Do not plug your USB charger into an Apple brand AC-to-USB adapter. It makes the Droid temporarily lose its mind. No permanent damage from what I can tell but whoa. Everything Apple is different.
That's screwed up. USB is USB. Or it should be The voltage had better be the same.
The only thing that makes any sense is that the Apple USB charger thingie sends USB shit down the wire to inform Apple products that they're being charged by a legitimate Apple charger.
Actually, that's not just an apple thing. My GPS uses USB to charge, and it works fine with a wall bug, or plugged into the car charger, but if I plug it into a computer (any computer) it gets all weird and wants to search for updates and other crap.
I +thought+ USB was USB, but this was an Apple USB wall bug, and the Droid started flashing and hiccuping and swapping screens and generally having a complete freak-out.
I gave up on the wall bug, plugged it into a laptop USB port, and it was fine. Yipes!
Right, that's what I mean. The Apple wall bug might be sending USB stuff, not just power. The Droid could be trying to interpret the USB *data*.
I think it's stupid for a wall bug to be sending data, unless it's very well regulated to make sure it doesn't send anything to anything that's not on the list of "good" things.
Apple ipod/iphone wall power adapters are actually not that smart (actually they're totally dumb), though they do have non-standard resistors between the USB data lines and ground to inform the ipod/iphone of the presence of the adapter. See my response below. I do believe the Droid's misbehavior was due to interference with touchscreen operation.
Actually... Apple USB wall adapters (intended for use with ipod/iphone - but not ipad, the ipad requires yet a different charger that I don't have specs on yet except that it's capable of supplying a lot more power than a standard single USB device is allowed to consume) don't contain any logic to digitally communicate information from the charger to the device being charged... but they do contain a couple of non-standard resistors between the USB data lines and ground. The purpose of these is to inform the ipod/iphone that a proper charger is connected capable of supplying 5V at 1A (5 watts) and that the ipod/iphone should enable its internal battery charger circuit. If you connect an ipod/iphone to a generic USB power supply not designed for ipod/iphone it won't charge. Fortunately, the voltage presented by the Apple adapter on the USB power pins is standard (5V
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It's a good thing I didn't buy a car from Apple. If I put gas from a regular gas station instead of the Apple Store the car would explode and start on fire. The tires couldn't be filled with regular air but instead had to have boutique air put in them. If the special chemical the Apple Store puts in their boutique air isn't sensed by the inner-tire sensors the car shuts down and you have to take it to the Apple Store and have it reset for $2000 -plus you void your warranty. Same for the windshield-washer fluid
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The only thing that makes any sense is that the Apple USB charger thingie sends USB shit down the wire to inform Apple products that they're being charged by a legitimate Apple charger.
Actually, that's not just an apple thing. My GPS uses USB to charge, and it works fine with a wall bug, or plugged into the car charger, but if I plug it into a computer (any computer) it gets all weird and wants to search for updates and other crap.
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I gave up on the wall bug, plugged it into a laptop USB port, and it was fine. Yipes!
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I think it's stupid for a wall bug to be sending data, unless it's very well regulated to make sure it doesn't send anything to anything that's not on the list of "good" things.
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Seems like the answer's already been found, though.
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