Database Develop

Friend purchasing nook for me. Should I get anything else?

I have a friend who is visting the US (I'm from Canada) and I asked him to pick me up a nook. Not finding clear info in some of the reviews, mainly concerned about charging.
This charges over usb when hooked up to your computer right? Just want to make sure it doesn't use a proprietary cable for charging. I read on the ipad side, that older computers don't give out enough power to charge over usb, is that an issue with the nook?
What adapters/cables does it come with exactly? And is it just a standard mini-sub for the charging?
Also, this has a headset jack correct? I've read no bluetooth, I guess there's no way to get a mic working on this then.

Micro USB, will charge VERY slowly using a computer. Includes a 2amp wall socket and special cable to quick charge (still micro usb, just more pins). Has a headset port but does not come with a headset.

I've only had a few mobile devices. I read the ipad can charge over usb if the mobo supports giving out that extra juice. Some mobo's have a new firmware update to enable this.
The connector is micro-usb but just more pins. Hmm. so if the cable breaks or I misplace it no other micro-usb will charge it?
edit: i read a little more and found that it's 30 pin proprietary cable to speed up charging. I also read the galaxy tab does something similar.
Does anyone know if they use the same pin configuration? probably not, but I can get tab usb cables here.

I know you didn't ask for it but I'll tell you anyway
In case you are worrying about registering your device (mandatory at initial setup).
I'm NOT in the US and it worked fine.

Good to know. Thanks.
But I'm more concerned about charging it and relying solely on their cables.
I read the ipad can trickle charge on newer computers but some wouldn't provide enough power. Asus et al have released utilities to increase the power to the usb ports.
I can't post the links but endgadget has an article about it providing links to those utilites. They just talk of apple devices but does this work with the nook?

It comes with a charger for US-type sockets and only if you charge your nook with this (and yes, it is proprietary ) it'll charge quickly. It does seem to charge when you connect it to a standard PC USB port but at an extremely low rate.
On the device Micro-USB (not Mini) is used.

You say it does seem to, do you mean from personal experience? How slow? It sounds like that if you do own one it was so slow you didn't let it finish.
Like if it's 8hrs overnight, I can live with that, but I want to confirm that there is a plan b and not solely rely on their cables.
And as I mentioned asus and others released utils to give more power output to the usb (although these seem like their were only created for ipads). Wondering if those utils speed things up.
for ex, google asus ai charger to see what I mean.

I received my nook Color a mere few hours ago so I can't tell you a lot about its charging behavior It "seems" to load slower via standard USB... if you want to know about the details check one of the large threads on the NOOK and its rooting. I remember reading some information about the USB connector and its peculiarities there.

Ah you just got it. I see.
I found this on the root thread:
'
"There are 12 pins coming off the connector. It looks like there are no pins for the standard micro USB portion, only the extended 12 pins. 2 pins are used to bring in +5V, 2 pins are for signal ground providing a hefty circuit for the 2A charging. USB takes up two pins, and as far as I can tell 2 more are for each LED via current limiting resistors. Two more pins go to discretes that I haven't identified, and two more pins are unconnected. I'll take my scope to them when I have some time."
Not sure what he means when he says no pins for the standard micro portion...

Maybe the plug doesn't have standard USB pins, but the NOOK itself does have standard USB pins as well as the proprietary ones. Because I have trouble inserting the original B&N plug, I went out earlier today and bought a standard Micro USB cable...
I connected it to the nook and it said "not charging", so I went out to do some shopping (10-20 minutes max) and left it at 89%... when I came back it was at 93 %.
So it DOES in fact seem to charge albeit slowly.

Thanks. It's weird, lots of comments of its own cable not fitting properly.
As long as it charges with a normal cable I'm good.

I guess it is charging... however there is a slight chance, that it's NOT charging and the battery charge display is lying (de-calibrated). I don't think so, but I'll only know for sure after a few more days of using only the standard USB charger cable.

[Q] Faster USB Charging?

Just reading up on USB chargers, and I found somewhere in a thread here about phones defaulting to smaller ma when charging via USB if the connector didn't have the data pins shorted or something.
So, I was wondering a couple of things:
1) If the default charger supplies 700ma, do you think that is the most the Nexus S can draw? Does anyone have one of these shorted USB chargers? Does it charge the NS faster?
2) If it does charge faster, how hard would it be to do something similar to shorting the data connections? I have a generic AC-USB cable which I currently use for my iPod touch.
3) Is there a way to check if it is already shorted out? The USB charging port looks similar to ones on my computer, but I'm not sure what to look for.
Thanks for any help! Maybe if we can sort out this stuff, we can provide a solution for those looking for faster charging!

it does work safely, i'm using a 1000 mAh charger at home, and a 2000 mAh charger in the car both are from aftermarket eBay/DealExtreme charges.
no overheating
and charges faster than stock

AllGamer said:
it does work safely, i'm using a 1000 mAh charger at home, and a 2000 mAh charger in the car both are from aftermarket eBay/DealExtreme charges.
no overheating
and charges faster than stock
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok thankyou for that AllGamer, I'll think of possible ways I could mod the charger now

The only reason it is slow is because of the USB charging brick instead of just a charger.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App

I know it's a wrong thread, but anyone has any pointers as to how to short a regular USB cable to make the phone think it's a power adapter cable?

