery options, you can do what I do, and use a travel battery pack that will charge a second battery without the phone having to be plugged in, and without the awkward cable setup that comes with mounting a plugged in phone, or keeping one on your lap.
Since our phones charge extremely slow from a car/cigarette port while using them, I find this to be the best option for staying juiced.
Secondly, its possibly to keep your battery at a certain level, or even charge it at a slow rate if you use good practices: know your route in general, and get familiar with the general outline of your route. After about an hour of using the app, you'll become confident in the solution enough to work on audio instruction alone. Use a headset--a wired one preferably...Bluetooth sucks in every way possible...its short range, it eats batteries like al roker ate funnel cakes, and it is terribly unstable and difficult to use, even for the jedi-minds here. Its improved somewhat over the years...but the goal here is to use a reasonable amount of power. Download your podcasts or music over wifi before you leave, and save power by only using the screen when you need to.
With a headset, my podcasts going, and my phone in 2g mode, I've found that my phone actually charges with the screen on its lowest setting (seeing any screen in the daylight is almost impossible for any device, no matter how powerful, or premium, or expensive it is, but using g it like this at night isn't an issue), and the audio is playing through the onboard speaker, or I'm playing music through the device via headset. I can sometimes even stream audio and use the speaker....though its not really loud enough to hear over almost any car going 55 MPH.
Make sure your car charger is rated for 1.0 amps, or 1000miliamps..at least. I don't know if the note can pull more or not...but even in the worst case scenario, if you had the travel battery pack (which, for thirty dollars gets you a wall charger, an additional stock OEM battery (none of the voodoo-magic extended battery crap that actually gives you worse battery life, under or over powers your phone, or only lasts 100 charging cycles), and a external battery case which will fit into any pocket you have (unless you wear skinny jeans....ew.), and will charge any note battery)) if you're phone died and you forgot to place your extra battery on the charger, in about 20 minute or so, you'd Be powered back up with enough juice to get you going again. After you placed your battery in the charger and plugged it in.
Lastly, you could get a power inverter from amazon or best buy (I would never buy some cheap Chinese version from amazon. I'd buy a brand name one from walmart or radio shack or even best buy) and you'd be able to charge your device at home/wall speeds.
Just using a few tricks, you'll never need to replace or run out of battery, and its likely you'll never even use a percent. But doing dome things with any phone will ensure you either don't make it to your destination, or that when you do arrive, you do so at 1-2%, of even worse....0%.
I think the Note charger travel pack is the best thing since sliced bread. I don't ever plug my phone in anymore. I bring the battery pack with me, and use a collapsing wall plug with a retractable micriusb cable to plug the pack in and charge my second battery...this means I can just plug my extra battery pack in at Barnes and nobles, my friends, etc...while still using my phone. I can even plug the pack into a computer and walk away. Which is great for long days at work, and means I can use my note 24/7 and never ever have to worry about battery life.
Sorry for the walk of text...and my goofy disposition. Its late and I'm so tired that I'm slap happy. But, to summarize, every device has it's shortcomings, but by spending only thirty dollars...I found away around the only real problem with the device--battery life.
The device is amazing in every way now.
I stopped using my $1300 laptop when I got my TF101 a year ago, and I stopped using my tablet for anything but reading and one fishing game since I got my phone.
AMAZINN!
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Thanks I will definitely look into navigon.just out of curiosity when using navigon off line from gps how accurate is it?.what I envy iphones for is their quick triangulation on google maps without gps.while Androids need gps to get any where close to where I am.to lead me somewhere
Galaxy note LTE
Not exactly true. If you have your location services enabled then google maps will find you almost instantly within a certain range. I have yet to even use my gps yet on my note with maps and for the first time it has me shown within a quarter mile. Distance will vary with the amount of towers close by.
Navigon uses the gps. It should show you within a few feet if you are out in the open sky. Just the same as any other gps app. And I second Navigon. I have tried Sygic and Ndrive also and have found Navigon to be by far the best.
Edit: Just went outside to test the GPS for the first time. Damn this thing was quick. Connected in under 30 seconds.
Traditional 500mA car chargers just won't cut it.
