I think my main concern is I see "USB Cable" and "USB Charger" used interchangeably in these messages. They are not one and the same. So which is that we are talking about?<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">
On Mon, Apr 14, 2008 at 1:29 AM, Marcus Bauer <<a href="mailto:marcus.bauer@gmail.com">marcus.bauer@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
Reading your email I wonder if there is a misunderstanding here. A "USB<br>
charger" is not a device that gets plugged into a computer but it is<br>
simply a device that supplies power on a USB-like plug. It can be a wall<br>
charger or a car charger.<br>
<br>
If you go to ebay and type in "usb charger" you get plenty of hits<br>
starting from a few dollars.<br>
<br>
The only and minor issue is that these chargers don't speak the USB<br>
protocol and thus can't say "hey, you can take as much as you want and<br>
I'll give you as much as I have". They simply offer voltage and current<br>
on the plus and minus lines of the USB plug.<br>
<br>
So essentially the Neo asks "hey, can I have 500mA?" and there is no<br>
answer. The Neo then plays safe and pulls only 100mA as to the USB<br>
standard. But the Neo can pop-up a dialog asking you "hey guy, there is<br>
some unknown charger, I currently take only 100mA, shall I pull more<br>
anyway?" - and this lets you use *any* USB charger out there. Be it one<br>
from Apple or one from eBay.<br>
<br>
best,<br>
<font color="#888888">marcus<br>
</font><div><div></div><div class="Wj3C7c"><br>
<br>
On Mon, 2008-04-14 at 00:57 -0700, Lowell Higley wrote:<br>
> I think I'm going to have to completely disagree on this one. I<br>
> RARELY plug anything into a computer to simply charge it. I'd venture<br>
> almost never. The idea that I HAVE to plug a device into a computer<br>
> to charge it is completely ridiculous to me. I'd bet my experience as<br>
> a product marketer that consumers would feel similarly. My<br>
> expectation of a cell phone (based on precedent) is that I get a wall<br>
> charger with my phone. Even Apple didn't break this precedent with<br>
> the iPhone. You can plug it into a cradle (connecting to a system), a<br>
> wall charger, or a vehicle accessory charger.<br>
><br>
> That being said, I don't know whether this "custom charger" is just a<br>
> modified USB cable or an actual wall charger. Again, based on<br>
> precedent, my expectation was that it was a wall charger. Thinking<br>
> about it now I realize that perhaps that was not a good assumption to<br>
> make.<br>
><br>
> Just my 4 1/2 cents.<br>
><br>
> On Mon, Apr 14, 2008 at 12:25 AM, Marcus Bauer<br>
> <<a href="mailto:marcus.bauer@gmail.com">marcus.bauer@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
> On Mon, 2008-04-14 at 08:38 +0200, Erland Lewin wrote:<br>
> > 2008/4/14, steve <<a href="mailto:steve@openmoko.com">steve@openmoko.com</a>>:<br>
> > 1. We have a custom charger that can fast charge<br>
> the phone.<br>
> > 2. Standard usb chargers will work just fine.<br>
> ><br>
> > How long will charging the phone take with the fast charger<br>
> vs. a<br>
> > normal charger?<br>
> ><br>
> > If a standard USB charger will take on the order of 12 hours<br>
> (1200 mAh<br>
> > battery / 100 mA, probably more due <100% efficiency), that<br>
> is really<br>
> > borderline of what sounds acceptable, if an overnight charge<br>
> won't be<br>
> > enough to fully charge the phone.<br>
><br>
> There have been plenty of discussions about this on the lists<br>
> and the<br>
> great news is that the Neo can use any USB charger.<br>
><br>
> I have a Neo 1973 and use it on a daily basis. The great thing<br>
> is that<br>
> you don't need any special charger, you can use any $5 charger<br>
> and it<br>
> works. There is a small program out there that can pop up a<br>
> dialog<br>
> whenever it sees the Neo only charging at 100mA and asking if<br>
> you want<br>
> to draw 500mA.<br>
><br>
> It really is a non issue. I have a couple of those chargers<br>
> for<br>
> home/office/car/travel and they all work and charge plenty of<br>
> other<br>
> devices too. IMHO a great design decision to use USB for<br>
> charging.<br>
> Finally there is an end coming to have all these different<br>
> chargers<br>
> around.<br>
><br>
> So I just can second Steve:<br>
> "2. Standard usb chargers will work just fine."<br>
><br>
> Marcus<br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
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