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(device: Samsung Galaxy S 3)

I've just witnessed something rather strange: while tethering to my laptop, with the phone being plugged in a power source (the charger I got with the device) - the battery percentage started going down.

Now, I'm in an area where the signal is pretty bad, and my phone is constantly switching between 3G and some H+ network. It's normal for the battery life to suck.

However, isn't the phone supposed to power itself directly from the charger?

I thought that the charger was both powering the phone and recharging the battery.

Now it seems that the battery is powering the phone - while the charger is only recharging the battery (and failing).

Is this correct?

Even more importantly: will this hurt my battery?

And another question: could I simply take my battery out and keep the phone alive only on the charger (e.g. this is possible with a laptop)?

jcora
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  • I've seen this. Phone plugged in to car charger; screen on and navigation running. It's also been brought up before. I'll see if I can find the duplicate. – ale Jun 19 '13 at 14:18
  • See this related question for your last question: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/23755/is-it-ok-to-swap-batteries-while-phone-is-connected-to-wall-charger/23759#23759 – geffchang Jun 19 '13 at 14:25
  • It's definitely a duplicate of the other question. Through USB, it can't pull as much power as through a wall USB, so when using power-intensive applications, it will drain. Some phones will not run with the battery out, and if it's draining faster than charging, it will probably just die with the battery out while plugged in – SSumner Jun 19 '13 at 15:07
  • If the above questions don't seem applicable to your situation then you could try restarting my phone. There have been a couple times where it doesn't seem like my phone is charging and after a reboot it does. – Dean MacGregor Jun 19 '13 at 15:10
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    @SSumner even when plugged into a wall charger, this could easily happen (see my answer here). A wall-charger usually delivers up to 2A; tethering + download + screen on easily comes to the same power consumption. – Izzy Jun 19 '13 at 15:32
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    @Izzy - true, it's just more likely to drain if plugged into USB – SSumner Jun 19 '13 at 15:35

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