Tuesday Tip: Charge Your Phone in a Flash

by Tony Rushin

lightning boltIn past tips, Richard warned us about charging our phone in one of those public USB ports (Be Careful Where You Re-Charge Your iPhone) plus he told us how we could charge our phone more quickly (Charge Your iPhone Faster).  These were great tips, especially for busy legal staff and the attorneys they support – and those who frequently travel.

What if you notice that your phone is low and you need a charge but there’s no plug available?  This could happen most frequently at the airport (electrical outlets are at a premium) or in your car.   You may have a quick and easy solution if your laptop is with you.  Many newer laptops, if purchased in the last three years, will have a USB port that is “always-on”: even if the laptop is turned off.  Yes, that’s right: even if the laptop is turned off.

One of our engineers, Jason Ellinger, shared this tip at a company meeting a few weeks ago.  Jason was recently in Florida helping a client set up a new office (we only focus on companies in metro Atlanta but some of our clients have offices in other cities).  Just before he started back to the airport to fly home he noticed his phone battery was low.  He had his regular charger but not his car charger so he simply plugged his phone into his laptop’s always-on USB port.  By the time he turned in his rental car, his phone was almost fully charged.

A fellow engineer, Michael Saba, initially discovered the always-on port by accident on a flight.  His laptop was on and he was charging his phone prior to take off when he dutifully shut off his laptop as requested – with the phone still plugged in.  When he could turn his laptop back on he noticed that his phone was already charged.  Since that discovery, Michael often uses his laptop as a portable charging unit when it’s in his backpack and his phone needs a charge.

Not all USB ports have this capability.  The “hot” port is typically identified by a lightning-bolt icon like this one on the HP EliteBook:

HP EliteBook USB port from snipping tool

 

 

Dell and Toshiba laptops also use a lightning-bolt icon for the always-on port.  However, not all laptops use the lightning-bolt icon.  Lenovo uses yellow color-coding to show which USB port is always-on:

Yellow-USB-port-charging

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, my research found that none of the USB ports on an Apple MacBook Air come with always-on capability.  However, the MacBook Air does create confusion since it comes with an Apple Thunderbolt connection that is identified with a lightning-bolt.  A USB cable won’t fit into a Thunderbolt port.

apple thunderbolt with X

 

 

 

Charging your phone from a laptop that’s turned off or sleeping will obviously drain some of the laptop battery.  However, it doesn’t drain much.  We conducted a test with a fully charged HP EliteBook and an iPhone that had 21% power.  After 40 minutes the iPhone was charged up to 50% power and the EliteBook battery still had 85% charge left.

Check your laptop for the always-on port and test it out so you’re ready to use it in a pinch.

Tony Rushin Headshot

Tony Rushin: In his role as VP of sales & marketing, he is responsible for hiring, managing and coaching the sales team and always staying on top of (and meeting) the needs of clients. Under his leadership, the company has steadily grown each year.

Network 1 designs, builds and supports the IT you need to run your business more securely, productively and successfully. Whether you want to outsource all of your IT needs to a reliable, responsive, service-oriented company, or need to supplement the work of your internal IT staff, we will carefully evaluate where you are now, discuss where you want to go and implement and support a plan to get you there with as little interruption as possible.

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