How to charge your gadgets as fast as possible

It's hard to imagine a scenario in which you will not want to charge your gadgets as quickly as possible: whether you're going to the office or in the evening, you want a battery level as high as possible. when you leave. However, loading your gadgets goes beyond the time they are connected. There are tips and tricks that can load faster.

The basics of charging

At the basic level, the amount of energy that powers your device and recharges your battery is measured in watts. To calculate watts, take the voltage of the device in volts, which is the energy potential, and multiply it by the current (in amperes or milliamps), which corresponds to the energy flow. Think of volts like the water pressure in a pipe and milliamperes to the water flow of the pipe. Combine them and you have to take out your hose. The watts are similar and the three are closely related. You can see one, two or three of these terms mentioned when you look at the chargers.

So, for example, the iPhone XS comes with a 5W charger: you get 5 watts of power with a wall outlet and your charger provided. However, the phone can charge up to 18 W, which means that if you use a more powerful charger, a water hose with more pressure and faster throughput, your iPhone will recharge faster.

Different factors influence the number of watts that charge your devices when you plug them in. We will expose the main ones: They should help you to charge as much as possible the battery, regardless of the device you charge or How big is the battery?

Choose your chargers

To keep your gadgets charged as quickly as possible, you need the highest watt load experience your devices can safely support. An example: Switching your iPhone 2017 or later from the supplied 5W charger to the 18W charger included with the latest iPad Pro is a real asset (recent tests from MacRumors have shown that a 18W charger gave twice as much charge in one hour).

Another example: the latest MacBook Pro can emit 10 W of power from its USB-C connectors. This will give you better results when your MacBook Pro charges your iPhone compared to the 5W charger that comes with the phone itself. On an older laptop with low power USB ports, you will not get the same power.

Meanwhile, the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL phones come with a 18W fast charge charger included in the box. Nothing else will charge them faster because 18W is the maximum they can handle.

We mention here specific devices to give you an idea of ​​what to weigh. In general, whether you are using a phone, tablet or laptop, find the highest power source possible (usually a wall outlet) and the charger with the highest power support.

Chargers designed for large devices offer high power ratings. That's why you should not plug your phone's charger into your laptop and expect something, but you can eventually plug your laptop's charger into your phone and recover it faster. The latest USB standards, including USB-C, bring us closer to a single solution, but we are not there yet.

Regarding wireless charging, in most cases your device will not charge your device as fast as the cable – unless your phone has a wired charger with low wattage support. 10W provided by Google for Pixel phones 3). USB chargers in cars usually consume little energy.

You can search for your devices and chargers yourself, and you may even want to buy a high-power charger to keep near the door. As a general rule, however, if you are in a hurry and need a quick boost for the battery, plug your device into the wall using the charger with the highest volts, currents, and watts you have access.

Does this mean that you can just use the charger you like? Well yes and no. As we already mentioned, it's sometimes acceptable, like when you use your iPad or even the charger of your MacBook with your iPhone, but avoid switching different chargers from different manufacturers for different devices, because problems can occur, especially when you are traveling. deal with old equipment. Older and lousier chargers could damage devices or even cause small fires.

For new equipment, it's not that worrying: USB-C and USB 3.x have made interoperability easier and safer than ever, with built-in security solutions to prevent destructive overhead. Assuming that you use chargers and cables of recognized brands, you should not encounter serious problems.

Also pay attention to fast charging technologies on your device. These standards require specific chargers. Therefore, a OnePlus phone (for example) needs a OnePlus charger to take advantage of the fastest charging speed. Other chargers will not blow your phone, but will not charge you either. it's also fast.

Meanwhile, new iPhones and Pixels need chargers with USB PD (Power Delivery) technology for the best charging speeds. These fast charging standards and other similar technologies (such as the Qualcomm QuickCharge standard found on many Android phones) require both the phone and the charger to support them, allowing you to check whether your phone supports standard PD or QuickCharge, then find a good brick that supports it too.

You may feel a little overwhelmed by the number of specifications and standards you need to think about, but you only need to worry about your own devices: you should be able to determine the maximum power level that you want. they can support and load standards supported, in minutes of searching the web. After that, all that remains is to identify the best charger for the job.

Switch off

What makes your phone or laptop or tablet while charging makes all the difference: If your gadget is streaming music or video during playback, it will consume a lot more energy than its own. he was off. . This also affects battery life with disconnection.

You may need to often use your device while charging, but if you can turn it off for a few minutes, you will probably get a few more percentage points, which would make all the difference later.

If you are unable to turn it off completely, do everything in your power to reduce the amount of energy that your gadget draws from its battery while it is charging. Turn off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, turn down the volume, turn off the screen brightness, and do not launch any particularly demanding applications or programs.

Individually, these small changes may not make a huge difference in about 10 minutes, but you can definitely get a few extra percentage points of battery power if you combine them. The longer your device is plugged into a power source, the greater the benefit.

There is a school of thought that all these adjustments do not make a big difference, but our tests (admittedly unscientific) say the opposite: our aging Pixel 2 gets an extra 5-6 percentage points in 30 minutes when the phone is off compared to when he's busy broadcasting something from Netflix. Our iPhone XS increases the battery percentage by 5% by 25% under the same conditions.

Your mileage will vary, of course, depending on your device's power consumption, maximum charging speed, battery charge status, and what you'll do with it, but you can turn off something for the loading. make a noticeable difference over a relatively short period of time, and we have seen it happen.