Droid X - USB charging problems?

[datanetri]

Is anyone aware of USB charging issues with the droid X?

i'm an IT consultant, one of my customers recently got a droid X.

the battery died on them when on the road and the phone would not turn itself on.

when connected directly to a USB port on a PC or a generic USB car charger (where it provides a usb port to plug your typical data cable in to), it did not show the graphic that the phone was charging, nor would it power up. 

This was a big issue, when on the road they need to be able to plug it in to a usb port in their car or a computer and be able to turn it on and talk while it's charging.

I tested with other phones (samsung galaxy s, blackberry storm) and it was able to charge fine off both this PC and charger so i know it's not the port that's the issue.

When plugging it in to a wall outlet, it showed the graphic that the battery was at 0%, then it would power up.

i let it charge for awhile and after that i was able to transfer it over to a PC and it would stay up and it would be charging.

Why wouldn't it just charge and power up when originally plugged in to a car charger or a computer's USB port?

For other phones on the market i've been able to just plug in to the computers' usb port and it allows you to turn it on and it charges, etc. 

It almost seems that the Droid X really requires more power than a usb port provides.

thanks.

[PFM]

Not sure about the generic car charger but as you discovered, when the Droid X is completley dead it seems you must use the wall charger. A search will show this is a known "issue".

[datanetri]

Thank you.

That's interesting, neither verizon support or motorola would admit it was a known problem.

I will be having them return it, that's completely ridiculous that they'd even sell a phone where you need to plug it in to a wall if it dies, especially for sales people who are on the road all day long. 

[Wildman]

The Droid X will not recover from a full battery drain by plugging it into the usb of a pc do to the lack of voltage from the usb interface.  The only way to resolve this issue is to plug it into the wall charger and allow the device to charge for about 10% and then the device should power back up..  The usb is only good for a unused device being charged, if the device is being used while charging the charge usually remain at the same levels because of the low voltage output.

[PFM]

Optionally they could purchase a spare battery and change it out before it goes completely dead. They would then be able to re-insert the partially discharged battery to charge via USB or car charger when they were able.

[datanetri]

thanks for your responses, but there are plenty of other phones on the market that can charge and boot up off standard usb voltage with a completely dead battery. 

i'll recommend they either get the HTC or Samsung droids, i don't trust motorola's R&D dept if they were willing to let a product go to market with such a bad design flaw.

Most people these days depend on charging off USB more than wall power between charging on the road or off their computer in the office while leaving the wall charger at home.

Poor thinking on their part to design a phone that won't run/charge off of the voltage that usb provides.

[gerio]

Great. Another "IT Pro" to tell us lil' folk how things really should be.

Sir, show me the research data to substantiate your claim that "most people charge their phones via USB". It may be a few people that do this and/or the crowd you run with, but most of the folks I know (the technical side of show business) travel with more than one home charger and one car charger regardless

[gerio]

Darn it..(continued)

...of what kind of phone we have.

You did get one thing right...the Droid X requires more power to charge than the USB port provides. If your prerequisite in a phone is to charge from the USB port, that's fine. But to call Moto R&D unreliable because they opted to load the phone with more features than a USB port can handle is a statement of opinion and not fact.

And its an opinion that is shared by very few, if any, here.

Geri O

[Ann154]

To the OP, maybe the customers could start plugging the phone into the pc or car charger before the battery goes completely dead.

[datanetri]

Business people who are on the road all day cannot afford to have their phone not boot until they can use a wall charger if the battery dies, it's as simple as that.

Both Verizon and Motorola should make this issue well known instead of acting like it's not a problem and it doesn't exist.

Verizon support had no answers and referred me to motorola.

Motorola tier 2 support had no ideas and recommended that the phone was defective and we should work with the carrier to get a replacement.

From what i'm reading it is a known problem and they should be very up front when someone calls about it rather than starting the blame game between the carrier and manufacturer.

People are entitled to their opinion on if a phone not being able to boot off of usb power is a good idea or not, no need to get upset. 

Personally I think that standardizing everything on usb makes sense so that customers could boot/charge off of any device that has usb or a wall adapter that provides a usb port.  Things are starting to move in that direction with newer cars including USB ports for charging purposes,  etc.