Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by jakub_g 2146 days ago
(Not using wireless charging either)

One advantage is that it does not destroy the USB port. Constant plugging and unplugging can really wear some ports after 1-2 years, depending on manufacturing quality. To the point that it won't charge anymore. (Hopefully will be less of an issue with USB-C which seems better designed than microUSB). Plus the convenience.

3 comments

A cheap workaround for me is to use magnetic USB connectors & cables. They are small enough to have a connector permanently attached to most my devices and I have several matching cables on my desk, in the car etc.

I found about this option on a motorcycle forum where a specific helmet headset was quite sensible to breaking the micro USB charging port. I bought a couple of cables and several micro-SUB connectors, then I bought a handful of USB-C ones and a few more cables and now everything is by default using magnetic connections.

To counter that though, it's not nearly as efficient and the additional heat definitely puts more stress on the battery possibly lowering it's lifespan.
My hunch is that you're probably correct about the heat effects of wireless charging on battery lifespan to some degree, but I'd love to see more emperical studies on the topic. Especially comparing it to usage of wired quick charge solutions that tend to result in much higher spikes in temperature than wireless charging, but over a shorter timespan. It's not obvious to me that one would be more harmful to battery lifespan than the other.

Newer wireless chargers also usually have some form of active heat management (i.e. fans), and anecdotally my phone only ever gets lukewarm to the touch, even with a somewhat bulky case on it.

At the end of the day though, I personally wouldn't mind having to upgrade my phone slightly faster than I would otherwise in order to enjoy the convenience offered by wireless charging, but definitely speaking from a position of privilege here.

Seems like an expensive way to workaround a weak port