Thoughts On The Nokia CA-100 USB Charger
Several weeks ago, I alerted you guys to the deal of a Nokia USB charger for $6, shipped, via DealExtreme. I sent off for mine and received it roughly a week and a half later, which isn’t bad, considering the price. Although mine turned out to be fake, Mark over at TheNokiaBlog.com got his hands on a real one and has put some thoughts together.
I’ve not actually had a reason/chance to use mine extensively yet, but it’s got a permanent place in my gadget bag. I know that it works, though it’s very touchy and will easily give you the odd ‘not charging’ message. Mark has been using his continuously, as he doesn’t have broadband setup in his new apartment yet, but he’s also covered quite a few other uses that I’m sure I’ll be using mine for eventually.
Definitely head over to TheNokiaBlog.com to check out his full review, and you can purchase the legit version from WirelessGround for $40, or you can take your chances with the DealExtreme version for $6.
I got one and its great.. am a oollege kid and have my laptop at all times.. very useful to charge my n80.. bout time i get a n96..
I got the one you recommended. Works well so far. Worth all $6.
Nice theme on the phone in the picture… May I enquire what might be the name of that theme?? And where I might be able to acquire it?
Also very nice charger apparently, I´ll buy one as soon as I see it somewhere. (Using a lot of laptop)
The CA-100 USB charger works better than my Swiss travel product charger cable. With cigarette lighter broken in my previous car, I charged my phone through the USB-connector of the car radio while navigating. The CA-100 USB where as the Swiss travel product charger cable only worked intermittently.
Both devices do a bit of voltage stepping (5V->5.7 V) to adjust charging voltage to proper levels. The CA-100 seems to provide a more constant voltage.
Also troubles with the odd not charging message could on occasion to be caused by a too low usb-voltage setting of the connecting USB-port (adjust BIOS in PC i.e.).
Yeah, the “Not charging” message will be more noticeable the lower charge is in the battery when you connect it.
The thing is, you’ll never get enough out of USB for a full charge from empty no matter what electrickery you put into the cable - the laws of physics won’t allow you to magically increase it. A dual headed USB cable so you can power from 2 USB ports simultaneously is the only other way you could do it, but I’ve never seen this for a Nokia phone just for a couple of my 2.5″ USB hard drives.
thanks to nokia we can also charge our bluetooth headsets. they did something right the first time.
Im also very happy with mine … Well, it takes quite a litte longer than via AC/DC …
You can buy it directly from Nokia’s online store for around £9.00 in UK. I bought mine a little over six months ago and it has been a life saver more than a dozen times.
I am sure you would be able to do the same at Nokia’s other international online stores.
“The thing is, you’ll never get enough out of USB for a full charge from empty no matter what electrickery you put into the cable - the laws of physics won’t allow you to magically increase it.”
Google “charge pump”…
Mar 19th, 2008 at 5:25 am
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