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Qualcomm Speeds Up Phone Charging

"Fast Charge" technology may already be speeding up charging in your phone.

By Sascha Segan
February 14, 2013
Nexus 4 Wireless Charger

Now this is a tease. Qualcomm "announced" an existing technology that speeds up charging on existing phones today - as a way to tease a similar announcement, of new technology, next week.

Today's announcement is "Quick Charge 1.0," which speeds up charging by up to 40 percent. Quick Charge 1.0 is an integrated circuit that connects to a phone's existing USB port and speeds up charging. There's nothing you need to do; your phone is already charging faster than competing devices with the same size batteries, Qualcomm says.

Okay, okay, but is this actually news? Maybe for a little boasting at your friends. But the news is clearly still to come: "come back next week for exciting news on the newest advancement in fast charging technology," Qualcomm says.

Although this whole story is a little odd because it's an existing technology (and plays on a weakness of all of us reviewers, who rarely measure charging time), it's a welcome bit of information. Battery chemistry isn't advancing much; the biggest technological leap in battery life right now seems to be the ability to add very large batteries to large-screen phones, as we've seen in the Samsung Galaxy Note and the Motorola Razr Maxx HD. If we can't make phones last longer, at least we can make them recharge faster.

Quick Charge 1.0 is available right now in a range of U.S. phones. They include:

  • HTC 8X, Droid DNA, Evo 4G LTE, One S, One VX, One SV
  • LG Escape, Mach, Motion 4G, Nexus 4, Optimus G, Spectrum 2, Optimus Regard
  • Motorola Atrix HD LTE, Droid RAZR HD, Droid RAZR M, Electrify M, Photon Q 4G LTE, Droid RAZR Maxx HD
  • Pantech Flex
  • Nokia Lumia 820, 822, 920
  • ZTE/Sprint Flash
  • Samsung Galaxy Express, Rugby Pro, Galaxy S Relay 4G, Galaxy S III, Galaxy Victory 4G, Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 LTE, Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 LTE, Galaxy Tab 7.7 Plus
  • Samsung Galaxy Express, Rugby Pro, Galaxy S Relay 4G, Galaxy S III, Galaxy Victory 4G, Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 LTE, Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 LTE, Galaxy Tab 7.7 Plus
  • Sony Xperia TL

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About Sascha Segan

Lead Analyst, Mobile

I'm that 5G guy. I've actually been here for every "G." I've reviewed well over a thousand products during 18 years working full-time at PCMag.com, including every generation of the iPhone and the Samsung Galaxy S. I also write a weekly newsletter, Fully Mobilized, where I obsess about phones and networks.

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