Comments on: Alternate USB Chargers Will FRY YOUR PALM PRE

By: Sean

Sean — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 02:40:18 +0000

Last week I ordered two car chargers from ebay; sprint oem. They arrived and look identical to the Sprint pre car charger I bought from the sprint store. These two do NOT charge the pre. The model # on these is KPS200BMCU and it says “for use with micro-usb devices.”

The one that does work (directly from sprint) is model # KPS200BPRE / PVX8930 and says below that “for use with palm micro-usb devices.”

I also ordered some micro-usb cables from monoprice…hopefully they will charge the pre.

Sean

By: Rob Cartwright

Rob Cartwright — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 13:09:49 +0000

I wont say that it will fry your Palm, but if you leave it on there long enough it just might. I was using a wall charger with micro USB and at first it wasn’t working,t hen all of a sudden it started to charge. Then i tried to play with my phone and it was doing all sorts of strange things. I wasn’t able to flick my cards off the screen and the pre had like super powers. I could hit icons by hovering over the screen with my finger from a centemeter away. So i yanked that bitch outa there real quick. No more problems tho. I will be taking back that charger. I would not recommend using any other charger, b/c we do not know for sure what could happen.

On a side note, i did use blackberry storm USB charger for my phone. Worked like a charm w/o any problems. Alike, a friend used my pre’s USB charger for his storm. No issues either side. I would assume that these cables could work for either. But we do know what assuming does..

By: PreAmbler

PreAmbler — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 06:59:09 +0000

First of all, any compatible USB cable will work with the Pre, and if you connect the Pre to your PC or Mac, it will charge, so that’s a no-brainer. You can get these cables cheaply on ebay. I got two for $4.25 each including shipping from the USA. They have already arrived and been tested – 100% functional.

Furthermore, before seeing any of these warnings (and for sure there may be something to these!), I plugged a Plantronics 220 charger with the same USB connector directly into my Pre and it charged just fine. I didn’t compare charging times because I went to sleep and the Pre was fully charged in the AM. BTW using one of these USB cables between my PC and the Plantronics headset also charges the headset fine.

Perhaps these connections are getting more “universal” all the time – just beware. You never know.

By: Scott

Scott — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 01:29:58 +0000

I ordered a cheap alternative because I like many others need a charger by my bed and on my desk. For the tune of 3.25 I got one on ebay and it is the right connection to charge the phone, however if you have the screen on.. it registers all sorts of crazy random clicks on your screen and even placed a call after launching my contacts. I have used this charger for a few days and haven’t noticed any problems with the phone when you unplug it, but not sure the long term effects. That my friends is why you have full insurance

By: Joseph

Joseph — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 01:33:14 +0000

I’m using a non-Pre cable to charge – and no problem! The same cable will not sync, but I only will use it as a car charger (I have an AC adapter for my cigarette lighter and it has a USB head which is VERY cool). If it’s frying the phone, I haven’t noticed any ill-effects for the past three days. And guess what, my local Sprint store Manger GAVE the cord to me – literally gave it to me! He said he didn’t think it would work but perhaps I could use it for some other gadget; it, however, did work. I am starting to become a non-Sprint-hating person once again. (Never thought that would happen)!

By: PrepaidWirelessGuy

PrepaidWirelessGuy — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 22:42:12 +0000

I think this has to do with the Blackberry charger being non-standard. I’ve experienced that before where my BB charger wouldn’t charge a motorola phone.

By: Matt

Matt — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 18:02:45 +0000

I’ve tried a couple different chargers, and for the most part they just didn’t charge the phone. Or they started to charge it, and then stopped before long.

The oddest one was when I plugged in the USB cable that came with the phone into a generic car charger to USB adapter that my wife uses for her iPod, and the phone wouldn’t charge. They have something funky going on there.

By: Brian M

Brian M — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 01:16:53 +0000

Yeah, I’m using an offbrand charger (Rocketfish) and it works fine. It’s not even labeled for the Pre, but no problems!

By: Tlag

Tlag — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 18:30:51 +0000

I’m not having any problems with some non-Palm micro USB cables I bought from Monoprice (crazy low price). Sure, there might be some bad cables out there (or maybe a bad Pre) but I think it’s too early to claim that “Alternate USB Chargers Will FRY YOUR PALM PRE”… Sounds like someone’s just trying to sell some extra 1st party accessories at launch.

By: Pat

Pat — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 02:03:32 +0000

What a disappointment if true….Palm has a long history of changing the connector/charger on each generation of phones so we upgraders have to buy more stuff……really inconvenient for those of us who travel alot-more stuff to carry……the beauty of USB is one charger for all devices…..the rest of the mobile phone industry has recently agreed to support this specification, one connector, one voltage….why can’t Palm do this?