XBOHDPuKC said:
I know it's a wrong thread, but anyone has any pointers as to how to short a regular USB cable to make the phone think it's a power adapter cable?
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Nah it's not the wrong thread that was one of my questions! I'm not sure exactly where you would do it, but maybe if you skinned the wire, then cut the data lines it would work?
Not sure which end you would do it on however, but that may not matter. Any other ideas?

The two center pins in the USB carry the data. If you pull them out, the cable won't be able to connect to the computer.
Sent from my Nexus S

Wow - you don't need to do this and you wouldn't want to in a computer anyway.
The USB specification says that 500ma (@ 5v) of current should be available from a computer's USB port. Of course, the actual wires can carry much more than this, so manufacturers can tell their phones to takes as much current as is offered.
Almost all computers limit their USB power output accordingly - this is why some opld usb-powered external hard drives needed 2 USB plugs to get enough power. The only computers that I am SURE emit significantly more than 500ma on their USB ports are first and second generation MacBook Airs.
Some phones, the N1 and every other HTC specifically, look for a specially shorted cable to "know if they are plugged into the wall adaptor" as opposed to a computer USB port. In reality, this is just a way to make you specifically buy HTC chargers as opposed to third-party off-brands, because plugging one of these phones into an off brand charger will limit the current draw to about 450ma.
If you want to know if your Android phone thinks that it is in "USB" mode or in "AC" mode, just plug the phone in, open the dialer, enter *#*#4636#*#* and then select battery info. If your phone is one that cares (not all do), it will say USB if it thinks it should be in USB charging mode, or AC if it thinks it should be in AC charging mode.
I would not try shorting out the middle pins in a cable and then plugging it into the computer. First, most will probably just disable the USB port completely, shutting off even power you could draw. Second, if it doesn't shut down, you run the risk that a badly-built USB port might not properly limit the current to 500ma - and since they are not designed to furnish more current than that, you might melt something expensive or start a fire. third, if you make a mistake, you risk shorting out either your phone or your computer, which might ruin your day, week or month, depending on your financial means to replace the system that cooks itself.
I would just run out to your local store, pay 15 bucks for a 2A third-party usb charger brick, and go to town. That will work perfectly - this is what I use, and it probably cuts the charge time by 30-40%. Obviously, this indicates that the NS is not capable of drawing a full 2A - I have not put a meter on it, but I would bet that it limits itself to somewhere just under an amp in.

I have recently bought both a 2A wall charger and car charger and my phone does not recognise either of these as anything more than a 500mA source.
Is it really just a case of opening the car charger up and shorting out pins 2 & 3? they are currently not connected to anything in the charger.

If it's indeed a matter of shorting the data lines, then I think you can skin the wire as suggested by others, but then cut the data lines, short the end that leads to the phone, leave the end to the computer open. I think it's the phone that tries to determine whether the data lines are shorted.
Edit: Can someone measure the continuity between the data pins with the stock charger? I wonder if they are shorted. I'm still waiting for my Nexus S to arrive, so can't test it.

Yup, the data lines in the stock Nexus S charger ARE shorted.
I just modified a cheap 1A car charger by popping it open, soldering the 2 data lines together and putting it back.
The report on the Nexus S before I did this (*#*#4636#*#*) said "USB", and afterwards it now says "AC".
I will report back after I make a road trip if this improves the GPS + Pandora + Screen in car situation. I suspect it will.
----------------
Yup, the car charger seemed to actually maintain and increase the battery this time. Seems good.

The NS supports chargers output to a max of 1000mA, as it says on the back of it, where the battery resides.

[Q] difference between usb power and normal power supply

Hi!
I am building a special car charger for my galaxy s.
I put the 5V to MicroUSB VCC and also GND...
The phone is charging.
Here the problem:
I'm using tasker app to detect many phone states and automatically switch some features when pluging in some devices. I noticed that the normal galaxy s charger is detected as normal power supply. My method with just VCC=5V makes the phone think that there is a usb cable on it. So it says: Charging with USB power.
I started thinking about how the normal power supply tells the phone that it is no USB. First I thought of the 5th pin (pin 4: ID) on the micro USB connector. Later I noticed that it seems that the normal charger does not has this pin. So it should be open circuit like I have on my charger...
Does anybody know what the normal charger does to tell the phone it is a normal charger?
Additional story:
I found another usb device with micro usb which is charging with the normal charger only! With normal usb cable it is not possible to charge it. Right now I can't charge this device with my car adaptor.

What sets the charging type is the resistance between the data pins. USB charging will be limited to about 500mA, a plain charger can deliver more current, thus reducing charge time. Somewhere on XDA resistor values are listed for various modes but this site has a really bad search engine.

rogem_kk said:
... but this site has a really bad search engine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you are right!
normally nobody dares to say something bad about this site. Don't get me wrong... The information and the community is awesome but the search engine is awful.

But google works still OK
Refer to the thread: Click and look for post 60 to start from there are some interesting conclusions, e.g. in post 71 as well...