Buy a power inverter and use the stock or similar 1.0A/1000mA charger and you will be able to use GPS/Bluetooth/4GLTE with screen on and still charge the phone! One warning though, the battery will get very warm with all of this running. But it will charge despite the heavy use.
bulldog212 said:
Traditional 500mA car chargers just won't cut it.
Buy a power inverter and use the stock or similar 1.0A/1000mA charger and you will be able to use GPS/Bluetooth/4GLTE with screen on and still charge the phone! One warning though, the battery will get very warm with all of this running. But it will charge despite the heavy use.
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Yeah I know that .the note is too power hungry for 500 mah chargers. when using that motorla charger listed above in my cart and using my phone with gps and lte I have seen temps as high as 129
Galaxy note LTE
Drove from Maine to Camp Lejeune, a marathon drive of about 15hrs with Navigon, and Bluetooth audio running the entire trip. I am using the Samsung car dock, and the phone stayed fully charged the whole trip.
Been very happy with the samsung car dock, price was good too.
What stinks is that the Motorola charger you posted about, the one I have, puts out 850Mah to the phone. And even that is still not enough to charge while in use. In fact,, it doesn't even maintain..... Does this phone really use that much energy to operate?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using XDA
Agoattamer said:
Not exactly true. If you have your location services enabled then google maps will find you almost instantly within a certain range. I have yet to even use my gps yet on my note with maps and for the first time it has me shown within a quarter mile. Distance will vary with the amount of towers close by.
Navigon uses the gps. It should show you within a few feet if you are out in the open sky. Just the same as any other gps app. And I second Navigon. I have tried Sygic and Ndrive also and have found Navigon to be by far the best.
Edit: Just went outside to test the GPS for the first time. Damn this thing was quick. Connected in under 30 seconds.
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Yeah that's exactly what im talking about , within your location services settings if you disable the gps function and go to Google maps and click try and find my location . Their is a huge blue halo in which you could possible be your location which doesn't help when your somewhere unfamiliar. Im not a ios fan to say the least but in that aspect i find their google maps much more consumer friendly in every day usage. I used my mothers iphone while she as at work for directions for deliveries at the restaurant i work at because it was so quick to show me the route i needed and find me while my note would take maybe 15-30 or so seconds to find what i needed. Although iphones dont have turn by turn which was annoying at times looking down at a small 3.5 in screen
Im using Navigon now. Even though the lastest Navigon let you start the app, HOWEVER WITHOUT DATA it doesnt accurate. You still need GPS+data to make it works.
Side note: Anyone know any ISC Rom now works with Navigon?
Sent from my AT&T Galaxy Note™ - please forgive any typos
I had this prob too!
I bought an Energizer car charger that doubles as a wall mount charger. The key is it charges @ 2amps all the time. I NOW have a positive charge while driving at normal screen brightness AND GPS AND streaming Radio on 4g.
Im %99.9 sure you can do the same as long as your car mount charger is geared for 2 amps (Most are NOT)
There is another thread in here somewhere that address the charing aspects of the G-Note.
First off, they suggest getting a charger, that has two USB slots, one is a 1Amp and the other is 2Amp USB, so then you have 2Amps charging.
Does not really get to that much, so you need to buy a USB direct charge adaptor, which allows for the Note to charge in HIGH charge like at home, rather then trickle.
Works great for me,
XDA is no longer worth my time.
Something else to take into account is the USB cable you are using with your chargers. If it is a data cable it will not charge at full capacity, you need to have a USB cable that is for charging only, it has the two line for data shorted. This make a huge difference. Even if you have the 2 AMP charger you will have issue with a data cable when charging.
have a look at this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1671083
I use a Rocketfish charger in the car and on a two hour road trip using GPS all the way and all phone services active it ended up about 5 or 6 percent higher than when I started the trip.
Ok so this is a quick review of a desktop usb charger that I've been using for the past week.
The device is the Choetech Multi Port Desktop Charger.
So I figure I would get to point first then going further into details
THE BOTTOM LINE:
This device is not for everyone, but if it is for you, you'll love it with a personal rating of 4.5/5.0
Pros
The device is light weight and easy to travel with.
The device have a total of 6 charging ports 2 of which support Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0 .
The device have a real nice matte finish.
and my favorite, the device ports are all real nice and snug, so there is no chance of accidental unplugging.
Cons
Unfortunately, the only major con I found with it was the price.
