Specool QC2.0 4 Port Car Charger
A quick charging car charger makes plugging in during a 15-min drive so much more useful. It’s a huge difference to go from 10-40% battery life, to last you through the next meeting you are headed to until you are back in the car again.
Qualcomm Quick charge chargers work with the phone to charge at a higher voltage, therefore more power flows to the phone, at up to 4x faster rates, before slowing down once it starts to reach its capacity, typically around the 70% mark.
I was looking at a few brands, Aukey from Aliexpress or an Anker or Tronsmart from Amazon. These are rather reliable brands. But shipping would be slow, and prices weren’t that cheap either. Specool apparently is Qualcomm first Singapore partner for Quick Charge, and they bring in a whole range of accessories from wall chargers to 4 port car chargers. It’s supposed to come with 18 month warranty as well.
It comes in Silver, Gold, Black, and sells for $9.90 on Qoo10
You can use your cart coupons and QooPoints to bring it even lower. I think I paid $6.90 or so and self collected at the shop near Paya Lebar. But parking cost me $2, so you might want to time the collection in the day where it’s cheaper.
No cables are provided. I realised it’s important to use the right cable for Quick Charge compatibility. Some of my cheap microUSB wires didn’t work. A charge only cable, typically those provided with power banks won’t work, as QC2.0 uses the data pins.
But with the right cable, I was able to fast charge on the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, S7, and the Asus Zenfone 2. All indicated fast charge or equivalent, and charging time to full range from 40 min to an hour. The phones do get hotter than normal but it hasn’t given me any problems yet. Qualcomm acknowledged that devices would be hotter, but claims it’s a non-issue as it’s incorporated into the design. QC2.0 is also compatible with Samsung Fast Charge and Asus Zenfone BoostMaster technology.
I wouldn’t typically recommend or plonk for the cheaper, relatively unknown power adapters, but I was convinced by the QC2.0 certification. Qualcomm enforces that quick charge branding is only possible with a UL-certification, which gives me a little more assurance into the quality of the device.
Qualcomm — that’s its Quick Charge 2.0 standard we’re talking about here — says that’s a non-issue and, so we’re trusting them a good bit in these early stages to be right about that.
