Look Ma! No Wires! Charging Without the Cable with PowerMat

[Hooch Tan]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.trustedreviews.com/editorial/2010/12/18/Powermat-Wireless-Charging-System/p1' target='_blank'>http://www.trustedreviews.com/edito...rging-System/p1</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"For those not in the know, inductive charging has been around for years. The science is quite complex, but the simplest way to describe it is a form of short distance wireless energy transfer. An induction coil in the charging base station creates an electromagnetic field which transmits power to a second induction coil in the device and this is converted into electric current to charge the battery."</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/dht/auto/1292948046.usr20447.jpg" style="border: 0px solid #d2d2bb;" /></p><p>I really have been wondering why it has taken inductive charging so long to become popular on the market.&nbsp; I have seen it used in quite a few consumer electronics, from watches to shavers, so why do we only now see it for phones and iPods?&nbsp; I like the idea, though the charging receivers look a bit bulky to me; I was hoping for something much smaller, about the same size as the micro-transcievers that mice and keyboards use.&nbsp; Then it would be as simple as just dumping your devices on the mat and have them all charged in the morning.&nbsp; The orientation requirement also kind of throws me for a loop, but I guess there has to be some room for improvement.&nbsp; Has anyone tried the Powermat?&nbsp; What are your impressions of it?&nbsp; A must have and a wonderful stocking stuffer?&nbsp; Or is it something that leaves you with a dead device?</p>

[Jason Dunn]

It's a classic "Chicken and Egg" problem that basically requires one of the big companies involved in this space to make the first step - Apple, HTC, Samsung, etc. Until the hardware is built into the device, it's not going to take off. Only a few people want to add the sleeves onto their devices, or replace the battery with new hardware.

[ptyork]

Until this is integrated into the device, to me, it is a non-starter. Funny that Palm put it in to the Pre & Pixi 1.5 years ago but as far as I know they are the only device manufacturer to envision any use for inductive charging. Which is equally mind boggling since it allowed Palm to make a ton of extra cash on the proprietary accessory charger (Touchstone, I think it is called) and even to open up a set of API's to allow the user to install apps that "do something" based on being "docked" on the charger. Anyway, so long as this requires a custom, bulky "case" for each device, it is worthless as far as I'm concerned.

[Jason Dunn]

Until this is integrated into the device, to me, it is a non-starter. Funny that Palm put it in to the Pre & Pixi 1.5 years ago but as far as I know they are the only device manufacturer to envision any use for inductive charging. Which is equally mind boggling since it allowed Palm to make a ton of extra cash on the proprietary accessory charger (Touchstone, I think it is called) and even to open up a set of API's to allow the user to install apps that "do something" based on being "docked" on the charger.

Agreed. In fact, this time last year I was talking with someone from HTC and urging them to go down this road, but they didn't seem very excited about it. I think it would be a key differentiator, and in a group of Windows Phone 7 where many of them are similar, it seems like this would be a good way to stand out.

[gdoerr56]

It's a good idea but it won't / can't replace the mini and micro-usb connections that are becoming standard.

I for one would not buy something that only had an inductive charger since it wouldn't be convenient to use in the car or when traveling.

I'm guessing that the extra 'stuff' adds cost and weight that most companies don't want.

At a minimum you would need a coil of wire wound on some sort of ferrite or iron compound to couple to the base station. Depending on the amount of power and placement flexibility you're looking for, the physical size and weight could be substantial compared to the sizes of some of the devices we're talking about.