I've bought cheap ones from EBAY, they either charge slow or break in a week.

I'm looking for some OEM quality cables for cheap? Do they exist?

I have bought some Samsung branded ones it the past that were really good. In fact I still have them.

You haven't bought enough phones .

I've got ones from Samsung, HTC, Motorola and Nokia, they all came free with a phone (and when you sell the phone you substitute a new aftermarket cable in the box).

It's pretty difficult to find genuine OEM cables, most of what is sold online at reasonably cheap prices are invariably fakes.

The last few ones I have bought as I wanted some different lengths for car etc I've got Blackberry ones off Amazon.

I've never had any micro USB lead break on me (only a mini to micro USB adapter I had).

Amazons own are ok http://www.amazon.co.uk/AmazonBasics...azon+micro+usb

If anyone can recommend one around 1.5-2m long that actually charges is be greatfull, all the ones I've tried using on my S4 that length don't even charge enough to maintain its charge let alone replenish it..

Have you eliminated all other possible problems: The phone or the charger?

I bought what I thought was a fantastic 3 metre anti-tangle micro-USB cable a little while ago, but very recently it's started charging my phone very slowly so I've given up on it. It took a bit of abuse, but I'm curious as to why it's half-stopped working (I could understand better if it just stopped working altogether).

Apart from that, the Poundland cables I've bought seem to work fine (but they're a bit too short).

The easiest way is to buy a USB3 extension cord, I was given the tip for the Asus T100 as it is incredibly fussy about which leads work.

I've since found that the extension works with any lead and maintains the charge rate.

It cost around £3 from eBay.

Here's a link:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-5Gbps-...-/360990528975

Portapow branded cables are good with a high current rate and reasonable price with a choice of lengths available. They do not carry data though so only good for charging. You can find them on ebay and amazon

I would agree with that.

I've bought a ton of Portapow cables from Amazon.

The main advantage is that, as you say, they're wired to provide as much power to the phone as possible no matter what you plug it into.

I usually flog my phones.

Atm I have my OEM phone, and 2 tablets. Then some cheaper ones that just aren't anyway near as good quality.

Yes, so do I, but I normally stick a £1 cable in the box when I sell the phone and keep the original cable. I must have about 10 or 12 by now, of all makes.

Thats GENIUS!

I can vouch for PortaPow cables. Bought a 2.5m one from Amazon and it charges my phone pretty rapidly. Link - http://www.amazon.co.uk/PortaPow-Cha...3043144&sr=8-1.

Although, my Anker micro USB car charger is even faster at charging the phone.

Isn't this the same kind of myth as gold HDMI cables?

A cable is a cable, it's just wires. The charging rate is down to the power output of the power adaptor.

HDMI gold cable myth relates to a digital signal - the bit's either there or it isn't, this relates to electrical conductivity so unrelated!

Another vote for the portapow cables here, ive got two of them one in my car and one at home.
They are charge cables only but they will charge a device at full speed.
As far as i know you have three speeds of charging on an android devices, Wireless, USB and AC just go to the settings/battery options while its charging and you will see what/how the phone is charging.

But as with HDMI cables, build quality does vary - it's just that you can get good HDMI cables without spending more than about 10 or 20 quid a cable - the 300 quid cable might be well built but also a huge con.

I'd guess that the cheapest USB cables use crap connectors and the thinnest possible wire, so not good when you are trying to pull a couple of amps through it to charge a device. Better cables have thicker wires and can handle the current, and can stand more abuse before failing.

Plus, some cables bodge the USB charging spec a bit and short the data pins so that a charger will assume that the device is always a high-current device rather than limiting to the 500mA of the USB spec

£20 for a hdmi cable, why would you spend that, a few quid is ample for hdmi

it almost works like that when the data pins are bridged then the device will assume its connected to a mains outlet and then the device will draw as much current as the outlet will allow, and the device itself will allow to charge safely.
the USB spec says 500ma, this is a minimum amount and many P.Cs/devices will output more than this, and if used with a charge only cable a device plugged into such a USB port will charge at its full speed.

Depends on the distance, if I wanted one that was reasonably long and was intending to run it in a wall I'd pay a bit more than the absolute minimum.


Although a lot of USB controllers won't do this, if the device attempts to draw more then the USB controller may shut the port down and pop up a warning.

As pointed out above, these cables are wired so that data connections are not possible.

That will trigger the AC charging mode on most devices, allowing them to charge quickly.

My phone thinks my car charger is a USB port, so restricts the amount it will draw to 500mA, which means it actually loses power when it's plugged in and the screen is on.

If I use the Portapow cable, it draws about 1.3A and can charge while running Spotify, Google Maps and Bluetooth audio with the screen on.

I was under the impression that any decently made charger should short the data pins as appropriate to put the phone into AC mode anyway.

If they are "Made for iPhone" (or iPod) then they usually don't, as Apple uses its own mechanism to determine when AC mode should be used.

Unfortunately most chargers on the market do it the Apple way.