Ampere, Android App
Ampere measures the battery charging/discharging current. If your phone is not connected to a charger, you’ll see the discharging current which is negative. Now, if you connect a charger then the current what the charger gives will be used to supply your phone and the remaining power will be charged into the battery.
If your phone consumes 300 mA without a charger connected, then a 500 mA charger will charge your battery maximum with 200 mA current.
The displayed current is an average value from 50 measurements minus the 10 upper values and the 10 lower values. The displayed current can be shaky or unstable or even just zero which means, that the Android system provides such unstable values. Some phones, like the Nexus 4 reports such unstable wide spreading readings when charged with a low current charger (e.g. 500mA), that even the average value is just a joke. [developer’s notes]
Using Material Design guidelines, you’ll certainly find Ampere useful for measuring current. Although some devices aren’t supported, Ampere is fantastic to evaluate which Charger/USB cable combo is good for you. We all know now about the horror stories in some countries regarding untested, cheap and usually Chinese chargers going on fire. These haven’t been fully tested to current EU/ US standards, we’d always recommend paying a little extra for official products like chargers that have proper CE markings. (European)
You’ll notice from the screen shot above that advertisements are present, purchasing the Pro Key for £0.75 which does remove them and helps towards future development. (There would be little point in going Pro if Ampere doesn’t work on your device, download the app first, have a test and then buy via the In App Purchase)
