Qualcomm has announced Quick Charge 4, which will bring even faster charging and other new features to devices including smartphones next year. Also see: Best Quick Charge power banks and Best Quick Charge desktop chargers
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At it’s Snapdragon Tech Summit in New York, Qualcomm has officially announced Quick Charge 4 ahead of its release in 2017. The platform, for want for a better word, is the leading charging method in more than 300 accessories and 100 devices.
The headline feature of Quick Charge 4 is something called ‘5 in 5’ meaning you can get five hours worth of battery life from just a five minute long charge. Quick Charge will be available via the upcoming Snapdragon 835 processor which Qualcomm has given the first details on.
Thanks to technologies such as ‘Dual Charge’, ‘typical premium phone users’ can expect to see up to 20 percent faster charging and 30 percent higher efficiency compared to Quick Charge 3.0.
“As mobile devices become more capable and feature rich, people tend to use them more. That’s why consumer demand and awareness for fast-charging solutions is now at an all-time high. Quick Charge 4 addresses that need by providing up to 50 percent battery charge in roughly 15minutes or less, so you don’t have to spend all day chained to your charging cable,” said Alex Katouzian, senior vice president of product management at Qualcomm Technologies.
With a bigger focus on safety following events such as the Samsung Galaxy Note 7, Qualcomm has added some features in Quick Charge 4. This includes voltage, current and temperature protection as well as cable quality and type detection.
Interestingly, Qualcomm mentioned that there will be two upcoming phones from undisclosed manufacturers which will contain 7000+mAh batteries. Read about how to charge a phone properly.
Quick Charge 3.0 is currently the most recent revision to Qualcomm‘s fast-charging technology, and it features in new flagship phones and tablets such as the LG G5 and Xiaomi Mi 5. We explain what is Quick Charge 3.0, and round up some of the best Quick Charge 3.0 accessories from leading brands. Also see: Best tech to take on holiday 2016.
Quick Charge technology has come on significantly over the years. The initial standard, Quick Charge 1.0, could charge up to 40 percent faster than a standard charge. When Quick Charge 2.0 was introduced it offered up to 75 percent faster charging (you can see a list of compatible devices here), and it wasn’t long before we began to see compatible accessories such as the Tronsmart Titan desktop charger and USB Rapid Car Charger and Anker PowerCore+ 20100 USB power bank come on to the market. Also see: Best power banks 2016 and Best desktop chargers 2016.
Such devices were able to speed up charging enough to make a real difference, with less time spent waiting for a phone or tablet to charge before you could walk out the door. Also see: How to charge your phone or tablet faster.
Qualcomm’s latest revision, Quick Charge 3.0, can charge compatible devices up to four times faster than a conventional charger. It uses Intelligent Negotiation for Optimum Voltage (INOV), which enables optimum power transfer while maximising efficiency by allowing a device to determine what power level to request at any point in time. Once it has calculated the optimum voltage level to supply to a device, Quick Charge 3.0 can support anuthing between 3.6V to 20V in 200mV increments. Also see: How to improve smartphone battery life.
What is Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0: Quick Charge 3.0 devices
The first devices to include support for Quick Charge 3.0 are the LG G5, HTC One A9, LeTV Le MAX Pro and the Xiaomi Mi 5.
Does the Samsung Galaxy S7 support Quick Charge 3.0? No. Despite housing a Snapdragon 820 chip in some territories, according to Qualcomm the S7 and S7 Edge support only Quick Charge 2.0. (The UK version has an Exynos chip that supports Adaptive Fast Charging.) Samsung itself makes no official claims about charging other than the fact it’s very fast, both for wired- and wireless charging.
A Samsung spokesperson at MWC told PC Advisor that the company regards Quick Charge 2.0 as fast enough, and finds there isn’t enough value in it going for Quick Charge 3.0 right now. It had the same argument with USB-C (the new S7 handsets use Micro-USB), stating that people generally don’t have USB-C accessories just yet.
What is Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0: Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 products and accessories
Although you won’t have a Quick Charge 3.0-compatible phone or tablet just yet (it will be supported by various devices running the Snapdragon 820, 620, 618, 617 and 430 processors), the standard is backward-compatible with Quick Charge 1.0 and 2.0. If you’re looking to buy a new charging accessory, it makes sense to future-proof your purchase by opting for a Quick Charge 3.0-compatible product. Also see: Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 specs and features.
Anker is one of the best-known USB charging brands, and it already has a couple of Quick Charge 3.0-compatible products on the market. It told PC Advisor: “Rather than a limited “earlier adopters only” first year, Anker expects industry leaders to aggressively push QC 3.0 such that it will be the standard quick-charging technology for mobile devices by the end of 2016.
“As the leading USB charging brand we’re meeting what will be a huge demand for QC 3.0 charging products by integrating this new technology into affordable, practical, high quality products – something that has become synonymous with the Anker brand. We’re covering the three angles of charging- car chargers, wall chargers and mobile chargers – with a diverse series of products designed to meet the diverse needs of consumers.”