[Q] Droid 4 charging standards

I'm trying to make a fast charging cable for use in the car. The current charger I use seems to work fine, but the coiled cable annoys me. When I use a standard USB cable the charging reverts to slow mode which means the GPS and screen drain the battery faster than the cable can charge it.
The charging cable that works has a resistor between ground and the unused pin 4, but what I want to know, is this the only USB charging standard that the Droid4 supports, for example does it support the one where you put a resistor between the two data pins, or the one where you just join the data pins together?
If it supports either of those, then this project just got a lot easier as I can just chop the Type A connector off my USB cable and do all the work without having to solder a Micro USB connector.

Could you de-solder the coiled cord and solder in a micro USB cord or even a female USB cord for removal of OEM usb... or is that what you mean in the last paragraph... If you want I could give it a try as I have three rapid car chargers and several USB cables...

Lum_UK said:
I'm trying to make a fast charging cable for use in the car. The current charger I use seems to work fine, but the coiled cable annoys me. When I use a standard USB cable the charging reverts to slow mode which means the GPS and screen drain the battery faster than the cable can charge it.
The charging cable that works has a resistor between ground and the unused pin 4, but what I want to know, is this the only USB charging standard that the Droid4 supports, for example does it support the one where you put a resistor between the two data pins, or the one where you just join the data pins together?
If it supports either of those, then this project just got a lot easier as I can just chop the Type A connector off my USB cable and do all the work without having to solder a Micro USB connector.
Click to expand...
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I'm not sure if this has anything to do with your question but try an ipad or tablet charger (2.1 Amp) which i use on my droid 4 and charges it fast.
Regular chargers use 0.7 to 1.0 Amp. I know tablet chargers are bulky but they tend to charge your device faster.
Also maybe this thread will work for you: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1984838

I'm using a 2amp car charger with a USB socket at the moment and I assure you it isn't charging at that speed. The other charger with the coiled cord does charge at the higher speed, but it also has the odd wiring.
That thread is interesting, is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about, but I'm looking for confirmation that it will actually work with the Droid 4 before I start hacking up cables. The Droid 4 seems to be fussy about which chargers it will work with, my 2amp charger worked fine with the HTC Desire Z, for example.
Another part of my reason for doing this is I want to use the right-angled USB plug that is on my USB lead, but that Micro USB connector is sealed and unmodifiable.

Lum_UK said:
I'm using a 2amp car charger with a USB socket at the moment and I assure you it isn't charging at that speed. The other charger with the coiled cord does charge at the higher speed, but it also has the odd wiring.
That thread is interesting, is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about, but I'm looking for confirmation that it will actually work with the Droid 4 before I start hacking up cables. The Droid 4 seems to be fussy about which chargers it will work with, my 2amp charger worked fine with the HTC Desire Z, for example.
Another part of my reason for doing this is I want to use the right-angled USB plug that is on my USB lead, but that Micro USB connector is sealed and unmodifiable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure but there is a radio called ihome ic50 (Google it) i own it and it has a special switch which the manual says if the device has a proprietary charging protocol flip the switch. I made a quick test and it charges in both ways. I'm pretty sure your idea will work as long you know what you are doing. BTW the ihome ic50 is pretty cool for any android device.

Question S21 ultra - USB card readers not working

I think it came with android 12, the card reader is not recognized when plugged in. I have tried 3 of them. They used to work with my S21 Ultra. When I plug them in to my old P30 Pro, they work fine.
Also, I can't connect to my PC as I used to, now the only way is to use DEX.
USB debugging is on.
Any ideas folks?

You say it won't connect to your PC. I assume that means wired USB connection? And when you refer to Dex, I presume you mean you're using is wireless rather than wired?
Assuming those things, it sounds like you have having issues with USB data lines and the common denominator here is your device. My guess is a faulty USB socket or worse, damage to the board itself.
You don't mention charging issues but that would still work if the power lines are OK. Does the phone fast charge? That uses the data lines to provide extra power. If it doesn't then there is definitely a problem with them.
I would suggest this is a hardware fault and would need opening up and servicing or a replacement board. I cant help you with that though. Sorry.

No problems here with cardreaders or connection with PC or monitor with wired Dex connection (SM-G998B on G998BXXU4CVC2).
Suggest you first check your charging port for dust or debris. Clean with compressed (dry) air or gently with toothpick.

no problem with charging......wall socket or in the car.
I don't use fast charging

My little thumb drive still works...just plugged it in. As suggested, blow some compressed air in the USB port.

qwerty1q said:
no problem with charging......wall socket or in the car.
I don't use fast charging
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Click to collapse
If the power lines are unaffected then your phone will still charge. Fast charging works by utilising the data lines to increase the power provided. Turn on fast charging (you can switch it off after) and plug your phone in to a wall socket. Does it fast charge? If not then there is definitely an issue with the data lines. This then confirms why connected USB devices don't work. As others have suggested, clean the port and see if it works. If it still doesn't work then it will need to go for repair. Virtually all Samsungs have a secondary board which holds the USB port and bottom speaker. This can be replaced.