Android 15 is preparing to tweak the threshold that determines whether a charger is seen as fast, from 7.5W to a more reasonable 20W.

TL;DR

  • Android 15 is preparing to tweak the threshold that determines whether a charger is seen as fast, from a measly 7.5W to a more reasonable 20W.
  • The operating system has long considered any charging speeds of at least 7.5W to be fast, which is far, far below what actual fast chargers can deliver nowadays.
  • The change isn’t live yet in the latest Android 15 beta, though, so chargers that deliver 7.5W of power will still be seen as fast on Pixels.
  • jet@hackertalks.comEnglish
    942·
    6 months ago

    Why not just show the charging W on the screen instead of ‘fast’.

    • You999@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      502·
      6 months ago

      Because the less tech savvy people will be confused when the battery starts getting full and charging speed tapers off which will lead to complaints about their 20w charger only providing 3w of power.

    • limerod@reddthat.comOPMEnglish
      291·
      6 months ago

      Android is catering to the general public. The average user would easily understand fast, slow and normal. 20w, 68w, 5w not so much. But, I agree not having to use apps or 3rd party cables just to see the charging watts would be great. Even a Dev flag to enable the feature would be cool.

      • veroxii@aussie.zoneEnglish
        244·
        6 months ago

        That’s ridiculous. People have been buying light bulbs based on Watts for around a century and understand that higher W means brighter and more power.

      • dvoraqs@lemmy.worldEnglish
        4·
        6 months ago

        Fast, normal, and slow are not clear either, I think. We see here that the “fast” term needs to evolve because it probably feels pretty slow now. Wattages are pretty clear reference points when users come to understand what they mean, especially over time.

        • rbesfe@lemmy.caEnglish
          3·
          6 months ago

          Expecting the average user to understand numbers is a high expectation

      • eyeon@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        6 months ago

        You could just show it as a percentage of max its trying to draw be default and show actual watts under a developer toggle

    • hash@lemmy.worldEnglish
      15·
      6 months ago

      Seriously. This thought occurred to me the other day when I plugged my power bank into a car’s charging port to check the wattage and wondered “why the fuck can’t my phone just do this by default?” Do we actually not trust people to understand higher number = faster?

        • SeekPie@lemm.eeEnglish
          6·
          6 months ago

          I think they meant they plugged the battery bank into the car’s phone charger?

            • SeekPie@lemm.eeEnglish
              8·
              6 months ago

              Maybe they have a wattage reader on their charger/power bank/car?

            • eyeon@lemmy.worldEnglish
              1·
              6 months ago

              I assume they meant check the wattage of the car charger output. some powerbanks have displays now and can show you it’s input or output.

              … All phones also have displays and should show you the same thing but don’t.

  • kora@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    1·
    6 months ago

    I’m curious as to what effect this might have on people who will now be charging at “slow” speeds, is all it going to do is trigger different Power saver settings?