Just comparing my S3 with my sisters S3, i realised that the bundled usb cable is actually thicker on more recently sold phones.
I noticed this after trying different chargers to try getting her phone charging properly again, and found that her thinner cable was providing less power then say a completely hard wired travel mate charger, In result, her usb cable was providing enough juice to maintain a level of charge but not providing the power necessary to charge it.
I'm used to LION battery circuits being on a switch setup, so that the device is powered completely from the external source during the charge, however the charging on these phones (and possibly other samsung phones) passes through the battery itself, so it does seem that inferior cables can and do affect charging times, atleast while the device is operating.
So to those complaining about slow/no charge, check the quality of your bundled cable, the thicker cables are certainly harder to bend and feel more durable than those sold with the phones earlier in the year.
I found that a good way to check this is when the battery is at 80%, a good quality cable or travelmate charger will increase the current voltage value in battery stats (*#0228#) from 4000xish to 4250+ upon plugin. The inferior cable (or maybe it was damaged even?) may increase it to 41xxish and the battery will appear to take forever to charge, or not at all.
I noticed this after trying different chargers to try getting her phone charging properly again, and found that her thinner cable was providing less power then say a completely hard wired travel mate charger, In result, her usb cable was providing enough juice to maintain a level of charge but not providing the power necessary to charge it.
I'm used to LION battery circuits being on a switch setup, so that the device is powered completely from the external source during the charge, however the charging on these phones (and possibly other samsung phones) passes through the battery itself, so it does seem that inferior cables can and do affect charging times, atleast while the device is operating.
So to those complaining about slow/no charge, check the quality of your bundled cable, the thicker cables are certainly harder to bend and feel more durable than those sold with the phones earlier in the year.
I found that a good way to check this is when the battery is at 80%, a good quality cable or travelmate charger will increase the current voltage value in battery stats (*#0228#) from 4000xish to 4250+ upon plugin. The inferior cable (or maybe it was damaged even?) may increase it to 41xxish and the battery will appear to take forever to charge, or not at all.