**As an after thought** It would have been nice if the auto detect tech work on all 6 ports not just standard ports. (If my understanding if correct)
Performance?
The device have a total of 6 ports with an output of 5V/9V/12V with the 12V being reserved for only the 2 quick charge port. The 4 standard ports on the device boast Choetech "Auto Detect" Technology meaning that it can automatically detect the max voltage for your device and output accordingly.
But if you're buying this device for it's QC technology you're probably more interested in the how well it perform compared to other quick chargers?
For my testing I used my Nexus 6 with CleanRom, and the stock usb cable that came with the phone, I also compared the Choetech device against the stock adapter that came with my Nexus 6.
To ensure a fair and relatively accurate results I followed the following procedures for both chargers 3 times to ensure no unusual data.
I drained my phone completely until it auto shut off, charged the device for exactly 30 seconds to ensure enough power to turn the device on.
I then place my phone in airplane mode and cleared all recently used apps.
I used the Playstore app Battery Monitor Widget in order to take a min by min reading of the charging process.
Finally I charged the device for exactly 10 mins (I went with 10 mins because the purpose of Qualcomm QC technology is to get as much juice in the least amount of time)
Results?
Unfortunately, the stock charge narrowly beat out the Choetech by an average of 1% for a ten minute charge(Choetecht charged 13% in 10 mins the stock 14% all three times the test was conducted), however Choetech beat the stock charger with an average of 2-3 degree Celsius less battery temp during that 10 min charge times (I think this is a bit more important considering the narrow gap in percentage charge considering the fact that battery temp have a direct effect on the lifespan of batteries.) Also if you care both the Choetech and stock charger took just under 2hrs 15min for a complete charge.
Usefulness?
This is why this device is not for everyone. Choetech market the device as a replacement phone charger, which if you intend to use it solely for that purpose and you only have 1 phone in your possession, there is no justification for purchasing this device.
However, if you're like me and you have several a bunch of peripherals like that doesn't require a data connection then this is perfect for you. Another example where I've personally used it in the past week was when I had guest over instead of everyone trying to find an outlet to plug there phones up I just plug this device in a central location that everyone could easily access... My wife have the S6 Edge and now we both can use QC tech at the same time without her annoying unplugging my phone , and finally I had a FTX with my Army Reserve Unit this week as well, and if you every had to sleep in a tent with 20 other people then you know how scarce an outlet is to charge your phone... but with this 6 people were able to charge up at any giving time.
Conclusion
So there you have my complete review of the Choetech Desktop Charger. Decided for yourself if its something for or not. Also keep in mind that your miles may vary as no 2 device is the same even if they were constructed the same.
If you like a video review to accompany this writing review just let me know
Bought two of these. It's just okay
Once the Nexus 6 reaches ~70% the Quick Charge port refuses to charge my Nexus 6 anymore. If I move it to one of the other 4 ports it will keep charging.
metaphz said:
Bought two of these. It's just okay
Once the Nexus 6 reaches ~70% the Quick Charge port refuses to charge my Nexus 6 anymore. If I move it to one of the other 4 ports it will keep charging.
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Sorry but can't say I experience the same issue. I was able to fully charge my Nexus 6 with the qc ports. My wife is also able to fully charge her S6E as well, but like i said "your miles may vary"
omg your yellow font is killing my eyes.
bradputt said:
omg your yellow font is killing my eyes.
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lol better?
Love this.. I have 2. 1 on my desk and one in my suit case for travel. It saves space and plugs and charged all my. Devices quickly. Was excited to try it again given the 1st time I purchased one, the device short circuited and never worked again. Since I liked the idea of what the product represented, I bought it again.
Fyi....there is a deal currently...http://www.androidpolice.com/2015/0...rt-usb-charger-for-17-after-a-7-off-coupon/#1
Meh.
This S8 is going to be my first sealed battery phone. I'm going to miss those days of being able to carry a spare battery and get back up 100% in 30 seconds. I'm wondering if I should get a battery case or an external battery bank?
Which one do you use and why do you prefer it? Is there anything that you don't like about it?
I've been reading that it's best to charge the sealed battery when it drops to 40% and then stop charging when it reaches 75-80%:
http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries
I think it'd be easier to do this with a battery case that has an on/off button.
just avoid discharging to 0% and when ever you can don't charge to 100%. I heard somewhere that s8 battery has better properties that last generation samsung phones and it wear out waaaay slower.
