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Slow charging Samsung A02s

R

Rgarner

Android Expert
This thing has been plugged in overnight and it's still only 24%. I think that's even lower than it was last night. I keep getting these messages about how weak it is and that I should use the charger that came with it. This is exactly what I've been doing. Why do Samsungs have such a problem with their chargers? It seems almost any other phone will work with whatever charger.
 
Rgarner said:
This thing has been plugged in overnight and it's still only 24%. I think that's even lower than it was last night. I keep getting these messages about how weak it is and that I should use the charger that came with it. This is exactly what I've been doing. Why do Samsungs have such a problem with their chargers? It seems almost any other phone will work with whatever charger.
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i would not lump every samsung phone with that complaint. my note series phones also worked well with all other chargers and cables and now also with my z olfd 3. never really had an issue charging as well with any of my samsung devices.

so what have you tried? different charging bricks? different cables? have you tried clearing cache and rebooting the phone?
 
I of course have tried none of these. Perhaps I should. I noticed that it's now down to 21%. I'd probably better hurry...
 
Well, I just tried a cable from the $1.25 store. It's not too surprising that It didn't work. It might not be c type, which I guess is what the Samsung takes. Worse, I just tried the Stylus cable and it fits but apparently doesn't charge. Now I have the original setup again but still no charge and it's down to 20.
 
Well, maybe the problem has solved itself. It's up to 89% now. I guess I should still get a spare charger just in case.
 
Samsung A02S is the second generation after the A01. They're bottom tier phones and very glitchy. They have zero IP rating and dust ends up under camera lenses and the screen. It's a classic 'you get what you pay for' scheme.

The USB-type C ports are of horrible quality. I've experienced issues ranging from it going to halfway, still saying it's 'cable charging' but battery depletes while on charge, forcing the phone powered off just to charge. So long as you charged above 76%+ it would work fine. Drop below that and it depletes itself a few minutes into charging but thinks it is still charging.

Another issue is it claiming to use 'original charger'. This is a modern version of the infamous 'x inside the battery icon' charging error on older Samsung devices ~2010+. What it means is that it can't detect the proper charge rate and assumes you're using a third party charger and charges extremely slow. It will charge, but slowly. Also can mean the battery is beyond its rated lifetime/capacity. All my old Galaxy tabs no longer charge without the 'x' icon because their batteries are well over a decade old.

Samsung charger brick quality has also gone downhill. One of mine actually filled the kitchen with that acrid 'burning chinesium plastic' smell during charging. Worked fine but it tells of the quality. All it takes is one to drift enough to mess the charging rate enough to force slow charging for 'safety' reasons.
 
This darn thing made it to a whopping 77% last night, and now it's down to 73. I have not unplugged it. What am I going to do with this piece of junk? Should I get another charger? Should I fiddle around with its own? I'm getting REEALLY tired of this.
 
Have you got anything else you can charge it from? Even an old charger with a USB A-to-C cable (every USB-C phone I've used charges fine from those unless you insist on this "fast charging" malarkey, and it sounds like regular 5W charging would be a huge improvement right now). Or a battery pack? Just something to work out whether the problem is the charger without having to buy another one to find out.

I will be very annoyed if my s21 ever gives me that message about using Samsung chargers because of course it didn't come with one! ;)
 
That's right. They don't. I guess they're trying to go green, which is great, but sometimes the problem is not TOO MANY chargers...
 
That isn't my problem because I've been using USB-C laptops, phones, tablets for several years. So if my phone or tablet had come with a charger it would still be in the box: I use my previous phone's charger in my bedroom and laptop chargers any other time. My camera can also charge off USB-C, and once I replace my e-reader I'll be able to use one of my laptop chargers for everything apart from my toothbrush.

But yeah, if you just want to charge a phone and don't have a decent USB-C charger for other reasons then leaving it out is a pain. Of course if they reduced the price of the phone that would be OK, but how can you know that they don't just pocket the savings (and it will save them less than it costs you if you need it)? I'd prefer we don't make things we don't need (the western capitalist model and a finite planet are not compatible, and physics always has the last word in any disagreement), but as I don't just own a phone this model works for me.
 
pretty much all of Samsung's lower tier handsets have wonky USB-C ports. As far as the A-series goes, you're better off with an A52s or something much higher than A0X phones.

A (low/mid range) 0 (second digit is tier, 0 being loweast end, with 5 or higher being upper end) 2 (second generation, third digit means generation)

I have zero clue what 'S' stands for. Copying Apple marketing?
 
Maybe it's just S for Samsung. They used to have good phones with removable batteries and other features, even ir blasters. Now they aren't that great. Physics will indeed have the last word.
 
No, there is an S line, which is their flagship line. There's two versions of the A02, the A02 itself, and the A02s. The 's' variant is actually even lower spec.

I miss removable batteries and IR blasters, heck, features too. At one point in time the thought of removing features from Android was blasphemy. Today everyone just accepts it. That is why I cling to decade old phones and tablets and post this from a PC running Windows XP. I feel most 'modern' tech is a huge downgrade in comparison. When they release a device that actually feels like an upgrade I'll change my mind. Until then, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
 
Amen to that...if my Galaxy 5 (?) hadn't stopped working, I would probably still be using it, just getting a new battery now and then. I just wish I could get a decent, rooted, CUSTOMIZED phone, and a separate camera, and a computer, maybe a jetpack while I'm at it. Meanwhile, at least this nuisance is up to 78 whoopdie do % (I plugged it up at 69% last night).
 
I still have my Galaxy S5. I never toss anything out. I also baby my stuff and don't abuse it. I treat it as if it were gold. My S5 is only in storage for two reasons. 1) the SD card reader is dead, and I need my music offline. 2) the battery is puffed up like a pillow and I'm too cheap to buy a replacement. But I can replace it.

