Which charges battery faster?

[bcball]

Which will charge my battery faster:

Charging dock from the wall or USB into my computer?

 

[bevorules]

The charger will be faster.

Per the USB spec, the USB port on your computer can only output 500 ma of current. However, the Epic (and most other smartphones) can make use of a 'dumb' charger that outputs more current. The charger that comes with the Epic outputs 700 ma. The result -- a faster charge.

 

[bcball]

Good answer. A followup:

Is there any harm that can come to the battery by leaving it charging after it's 100%? I get a message to unplug the charger once the charge is full, but always wondered if there were long term problems with leaving it plugged in.

 

[eerongal]

Good answer. A followup:

Is there any harm that can come to the battery by leaving it charging after it's 100%? I get a message to unplug the charger once the charge is full, but always wondered if there were long term problems with leaving it plugged in.

technically, yes, actually, no.

If you were to leave a battery actually charging once it hits 100%, it would explode. However, all electronics these days are set up to stop charging when they hit 100%, and do a "charging dance" of a little drain/recharge.

Because of this, it would do it no more harm than it would leaving anything else with a battery plugged in would do.