USB charging kills battery?

bagarwa

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Feb 13, 2012
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I've noticed my Gnex's battery loosing its s#!t and draining rather quickly than before. I mostly charge it by plugging it into my laptop via the usb cable and very few times via wall socket. I was wondering does slow charging via "usb on laptop" damages/degrades battery life? Google search didn't throw any relevant info. You guys have any idea?
 

01011000

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Jul 16, 2011
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I was wondering does slow charging via "usb on laptop" damages/degrades battery life?

Well, seeing as the Galaxy Nexus is less than a year old, obviously the battery hasn't degraded from normal wear over a considerable amount of time, i.e. 2-yr contract. (But that also assumes your phone's battery isn't a lemon - a small possibility, but still possible.) Perhaps Google searching yields no results because there's nothing wrong with (re)charging the battery via USB which, like you, I don't do exclusively but do somewhat frequently if my EVO needs to be charged and I'm on the laptop doing stuff. Maybe you're leaving resource-heavy applications running like Wi-Fi, improperly exiting a game, etc. perhaps? But I seriously doubt charging via USB has done something bad to your GNex's battery.
 

bagarwa

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Maybe you're leaving resource-heavy applications running like Wi-Fi, improperly exiting a game, etc. perhaps?

Ummmm, wifi - yea. As soon as I return home from work, I turn on the wifi and turn it off only before going to sleep. Have been doing so since I got it. That drains less battery than leaving your 4G data on, right? (read that here somewhere). And I don't play that many games either. still the battery is draining faster than before. Only thing that I could think of is - 90% of times I'm charging it via usb to laptop. Since that takes more than twice the time compared to charging via wall socket, my theory is - "The more time it takes to charge, the weaker it gets". Is that a proven theory? No?
 

01011000

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Wi-Fi is less of a drain than 3G or 4G (with 4G being the worst offender) but leaving Wi-Fi on will still noticeably drain a device's battery. I can almost assure you that charging your phone via USB is not going to adversely affect it. Just because the charge cycle takes longer via your laptop, that's not going to harm your phone. If anything would deteriorate the battery, months of leaving on Wi-Fi, 3G, 4G, etc. during non-use would eventually cut into the battery's lifespan. Even still, if such was harmful I seriously doubt Google and Samsung would've engineered the Galaxy Nexus to even be charged via the micro USB port. I say try turning off your Wi-Fi while you're not using it for a day or two and see how that goes.
 

srkmagnus

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I wouldn't suspect USB charging as causing damage to the phones battery. Other than a slow charge, I agree with 01011000 in that there may be applications running in the background that either shouldn't be or are putting a strain on the battery.

Look through the running applications and see if there's anything running that shouldn't. Stop any/all apps that you don't need running in the background and go through the settings of that particular app to disable the background sync. With WiFi, the above is true that it uses less battery than a cellular network. Go into the WiFi settings and click on advance (press menu once in the WiFi settings). Set it to "Always On" during sleep. The issue is when WiFi or Mobile data is on there is a battery drain whenever there is a loss of signal and the device has to re-establish a connection.

Hope this helps.
 

bagarwa

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Thanks guys for your input. I'm now keeping the wifi off unless I need some internet access. That kinda beats the purpose of having a smartphone; but better than having a phone which will switch off due to lack of battery when I need it.
 

Rukbat

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my theory is - "The more time it takes to charge, the weaker it gets". Is that a proven theory? No?
No, just nonsense. Slower charging means less heat buildup, which could actually extend the life. (Not by very much.)

Not conditioning a new battery, though, could lead to a 1 year life. (Liithium batteries, if properly conditioned, should last 2 years or more.)
 

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