One workaround to charge fully is to turn the phone off completely, and then plug it in. Somehow, for some reason, some background service crashes when charging with the power on, and it just stops charging even though it acts like it still is. Another workaround is to go to settings, to about phone, software, tap the build number until it says 'you're a developer!', then back out to the main settings, and then select 'developer options', then under 'usb cofiguration' change it from MTP to 'charge only' and the phone should charge normally. It worked for my A01, at least, even though like every other USB Type-C device, it always requires being plugged in twice before charging. I'm one of the detractors who thinks Type C is stupid, unnecessary and a solution in search of a problem. So the plug is reversible. Whoopy doo. So was the Lightning Cable. Why is Android copying all of Apple's bad ideas? Why are android fans complacent today? A decade ago those would be calls for war!

Still amazes me how little resistance was made when Google got rid of Nexus and made the Pixel, which at the time looked exactly like an iPhone, and with locked down software, and being a Verizon Exclusive when all the Nexii were unlocked. Then the fans never raised heck when they started removing features out of other OEMs like headphone jacks, expandable storage or removable batteries. Everyone suddenly just said 'this is the future!'. Well, it ain't a future I want to live in. I want variety, differences, and phones that are unique and don't all look alike. I want a skeuomorphic UI. I want sliding keyboards. Heck, I'd love to see a new Nokia N95. The future as seen from 2010 was far brighter than the one I'm seeing happening right now. Unless boring, bland, minimalist is considered the future.
 
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Old school.is good school. You know, it would almost be worth it to have some way to design a custom phone and have somebody else get paid to build it. This probably already exists for the wealthy. I mean for the rest of us. Anyway, I tried shutting down the thing overnight but it didn't help, just 67%. This morning I set usb to charge only. I'll let you know.
 
I finally gave in and got a charger for it. The cord for some reason doesn't do any good, but the brick works with the old cord just fine. Last night it was down to 15. I guess I'm "luxky" that it made it to 21% overnight, switched off entirely. Now it's down to 17 and supposedly charging. I almost want to give up on this piece of junk, but I've got too much invested in it. By the way, "charge only" under dev ops seems to work only if the phone is connected to something else. What should I set it to in case this pos gives out entirely and I can miraculously hook it up to a oomputer?
 
That option isn't working anymore for my A01 either. It charges 8% at best, then starts draining while on charge (but it says 'cable charging' on the screen like it's doing what it's supposed to so it's not a faulty type C port)

It's been a long time since I 'fixed' the issue last. I was using that phone for days charging fine, but I do notice when it stops charging you hear two 'badoop!' noises that it makes when you plug the cable in. Right now the A01 I have only charges with the power off. I haven't re-pinpointed the cause. Also tried multiple power bricks, some 2A, some fast charge (won't do nothing at all with those, doesn't even know it's plugged in) some 1.55A, some 1A, some .7A. None charge with power on, or charge so many percent and stop and drain. I'm still convinced it's a type C issue. I have NEVER had issues with Micro USB chargers, and I have a few other type C devices that also have charging issues (such as my MacBook Pro--you have to plug it in twice in order for it to start charging)

It's either a super-sensitive port or there's some kernel level service that crashes and stops charging when it does (hence the second 'you're phone is plugged in alert' sound.)
 
This morning it actually made it up to 24. I made the "mistake" of taking it off the charger and though I plugged it up at 5%, it shut itself off when it reached 1, of course. Before it was too late (?) I set it to debug only (dev ops). I hope that was the right thing though of course my chances of scoring a computer and MAYBE being able to fix it are practically nil. The only reason I can type this now is because I'm using that Stylus.
 
I ended up replacing the A01 with a A13 5G. I was finally forced to upgrade since while my SII could text, it couldn't make phone calls anymore. So I started using the A01 until it couldn't charge anymore, and then got an A13 5G. I am not sure if it's real or fake 5G (it shows '5G' up top) but it has fast charge support and seems to operate with all my type C cables.

Wish I got it before I spent $700 on the Galaxy S20 FE a year ago. The A Series is where I'm happiest. Hey, I got a headphone jack! Also a Galaxy Watch 4.
 
This morning the A02s just shakes. At least it WAS firing up before it shut down, but not any more. I wouldn't care except there are things stored on it that I want. What the heck do I do now?
 
That's why all my data is on an SD card. Not only does it save tons of time if I change phones, (over the many hours to re-download all the MP3s I own from Amazon, all 3K of 'em), it also means my data isn't lost should the phone break or be stolen. Another reason I hate the idea of modern Androids losing external storage options much like losing headphone jacks.

People think I'm so behind the times but I'll be the one who can still listen to his music post-apocalypse when the Internet might not be available. That SD card is filled to the brim with music, photos, APKs of my most common apps, all saved over time since my first Android in 2009 (Coby Kyros tablet)
 
I try to save most of my stuff via sd too. For some reason I can't always fit everything in there, though. I don't mean just lack of space. I think some phones are inferior to others in their ability to save to sd. Now I guess I just have to wait until I have computer access or hell freezes over to get out anything that's still stuck in the phone itself...
 
How do I charge this POS? It has maybe 1%, if that. The Stylus is acting up, too. Things such as app launcher and camera keep crashing. I may be able to have a single app at a time. I know it's overstuffed but if I could send things to the 512 gb sd card it would probably be ok. I can save photos and videos but nothing else, and that's only because of camera settings. I don't know why the dumb thing seems to think that it's that fake Vanja. The SD card hasn't been attached to that in a while. The A02s is less than 70% full, and the same with its sd.
 
The Stylus does not shut off either. I think it might be at least partly because of the concave power button that should be convex. Is there any way to fix that?
 
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