As many have noticed the Captivate does not hold a charge very long and the OEM charger is painfully slow. I got my Captivate on release date and have already done the usual to increase battery life (app killer, screen brightness, etc). I have also re-calibrated the battery meter by letting the phone discharge fully a few times.
A couple of months back I had to buy my girlfriend a ridiculously expensive micro USB charger from Radio Shack (~$25). I decided to test it on my Captivate, since it is rated at a full 1.0 Amp instead of the 0.7 Amp the the OEM charger is rated at. I have been observing the differences in the chargers over the last week or so. Sure enough the Radio Shack charger does charge a little faster, but what caught me by surprise is it seems to charge the battery more fully. When I pull the phone off the battery charger the meter registers "100". The factory charger normally drops to 99 or 98 the moment I take it off the charger and goes down to around 94 within an hour of complete standby inactivity. This morning was the clincher. I woke up and pulled the phone off the Radio Shack charger, showered, ate breakfast, got in my car and drove 3 hours to south Florida. When I got there I checked the phone and it was still reading 100 after 4 hours of standby time!!
At this point I am thinking that the OEM charger is a piece of cr@p and does not deliver enough voltage to fully charge the battery in the Captivate. I have switched chargers with my girlfriend and will not be using the OEM charger any more!
Here is the RS charger:
PointMobl Micro USB AC Charger : Cell Phone Power | RadioShack.com
John
A couple of months back I had to buy my girlfriend a ridiculously expensive micro USB charger from Radio Shack (~$25). I decided to test it on my Captivate, since it is rated at a full 1.0 Amp instead of the 0.7 Amp the the OEM charger is rated at. I have been observing the differences in the chargers over the last week or so. Sure enough the Radio Shack charger does charge a little faster, but what caught me by surprise is it seems to charge the battery more fully. When I pull the phone off the battery charger the meter registers "100". The factory charger normally drops to 99 or 98 the moment I take it off the charger and goes down to around 94 within an hour of complete standby inactivity. This morning was the clincher. I woke up and pulled the phone off the Radio Shack charger, showered, ate breakfast, got in my car and drove 3 hours to south Florida. When I got there I checked the phone and it was still reading 100 after 4 hours of standby time!!
At this point I am thinking that the OEM charger is a piece of cr@p and does not deliver enough voltage to fully charge the battery in the Captivate. I have switched chargers with my girlfriend and will not be using the OEM charger any more!
Here is the RS charger:
PointMobl Micro USB AC Charger : Cell Phone Power | RadioShack.com
John