Why would you choose a protocol that doesn’t work with the current hardware? Someone in product management really screwed up
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I don’t care about PD rates, which a number of factors could make not possible for a device, but it still should be able to handshake with the charger and negotiate a legacy charging rate. My Lumia 950, for instance, does that.
This seems like a firmware issue with the charge controller.
As for PD rates, I’ve not seen a device with both PD and removable battery, so perhaps there’s something in the spec that prevents it with removable batteries?
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Hopefully engineering can fix this with a firmware update.
I find this troublesome due to this being printed in the box (and a big reason I supported this phone):
Where is the Charger?
What you have in your hand is the world’s most minimalistic and eco-friendly smartphone packaging. Made with 50% less materials, recycled paper, soy inks, while eliminating redundant accessories like the charger. The shipping volume and weight are reduced by 35%, allowing for a smaller carbon footprint.
Teracube 2e is compatible with all USB-C chargers. If you need one, you can get it at myteracube.com/charger.
Reach out to other engineers, this surely can’t be fixable only in hardware, unless there is a significant design flaw.
Make it right, Teracube…
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Like you, I’m of the mind this is a firmware/charge-controller software-level issue.
Hopefully MediaTek and/or the ODM can get this sorted.
Like I said, I understand there are physical/electrical reasons why TeraCube_One and TeraCube_2E might not be PD compliant, but they SHOULD still be able to negotiate a legacy charge rate from a PD charger no problem.
If my Lumia950 from 2015 can handle it, surely a much newer/better SOC can.
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Speaking as a software engineer since 1985 – it’s fun and exciting to back new products, but if you’re signing up for version 1.0 of anything, you should stop to consider your own tolerance for development slippage and initial teething problems.
Is this something that you need right away? Is this something where unexpected problems will be critical to you?
Indiegogo means you’re investing in the development cycle – not just the ultimate product. First-time development and manufacturing cycles commonly slip. And the first version of a new model is always, always, always going to have some problems.
Can’t tolerate that? NEVER get version x.0 Wait half a year, read the reviews including the worst ones, and get version 1.3 (or so.) Or 2.3.
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A post was merged into an existing topic: Cricket wireless issue with Teracube 2e (Update: AT&T is working fine)
Well said, PatriciaJH.
Yes, I know what I was getting in to when I invested. I just want to make sure the developers are listening, as some of us are patient, but the retail consumer typically is not.
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Yeah, this is a major issue for me. The battery lasts long enough that I don’t really care how fast PD chargers work, but the fact that most of the USB-C chargers in my house don’t work at all is really frustrating. If there’s any way to get this working in the firmware it would be a huge improvement.
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Curious - are the PD chargers not charging at all? We tested recently with 2 PD chargers - Apple and an Amazon brand. Both chargers charged the phone fine if the phone was booted into Android. However, they failed to charge when the phone was powered off.
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I tried several chargers, although I guess they’re all made by Anker. The ones I tried are:
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Anker PowerPort Atom III: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07ZCGYP27
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Anker PowerDrive Speed+: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071WYF9HP/
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Anker PowerStrip Pad: https://www.anker.com/products/variant/powerstrip-pad/A2767121
Note: Only the USB-C ports use PD. If I plug in a USB-A to USB-C cord, it works (but I don’t have very many of those cords).
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@Sharad What exactly do you mean that the phone cannot charge with USB-PD chargers.
USB-PD is backwards compatible!
The phone is supposed to have two 5.1K pull-down resistors on the CC1 and CC2 pins to signal to the USB-PD charger that it does not support the PD protocol. Then it receives up to 3A/5V from the PD charger.
Just two tiny resistors, very simple, it’s part of the PD standard.
Don’t blame Mediatek for it.
I have myself build several USB-C devices that charge just fine with USB-PD changers by following the above specification.
Does this mistake on your side mean that I need to carry around two chargers and two cables for my devices?