External Battery Bank.
Coz, I don't want my phone to be as thick as a brick. When the bettery is going to run out, I prefer to use the cable to connect to a power bank.
In addition , the power bank mostly have much more juice than a battery case.
I think a battery case is more convenient. I have both and I like not having to carry the phone in one pocket and the cord and bank in the other. However, having a bank allows you to charge multiples devices and last longer since it isn't made for a specific device. The bank would be more useful and the case more convenient.
Jasper__ said:
External Battery Bank.
Coz, I don't want my phone to be as thick as a brick. When the bettery is going to run out, I prefer to use the cable to connect to a power bank.
In addition , the power bank mostly have much more juice than a battery case.
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Plus 1
hey guys we are in the 2017 era, do you really think that those batteries has some problems in being discharged to 0% and being recharged at 100%?
you will sell this phone before the battery die, this is sure
in any case I prefer the power bank way, just bought some of them.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/ge...nk-attemps-t3664153/post73577779#post73577779
I think a battery case would be better because you can slap it on charge up then take it off after. With a bank you have to plug in the phone and have the cord hanging around while the phone charges. Check out my boy Flossy's video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwaD6mc318M
Shout-out to White Shoes..
I usually carry an external battery pack in my backpack. Though I hardly use it. If I'm going on a weekend camping trip with my friends, I slap on a battery case.
Sent from my SM-G950F using XDA Labs
I'm using Aukey 30000 mah battery, it's heavy and bulky but capacity is amazing, I can charge all my devices from one power bank)
I'm using the "Galaxy S8 Plus Battery Case, Wuloo Charger Case 5500 mAh Extended Backup Battery Juice Pack Rechargeable Charging Case Power Bank Cover for Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus 6.2 inch". It's pretty reliable except that the front screen is completely exposed.
Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
sblantipodi said:
hey guys we are in the 2017 era, do you really think that those batteries has some problems in being discharged to 0% and being recharged at 100%?
you will sell this phone before the battery die, this is sure
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I'm surprised there were more people with "battery tips" than those willing to reaffirm this statement. As long as you're using reliable chargers and/or charging cases and not regularly in 110+ degree weather, you really don't need to overthink things when it comes to insuring the longevity of the Li-Ion batteries Samsung uses.
As for the base question, I agree with...everybody, and say both.
The S8 is not a small phone to begin with. Without a case it barely fits in the back pocket of most of my jeans at least a bit, and creates a clear rectangular outline in all but my loosest of jeans that just looks...awkward. I don't like big phones for every day use as much as most people seem to, but if I'm dressed semi-nicely and going out for the evening I'm fine with the way it looks and feels in my back pocket.
There is NO battery case that exists where that would still be true, I mean, as others have said, the phone becomes a brick. For regular use outside the house, battery cases just look and feel awkward. I've now owned three, including the insanely overpriced Mophie option sold at Best Buy (it was a gift, don't waste the money) and when doing work around the house they're great for heavy use through a full day, whereas I usually have to plug it in fairly early into the evening when running on the internal battery alone.
For every day use, outside the house, I always carry a messenger bag with a QC 2.0 compatible battery pack. Considering the fact that most battery cases are bulky enough to warrant carrying them in a bag, it just makes more sense to me to carry a 18650 cell based battery pack with a far greater capacity (even on the low end) than any case is going to have, and when in use, or if I want to put my bag down for a while, I can just unplug and use my semi-normal sized phone, or carry it less awkwardly in my pocket for a while.
Especially with QC 2.0 being so...quick, I'd say a battery pack is far preferable for most people in almost every case, but battery cases do have their place here and there. If I need something really compact I personally go with the Anker PowerCore Speed 10000 (36Wh), but I usually end up carrying one RavPower or Anker's larger packs that can use QuickCharge to charge the S8 as well as the battery pack itself. Its not as notable if you're only draining the battery pack every few days and charging it overnight, but for my purposes, often on the road, camping, and hiking, being able to have a 72-80Wh pack charged in less than half the time has been a huge convenience.
I'm using this one.....
Plus 1 for power bank
Battery pack
I'm using a battery pack, usually when I'm out long enough to empty the battery I bring my backpack which has a usb port on it