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Wireless Charging On the Droid Bionic?

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the stop-gnawing-on-cables dept.

mahiskali writes "New documents pertaining to the ever-hyped and much-delayed Motorola Droid Bionic have surfaced on the FCC website. Perusing through the documents, I noticed a very interesting feature: an inductive charging coil (click 'Internal Photos'), built into the battery door housing. It seems Motorola may have some tricks up its sleeve yet--but will it be enough to beat out the competition (read: Samsung Galaxy S2, iPhone 5)?"

9 of 81 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Motorola! by Jawbox · · Score: 3, Informative

    Sarcasm? Palm\HP's have had inductive charging just like this since the Pre surfaced two years ago, powermats have been out for almost as long.

  2. Dear Motorola... by Lumpy · · Score: 2

    Want to be on top again? DONT CRIPPLE THE DAMN PHONE!

    Make it run a clean google android, make it EASY to update with no nasty tricks to keep unauthorized OS installs off it. in fact ENCOURAGE unauthorized OS install by simply stating the warranty only covers the phone when used with a stock OS install.

    In other words... stop being jerks.

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    1. Re:Dear Motorola... by digitallife · · Score: 2

      You may be surprised to find his out, but what you think a company should do to be successful, probably won't work. For example, you think motorola should make it easy to update with no nasty tricks to keep unauthorized OS installs off, but the majority of people don't care. For another example, you think they should stop being jerks, yet time and time again being jerks is what makes companies big and successful. The reality is that the way you think the world should be, is not how it is.

  3. is it any useful? by alen · · Score: 2

    sounds cool but i have like 10 free outlets at work for my phones, ipad and whatever i carry these days to charge. and you can use USB ports on any server in the data center if you're working away from the office.

    this sounds like cool and gee whiz but not practical for a lot of people who will just say who cares and get an iphone

    1. Re:is it any useful? by gotpoetry · · Score: 2

      Have you considered that the inductive coil won't be the only charging option? I guarantee USB charging will still work just fine.

  4. Questions by vlm · · Score: 2

    Could some EE closer to the inductive charge community comment on:

    1) Are the chargers "smart" like if I drop my wedding ring on the charger does it heat up/melt or does the charger recognize the inductance / current draw is way outta whack and shut off? If it shuts off does an indicator of some type turn on, or does it just not charge?

    2) Frequency of operation? I would really hate to hear anything below, say, 30 KHz. Even at my age, just years ago when CRTs still roamed the earth, I found horiz sync whine to be astoundingly annoying. I would really hate to hear a 60 hz inductor, any tropical fish owner / diaphragm air pump owner knows the annoying drone of 60 hz + harmonics.

    3) Who can sell me an inductive receiver kit to power other stuff? I'm not talking about bolt and go, but ladyada / dangerousprototypes sort of places and products? Who makes this stuff, anyway? At a superficial glance the usual suspects in the analog power community don't seem to offer any specialized ICs for the task... unless the RX has no 2-way comm with the tx and literally is just any ole coil feeding a bridge rect and a switcher.

    4) I'm sadly picturing some kind of hideous DRM where the expensive charger and expensive device need to negotiate a RSA key across bluetooth to light up the charger... Please tell me it isn't so? A generation of interoperability would be awesome.

    --
    "Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
    1. Re:Questions by introcept · · Score: 2

      1) Are the chargers "smart" like if I drop my wedding ring on the charger does it heat up/melt or does the charger recognize the inductance / current draw is way outta whack and shut off? If it shuts off does an indicator of some type turn on, or does it just not charge?

      Assuming they're using the qi charging standard, yes. There is quite a bit of handshaking required before the charger will fully energise a coil.

      3) Who can sell me an inductive receiver kit to power other stuff? I'm not talking about bolt and go, but ladyada / dangerousprototypes sort of places and products? Who makes this stuff, anyway? At a superficial glance the usual suspects in the analog power community don't seem to offer any specialized ICs for the task... unless the RX has no 2-way comm with the tx and literally is just any ole coil feeding a bridge rect and a switcher.

      Texas Instruments makes it. They also have a devkit:
      http://www.ti.com/ww/en/analog/wireless_power_solutions/index.shtml?DCMP=hpa_pmp_bq51013_en&HQS=Other+BA+bq51013-bnc

      4) I'm sadly picturing some kind of hideous DRM where the expensive charger and expensive device need to negotiate a RSA key across bluetooth to light up the charger... Please tell me it isn't so? A generation of interoperability would be awesome.

      The standard is available online. From memory there's no crypto-based DRM but you will need a license from the QI consortium to implement the technology

  5. Meh, too. by msauve · · Score: 2

    Even if you limit the class to Verizon 4G Android phones, this isn't new or unique. Inductive charging is already available for the HTC Thunderbolt and LG Revolution.

    --
    "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
  6. Inductive Charging has become the New Standard by nevermore94 · · Score: 2

    Inductive Charging has become the new standard for some time on most Verizon smart phones at the very least. It is already available for the Thunderbolt, Charge, and Droid 3 and others, so yes, I am sure it will be available for the Bionic as well.

    --
    Nevermore.