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Google Nexus Gets Wireless Charger

Posted by timothy on from the just-lay-still dept.

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."

7 of 223 comments (clear)

  1. The distinction is minor by i+kan+reed · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You magnetically drop your device into place onto a block on a power cord. Instead of plugging the power cord into your device. The actual distinction in convenience is a half a second of fiddling per day.

    1. Re:The distinction is minor by FunkyELF · · Score: 4, Informative

      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.

    2. Re:The distinction is minor by Andy+Dodd · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The most likely part of a connector to wear out are the springs - which is why in the MicroUSB standard, the springs are in the plug (e.g. the cable) and not the socket.

      --
      retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
    3. Re:The distinction is minor by goldaryn · · Score: 4, Funny

      You magnetically drop your device into place onto a block on a power cord.

      Wow, that's cool. I drop mine using boring old gravity.

  2. Giving it ANOTHER good try? by sitkill · · Score: 4, Informative

    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.

  3. What ever happened to pogo port charging? by hawguy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I don't really need wireless charging, I'd be happy to drop my phone into a dock with pogo port pins to allow easy charging without connecting a cable (and without wiggling the phone to get it to seat on a microUSB connector in the bottom of a dock). Seems like a cheaper and easier solution than wireless charging.

    Why didn't more phones use that simple technology? I never did find a compatible dock for my CDMA Galaxy Nexus.

  4. Power efficiency by __aaqvdr516 · · Score: 4, Informative

    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