Danny D'Amico wrote:

OPEN QUESTIONS:
- I still don't know how to tell how much current is actually drawn.

I've mentioned, in a recent thread, that you can buy in-line USB ammeters; the
one I use is from portapow.co.uk/ (who also sell power-only cables and other
goodies). Available on Amazon.

(BTW, there was some discussion in that thread of whether data could flow
through the meter -- it seems to be OK through the portapower gadget, though I
won't want to trust it for important data)

- None of the Android battery apps I tried gave current draw in amps.
- Instead, they listed charge in cryptic terms such as "12%/h".

"CurrentWidget" will display amps if the data is available, but the output
isn't consistant with (always much lower than) the portapower gadget's reports.
Presumably they are reporting different things.

And, reverting to your earlier puzzlement, maybe the reason why your phone
discharges faster when ~17% full is that below that limit it is firing up
bluetooth to warn you that power is low. Above that limit it doesn't bother so
its overall power consumption is lower, thus allowing it to charge (or at
least, not discharge) on nett.

-- chris