Charger and power cable are both always sold in the same package with any smartphone. Moreover, in almost every home there surely is a computer – desktop or laptop. For many users it may seem needless to have a power source as it is quite easy to charge a mobile phone just through a USB port in a computer. This is true, and you can charge your smartphone from any computer, but actually this is not recommended. In this article we will try to explain in detail why it is better to charge a mobile device from a standard electric socket through a regular mobile charger.
Table of contents:
1. Advantages of charging your smartphone from a PC
2. Why is it better not to charge your smartphone from a PC
Advantages of charging your smartphone from a PC
The main advantage of charging a smartphone from a computer is convenience. Those users who constantly work at their computers have a convenient access to USB ports. While the computer is running, you can easily charge your smartphone.
Please note
Not all computers allow you to charge your smartphone when they are turned off. But on some models of desktop motherboards and laptops, power is still supplied to one or several USB ports even when computer itself is turned off.
The second advantage is the ability to work at your computer with the phone files right away while simultaneously charging. Despite the fact that now most of the movies, music, books and other content are viewed from a smartphones online through various services, there are still users who may find it more convenient to download their favorite music directly from a computer into the phone’s memory. For example, it makes sense if the smartphone is often used without the Internet, when you need to stream music from it.
The third advantage that is often stated by those who believe it’s quite safe to charge smartphones from a computer is the reduction of electricity consumption. They proceed from the fact that once the computer is turned on and electricity is spent on it anyway, it can be used as a power source to charge the smartphone. Respectively one doesn’t have to spend electricity while operating the power source connected to a standard electric socket. The logic of such users is understandable, but it is worth saying that the power consumption of a smartphone’s charge is so small that from an economic point of view it makes almost no sense.
Why is it better not to charge your smartphone from a PC
Those experts, who don’t support the idea of charging a smartphone using computer’s USB ports, cite a possible damage to the battery as their main argument. The fact is that most often users connect USB hubs to their computers, and already from those hubs smartphones are being charged. Some people charge their devices from the USB-connectors on the PC case. It is important to know that the current of such connectors (that includes USB hubs as well) is not capable of providing sufficient voltage for a smooth, but fast charging. Because of this, it will take longer to charge the smartphone from such connectors than if it was charged directly from the USB port of the motherboard or from a power source plugged into a power outlet.
Please note
This problem is particularly relevant for USB 2.0 and lower. Charging speed from USB 3.0 is higher, but it still does not reach the charge from the electric socket, especially if it is equipped with fast charging technology.
In addition, a lower charge current negatively affects the smartphone battery. Accordingly, if you constantly charge your mobile phone from a laptop, over time it will not be able to hold the charge for more or less long time.
We should not forget about another danger of connecting a smartphone to a computer – viruses. A small number of users really care about the anti-virus security of their smartphones, whereas they have long been the targets of attacks from malicious cybercriminals. Viruses for smartphones can be very different: miners (resource-consuming programs), trojans (capable of stealing personal data), pests (capable of turning a smartphone into a completely unresponsive device), and so on. Viruses may easily penetrate your smartphone, if you regularly connect it to your computer via USB, even if you do not send files to it.
Important note: It is especially dangerous to charge smartphones from other people’s computers and laptops, since you cannot be sure that these devices are not infected with viruses.
