Google Nexus Gets Wireless Charger
judgecorp writes "Wireless charging has had little success so far (except for toothbrushes) but Google is giving it a good try, with a Nexus Wireless Charger that works with LG's Nexus 4 and 5 as well as the latest version of Google's tablet, the second generation Nexus 7. The charger operates using the Qi standard, which seems to be ahead of rival Powermat."
It wears out your port. I wish these phones came with tethered but removable inserts for charging.
My brother for example works in a pizza restaurant... he gets flour stuck up his charger all the time and has to pick it out.
Google already sold a wireless charger for their Nexus 4 phones:
https://play.google.com/store/devices/details/Nexus_4_Wireless_Charger?id=nexus_4_wireless_charger&hl=en
I own one, works fine, and I think it also works with the new Nexus 5's as it's using the Qi standard already.
I've checked a few places and it seems as though you can expect a 70% power efficiency with this type of inductive charger. Some of the higher end models reach as much as 85%.
It strikes me as odd that in a time where we want as much energy efficiency as possible, we'd push towards something much less efficient with the potential to be so widespread.
Sources:
http://www.wirelesspowerconsortium.com/technology/total-energy-consumption.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inductive_charging