After Mobile World Congress took place last week in Barcelona, everyone is looking forward to Quick Charge 3.0. Which was a feature in just about every flagship – considering they all feature Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820 processor, that should be no surprise. Qualcomm actually announced Quick Charge 3.0 last fall, and it’s been available in the HTC One A9 with the Snapdragon 617, ever since. Quick Charge 3.0 will charge devices about 75% faster than Quick Charge 2.0, which already charged them almost twice as fast as conventional charging. Qualcomm says that you can get a charge from 0 to 80% in about 35 minutes. We’ve seen a number of Quick Charge 3.0 products come out in recent months, and Tronsmart has been one of the leaders in producing these Quick Charge 3.0 products including this small car charger that we’re taking a look at today. This small car charger is a single port, Quick Charge 3.0 car charger that can charge your new Galaxy S7, LG G5 or even the Sony Xperia X Performance (and the already available HTC One A9) at a much faster speed. Something that is always great to have in the car, these days as we are always looking to top off the battery in our smartphones while we’re driving somewhere.
This car charger is pretty small, especially compared to the others that Tronsmart has and sells. Of course, it does have just one port, while the others do feature more than one. We’re looking at 3A of output here with this car charger – now that is only for Quick Charge 3.0 devices. Those without Quick Charge 3.0, like the Nexus 6P and Nexus 5X will see charging speeds of around 2.4A. The great thing about Quick Charge 3.0 is that it is also compatible with Quick Charge 2.0, Quick Charge 1.0 and conventional charging. So no matter what device you have, you can charge it without any issues. We used it to charge up our Nexus 6P in the car, and we found charging times pretty similar to a wall outlet. It could charge up the Nexus 6P from 0 to 100% in a little under 2 hours. Keep in mind that this is a USB Type-A car charger, so to use this with your Nexus 6P or Nexus 5X, you will need to use your USB Type-A to Type-C cable. Not a big deal – especially for me since I keep one in the car for Android Auto – but definitely worth pointing out.
Car chargers are normally kept plugged into the outlet in the car, so the way the charger looks doesn’t matter to many people. But for those that do care about it, this is a black car charger with glossy sides and a matte top. It does pick up fingerprints, although you likely won’t see it, because again it’ll be plugged into the outlet in the car the majority of the time. The top is a matte finish, which makes it look nice, and there is also a small Quick Charge 3.0 logo there reminding you that this is indeed a Quick Charge 3.0 charger. Now the top of the charger sits at a slight angle. This is to make it easier to plug in your USB cable to the charger. As some cars have AC outlets at different angles, and can make it a bit difficult to plug in. And the fact that AC outlets are universal, you can turn the charger to be angled at the exact position you’d like for it to be angled at.
Lately, everyone’s been worried about safety when it comes to chargers. Especially chargers that output more and more power. It’s understandable. You don’t want to be driving down the freeway and look over to see your phone catching on fire from the charger. However that is highly unlikely. Also Tronsmart has a safety guarantee with this charger. They have multiple safeguards built-in which will full protect the charger and your phone from over-current, overcharging and overheating. Meaning that you’ll have fast charging, but safe charging. Additionally, if anything happens to this car charger from Tronsmart, they offer an 18-month worry-free warranty. So you can get it replaced for free. Giving everyone a great peace of mind. Now we’ve been using this car charger in our car for about a week and a half now. We haven’t had any issues with it overheating or overcharging our Nexus 6P. It also hasn’t made the Nexus 6P hot at all (unless of course I’m using it while it’s charging, that’s expected to make it nice and warm). Tronsmart does recommend that you use the cable that came with your smartphone with this charger. That’s just to be sure you’re not using a cheap knockoff that could cause some issues. Certified third-party cables will work well, including their own.
Quick Charge 3.0 is the future, in fact many would argue it’s the present. Any device sporting the Qualcomm Snapdragon 430, 617, 618, 620 or 820 will have the hardware for Quick Charge 3.0. Which will be the majority of devices announced this year (not to mention the majority of them announced in Barcelona last week). Making this car charger future-proof, at least for a little while. It’s only a single-port car charger, now it would be nice to have an additional port in this one. But Tronsmart does have other models that do, including one that has a USB Type-A and a Type-C port. It is a great car charger, and a great choice for anyone buying a Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 Edge, LG G5 or even the Sony Xperia X Performance as all of these smartphones will be compatible with Quick Charge 3.0. We had no issues with this car charger whatsoever, and it’s small enough so you can take it with you if you’re going out of town and want to use it in a rental car or something. Something else that’s worth pointing out is that it is also compatible with the Apple Macbook and the new Google Chromebook Pixel, as long as you have a USB Type-A to Type-C cable. Making it a great way to charge your laptop in the car and get some work done.
Tronsmart sells this car charger (model no: CC1T) for $14.99 right now over on Amazon. That does include Amazon Prime shipping, so you can get it next day for $3.99 or free two-day shipping. They do also sell a 2-port and a 4-port version coming in at $19.99 and $24.99 respectively.
Tronsmart Quick Charge 3.0 Car Charger
