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up vote 11 down vote favorite

The plug sure looks like any old micro USB plug. Will another cable (like the one from my digital camera) work to charge the battery, or do I need one specifically designed for my phone?

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4 Answers

up vote 9 down vote accepted

Any Micro USB cable that has the capability of charging your phone does excactly that.

I found a link on USB powering. The source is from 2005 but the issue remains the same.

Some cables do charge your device due to a sufficient power flow through the cable while others don't.

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6  
That's not answering the question you are just saying that if it does then it does. Any piece of string that has the capability of charging your phone does exactly that. I'm not aware of any string that has the capability but if it had the capability then it would have that capability. Profound, yes, I know. Not all cables are capable of charging a phone. – Matt Sep 14 '10 at 15:53
That's true, but you should look in the cable's description whether the cable is capable of charging or not since your phone already has the charging contacts built into the USB socket. – keyboardsurfer Sep 16 '10 at 8:08
I have used three different cables that came with other devices and they have all worked just fine. But yes, not every cable will be fully wired to support power flow/charging. – BBlake Sep 17 '10 at 1:56
up vote 1 down vote

My un-technical answer is no. I have a microUSB AC Adapter for a bluetooth headset that charges my headset just fine but won't charge my phone for some reason. I also have a retractable miniUSB cable to connect to the computer with and it is fine for data but it also fails to charge my phone.

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4  
That is not an issue with the cable, its an issue with the power source. Some power sources(usb ports or wall worts) will not supply sufficient power for some devices. – Aaron Sep 14 '10 at 11:31
No, it is an issue with the cable. I know the difference between powered and unpowered usb ports and the ones in question were all powered and worked fine to charge my phone through the stock cable that came with my phone. I'm pretty certain it was the slim retractable cable that failed because I tried it on 3 different computers. Data' yes; power, no. Also your comment does not take into account the ac charger I mentioned. – Matt Sep 14 '10 at 15:17
+1 useful answer – Michael Durrant Jul 4 '12 at 4:15
up vote 1 down vote

I'd say it depends on the cable, but you have a fair chance to get your phoned charged.

I've tested HTC Hero with 3 types of USB cable (universal, bought with my pocket hdd and bough with my dvd-drive), 2 types of a GPS charger and one type of a GPS car charger. All worked well. :)

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up vote 0 down vote

For what it's worth, I purchased a generic MicroUSB cable on Amazon for like $2, which was advertised as being for BlackBerry users, and it works just fine on my Incredible. I use it as my charger at the office.

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