Is a 2A charger no advantage over a 1A charger, on a Nexus 4?

[gargavf]

Is a 2A charger no advantage over a 1A charger, on a Nexus 4?

It looks like when I plug my phone into a 2.1A charger then I see from my usb volt/amp meter, it uses e.g. 0.76A

I've tried different cables including one that came with my 2.1A charger.

So it looks to me like a Nexus 4 limitation, like it may as well have a 1A charger.

Am I right? And do later nexus phones handle 2A and thus charge faster when charged with a 2A charger?

Thanks

 

[Rukbat]

Evidently the N4 is designed to charge at 0.75 (probably not 0.76) Amps. As long as the charger can supply at least 0.75 Amps, that's what the charger will draw. Even if you connect it to a 5 Volt, 1,000 Amp supply. Current isn't forced into the phone, the phone draws power from the charger - and it draws what it's designed to draw.

Will a "later" phone charge faster with a charger than can supply more current? If they're designed to draw more - and if the battery isn't larger. Your phone has a 2100mAh battery (2.1Ah), so with a 0.75 Amp charge, it should take around 3 hours from 0 (you should never let the battery go below 40%) to 100%. (2.1/0.75 plus a little for the inefficiency of charging.) If you use a 2 Amp charger on a Nexus 7 - with a 3950mAh battery - it will take over 2 hours to charge, because even though the charger can supply more current, there's almost twice as much battery to charge.

 

[gargavf]

well, I wouldn't say "Evidently the N4 is designed to charge at 0.75 (probably not 0.76) Amps."

I was recently in my car with a usb monitor, on google maps and I saw the amps recorded on that monitor was 1.1A I don't know if the cable allowed for more amps.

There are many variables so it'd be tricky for me to figure out what's going on.. different charger, different usb monitor, different cable, and possibly different activity on my phone. I'll check some time.

But at home i'm using 2.1A charger with a cable no doubt designed to carry 2.1A. so cable and charger at home shouldn't really be any limitation, though without extensive testing, who knows.