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Motorola Turbo Charger: 8hrs of battery life from a 15min charge

by Mark Tyson on 8 September 2014, 12:30

Tags: Motorola (NYSE:MSI), Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM)

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Motorola has quietly introduced a new Turbo Charger, as an accessory for the Moto X (2nd Gen) that we first saw last week. The super-fast charger is said charge the mobile device's battery 75 per cent faster than conventional chargers, promising an 8 hour battery life top-up in just 15 minutes.

The charger achieves this feat by utilising Qualcomm's Quick Charge 2.0 technology, which is integrated into some Snapdragon-powered devices, and of course, the new Moto X is also Quick Charge 2.0-enabled. Other devices including the HTC One M8 and Sony Xperia Z2 have launched with the technology too.

The Quick Charge 2.0 capable Turbo Charger has an output of up to 15 watts. Due to it being a microUSB wall charger, you can use it to charge up your non-Quick Charge 2.0 devices too. You just won't experience the same speedy charging, that's all.

Headline 8 hours of battery life from a 15 minute charge figure requires an almost depleted battery

Although Motorola says that it only takes the new Moto X 15 minutes to gain an extra 8 hours of battery life, this quick boost in battery only works when the device is "substantially depleted", according to the fine print. This highlights the fact that charging rates actually slow down as the charging progresses and a battery approaches full capacity, a common scientific phenomena.

The eight hour claim also only applies to Motorola devices with Quick-Charge 2.0 support, and includes both "usage and standby time". That pretty much means that you will probably not get a real world usage of anywhere near 8 hours from your brief 15 minutes of wall-wart-suckling.

If you often forget to charge your (compatible) phone, and are always in a mad rush, this could be the charger for you. The charging device is 'coming soon', priced at $34.99. It will be sold separately to the new Moto X as an add-on during your Moto Maker configuration.



HEXUS Forums :: 12 Comments

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Traditionally, the danger with fast charging is shortening the longevity of the battery. If “smart” charging of modern battery types avoids this, by accurately monitoring battery status during charge and adjusting charge power accordingly, and can therefore avoid that pitfall, then this sounds like a great option.

Personally, I tend to charge devices (like a tablet) that need daily charging by charging overnight. But for those that don't, or simply forgot, this could be a good option. I'd need to see more details before buying, though.
Saracen
Traditionally, the danger with fast charging is shortening the longevity of the battery. If “smart” charging of modern battery types avoids this, by accurately monitoring battery status during charge and adjusting charge power accordingly, and can therefore avoid that pitfall, then this sounds like a great option.

Personally, I tend to charge devices (like a tablet) that need daily charging by charging overnight. But for those that don't, or simply forgot, this could be a good option. I'd need to see more details before buying, though.

I do the same, over night charging for my phone. My only problems with this are:

1)You have to make it through the day if it's going to be your only charge! :P
2) My phone might take 3 hours to charge from dead but it's then sip charging for the next 5 hours which I'm led to believe is very bad for battery longevity.
Jowsey
I do the same, over night charging for my phone. My only problems with this are:

1)You have to make it through the day if it's going to be your only charge! :P
2) My phone might take 3 hours to charge from dead but it's then sip charging for the next 5 hours which I'm led to believe is very bad for battery longevity.

Making it through the day doesn't seem to be a problem with my phone, but hey.

That's not how it works though, 3 hours to charge from dead is fine but after that the phone draws all its power from the charger not the battery, the battery is essentially totally disconnected at that point. When the battery drops to 95% due to self-discharge (takes 6 months for a full self-discharge, not sure about how long it'd take to go from 100 to 95 but probably more than a week) the phone will charge the battery again. Trickle charging should therefore never happen.
Jowsey
….

2) My phone might take 3 hours to charge from dead but it's then sip charging for the next 5 hours which I'm led to believe is very bad for battery longevity.
Simple mechanical or digital plug-though timer solves that. Set it for 3, maybe 3.5 hours. Job done.

I do this with domestic DECT phones, too.
It can occur if the phone is on - which mine is when charging over night.