The Anker PowerPort+ 1 is a compact (56x53x28mm, 70g) Quick Charge 3.0 wall plug that’s ideal for charging a single phone or tablet from the mains – Anker says it will charge a compatible device to 80 percent capacity in just 35 minutes. As well as QC 3.0 it supports PowerIQ, offering the fastest possible charging speed for any plugged in device, and can offer a standard 1A charge to non-Quick Charge devices, such as iPhones. We were sent a US two-pin version of the plug, although a three-pin UK plug is also available. You can buy the Anker PowerPort+ 1 (A2010) from Amazon UK for £8.99 or from Amazon US for $21.99; an updated model (A2013) with improved output is coming soon.
Anker also sells the PowerDrive+ 1, which is currently one of the fastest in-car chargers you’ll get your hands on. It’s good-looking in black with a red trim and unobtusive, just 48x36x71mm and 60g. The PowerDrive+ 1 has a single USB port for charging your mobile device, but you’ll need to supply your own cable. Quick Charge 3.0 will work with USB Type-A, USB micro, USB Type-C and proprietary connectors – it’s the device itself that must be supported. You can buy the Anker PowerDrive+ 1 for £10 from Amazon UK or $16.99 from Amazon US.
Tronsmart is another big name in the charging world and has also been touch with PC Advisor to draw our attention to some of its first Quick Charge 3.0-compatible accessories. Our favourite so far is the Tronsmart U5PTA desktop charger, which allows you to fast-charge five devices from a single wall outlet, and one of those five outputs has support for QC3. The Tronsmart costs £22.99 from Amazon UK, or $29.99 from Amazon US. You can read our Tronsmart QC3 desktop charger review here.
Something of a cross between the Tronsmart desktop charger and the Anker wall charger listed above is this Tronsmart W3PTA three-port wall charger. It’s larger than a standard single-port wall charger, but smaller than a desktop charger, and it might just be the ideal gadget to take on trips away where you and your partner both have phones to keep topped up. One of the three USB outputs is rated QC 3.0, while the other two are fast-charging 12W outputs with smart device-recognition technology to provide the optimum charge for your device. The Tronsmart W3PTA is available from Amazon UK for £15.99, or Amazon US for $21.99.
The Tronsmart C3PTA is a three-port car charger with one port compatible with QC 3.0 and an additional pair of fast-charging ports that operate at 5V/2.4A (12W). These also use VoltIQ technology, which is intended to recognise your device type and deliver the optimum amount of power. With 42W of available power, the Tronsmart C3PTA can simultaneously support all three USB ports at max speed. It’s available from Amazon UK for £14.99, or Amazon US for $24.99.
If you have just the one device to top up on the move, the Tronsmart CC1T is a much more compact device with just a single QC 3.0 USB output. It’s just two-thirds of the price as well – £9.99 from Amazon UK or $14.99 from Amazon US.
The Tronsmart C2PTU car charger has a single QC 3.0 USB port that can ouput 18W, plus a 5V/3A (15W) USB-C connection that’s ideal for fast-charging the likes of the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P. You can pick up the C2PTU from Amazon UK for £11.99, or Amazon US for $19.99.
If you have a USB-C phone or tablet that also supports Quick Charge 3.0, such as the LG G5, instead look to the Tronsmart C2PTE. It looks almost identical to the C2PTU, but this time it’s the USB-C port that supports QC 3.0, while the standard USB output uses VoltIQ tech to output the optimum amount of power up to 5V/3A (15W). It’s just a tiny bit more expensive, at £12.99 from Amazon UK, or $21.99 from Amazon US.
Something we love is a good power bank (see our round-up of the best power banks on the market), so we’re really pleased to find this future-proof RAVPower Turbo+ 20100 mAH External Battery Pack/Mobile Charger, which has support for both Quick Charge 3.0 and USB-C. It’s also huge in capacity, at 20100mAh. The RAVPower is currently on sale at Amazon in the US for $65.99 and will be coming to Amazon UK soon.
Aukey is another well-known brand for its affordable charging accessories. Its CC-T7 Quick Charge 3.0 Dual Port USB Car Charger is a strong rival to the Tronsmart and Anker versions above, here offering two super-fast USB outputs (one Quick Charge 3.0 and the other rated at 5V/3A or 15W). It’s compact, well made, and comes at a great price. You can buy the Aukey QC 3.0 car charger from Amazon UK for just a tenner, and for $19.99 from Amazon US.
Also from Aukey is this speedy USB mains charger for your phone or tablet with a UK three-pin plug. The Aukey USB Turbo Charger PA-T9 will sit unobtrusively in any room of the house, and is a great buy if you have (or are buying) a QC 3.0-compatible phone or tablet. The Mains adaptor pricing matches that of the company’s car charger, meaning for a score you can get super-fast charging wherever you are. The Aukey costs a tenner from Amazon UK, or $19.99 from Amazon US.
For more information on Quick Charge 3.0 see the below video from Qualcomm, and infogram from Anker.
What is Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0: Video
What is Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0: Poll
What is Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0: Infographic
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