So if I’m reading this correctly, Android software is communicating how the phone can charge instead of low-level firmware when the phone is on and plugged into a PD charger. Hopefully when my phone arrives the battery has enough of a charge to power on before I plug it in. If not, I have plenty of USB A chargers, I’ll just have to get an USB A to USB C cable which is somewhat annoying but not the end of the world, especially at this phone’s price point.
Will the charger work which I ordered with the phone? I was not sure if mine will work since I have a phone from 2013 with mirco usb so I would need to get at least a new cable anway.
The optional chargers (add-on) that we shipped are fully compatible.
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Hello Sharad,
What you may consider noting somewhere or communicating to everyone is that the phone is QC 3.0 compatible, but not PD 3.0 compatible. Functionally what you are saying is the same overall, but expressing which protocols are actually supported is likely a better method – noting that QC 3.0 chargers are USB-A to USB-C type chargers. As such, the phone should be advertised as compatible with QC 3.0 standard but not the PD 3.0 standard.
What is really confusing about this is the way that people are seeing things packaged / marketed, QC 3.0 was actually the original protocol used for USB-C charging, so it is very likely that Chinese documentation on the chipset advertises it as USB-C charging compatible, however, doesn’t outline that the protocol of compatibility for USB-C charging is only for the QC 3.0 standard, thus not supporting USB-C to USB-C charging or PD 3.0, but still a method of USB-C charging as your original advertising / marketing would suggest. Likely not your direct fault, but I can see how some will still see this as disingenuous.
Possibly adding something about the terminology and clarifying what was really meant in your advertising in your next update on Indiegogo could help to correct peoples expectations and lessen the backlash / outrage.
Just to be clear for others reading, even though it supports QC 3.0, this still doesn’t mean it supports fast charging, just that the charger will be compatible with the phone and charge it.
My 2 cents.
Cheers!
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Hi @Sharad,
I can confirm that I’ve tested the new phone with a few different native USB-C chargers and a USB-C battery (https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B083ZBMJNT/, https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MHJA3AM/A/20w-usb-c-power-adapter and https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07XNX88G3), and neither charge the 2e at all. Notably, Android’s USB controls show that USB is controlled by the connected device rather than by the 2e, and shows that it is connected as an OTG device - basically, the phone thinks native USB-C chargers are something THEY should try to charge (and presumably doesn’t do the fallback to regular 5V USB charging that it should because of it). This… should not be a hardware level issue with any chipset that conforms to USB specifications. Additionally, the Teracube One, also using a MediaTek processor, charges just fine with all of the chargers I’ve mentioned here. Can you please provide a specific reference to this “limitation of the Mediatek charging protocol” that you have mentioned above, and what actually changed between the phone versions?
Thanks,
Logan Hunter
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Thanks @Logan_Hunter for the extensive testing. It is strange that the Apple USB-C PD charger is able to charge our units (while booted).
Regardless I will take this to my software and the hardware team and report back in a week or so.
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If everything continues to work with the Apple charger for you, and your team could use any more reproduction info on what is happening with the phone on my end, please feel free to reach out - I’d be glad to provide anything that would help tracking down the problem.
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Sorry if this post seems a bit silly, but I had an “oh yeah, I forgot moment.” If you have any “old” USB-A port chargers, the cable that comes with the Nintendo Switch (and some of its accessories) is USB-A to USB-C. I used one with an old QC 2.0 power brick and it worked just fine, even with the phone off. I wasn’t sure how well the Switch charger itself would work, so I went with an old phone charger. I doubt it makes a difference, but the power brick was from a ZTE Axon 7 Mini.
I agree with you 100%. The trade-offs are very small considering the value that these phones offer. Chargers are dirt cheap, any USB A charger can be bought for next to nothing and will charge the phone in a decent amount of time. I have PD and regular and I have no complaints about the charging time. My wish is the next phone they come out with will be higher spec CPU and GPU along with better cameras/sensors.