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Wireless Charging Standards Groups Agree To Merge

Posted by Soulskill on from the combining-their-powers dept.

jfruh writes: The world where our gadgets all charge wirelessly has been delayed by several factors, one of which is that there are three industry groups promoting rival technological standards. That problem is now a little closer to a solution, as the Alliance for Wireless Power and the Power Matters Alliance announced a plan to merge.

65 comments

  1. Joining in by SuperKendall · · Score: 1, Redundant

    I have just formed the Power Alliance for Wireless, which I will agree to "merge" with you all also for only $10k, payable directly to me.

    I think you'll find that the combined group can make far better use of my acronym, PAW, than it can with either AWP or PMA, both of which sound like you have something lodged in the windpipe.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:Joining in by stephanruby · · Score: 1

      I have just formed the Power Alliance for Wireless, which I will agree to "merge" with you all also for only $10k, payable directly to me.

      Don't be slut. You're almost giving it away for free at that price.

      If Apple is holding out for 40% of the retail price for each unit, you should at least be holding out for 35%.

    2. Re:Joining in by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think you'll find that the combined group can make far better use of my acronym, PAW, than it can with either AWP or PMA, both of which sound like you have something lodged in the windpipe.

      RTFA....Alliance for Wireless Power is not abbreviated AWP...it's A4WP. That makes it so much cooler than your PAW, which sounds like it's run by some hick grandpa whose idea of "wireless power" is one of the huge ass 6 volt batteries made from 32 AA batteries.

    3. Re:Joining in by CreatureComfort · · Score: 2, Funny

      Splitters!

      --
      "Unheard of means only it's undreamed of yet,
      Impossible means not yet done." ~~ Julia Ecklar
  2. But one major alternative still exists by mynamestolen · · Score: 0

    summary should have said so

    --
    work in progress
    1. Re:But one major alternative still exists by Z00L00K · · Score: 1

      And don't forget that wireless charging of devices also is a very ineffective way to charge. A lot of magnetic radiation is just not ending up where it's intended to be.

      --
      If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
    2. Re: But one major alternative still exists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's why we need more and bigger wireless chargers!

    3. Re:But one major alternative still exists by GuldKalle · · Score: 2

      Consumers won't care the slightest

      --
      What?
    4. Re:But one major alternative still exists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Whoosh! EM Fail...

    5. Re:But one major alternative still exists by markkezner · · Score: 1

      Wireless charging is ineffective? Do you actually use it? I've used it for months and it charges my phone quite nicely and conveniently.

      You could argue that some energy is lost to the ether, but that really doesn't affect me. Sure, It's not as fast as a quality cable charger, but it's still faster than the knock-off chargers that most people use. In any event it's fast enough to get me charged up for a while.

      Plugging\unplugging cables doesn't sound like a terrible chore, but when you go wireless, you get very used to it. For example, I have wireless charging installed\hacked into my car. I get into my car and slap my phone onto my magnetic wireless charging mount (which is a Mountek magnetic mount with a Nexus Qi charger attached. The phone is Nexus 5). I don't have to adjust the mount to grab the phone (no grips, just magnets!) and I don't have to plug anything in. Within half a second, the phone is charging and mounted, and it charges at a fast enough rate that even with screen on and GPS active, the phone charge level is ticking upwards. When I leave my car, I just grab the phone. No fussing with cables or the mount. Awesome. Fast. Convenient. I'm living in the future.

      I also have a Nexus Qi charger on my bedside table. With this, I never have to retrieve a cable that's fallen to the ground, and never have to drag a cable across the bed over a sleeping partner. It charges my phone all night, I wake up with a full charge, and it's easy, so I don't give a damn if some energy is lost. It's very effective for me.

      --
      Dangerous, sexy, turing complete: Femme Bots
    6. Re:But one major alternative still exists by Coren22 · · Score: 1

      (which is a Mountek magnetic mount with a Nexus Qi charger attached. The phone is Nexus 5)

      Do you have a link for what you mean by this? I am intrigued in your solution as I have been shopping for something on these lines recently.

      --
      APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
    7. Re:But one major alternative still exists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes should say Qi competitors band together to compete with what works and is widely deployed. Qi is where it's at....

  3. With apologies by nitehawk214 · · Score: 4, Funny

    They have agreed to merge their two organizations by mid-2015 and set up an as yet unnamed organization to “accelerate the availability and deployment of wireless charging technology on a global scale,” according to a statement Monday.

    Well you know what that means.

    --
    I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
    1. Re:With apologies by TWX · · Score: 1

      Well you know what that means.

      None of us is as dumb as all of us?

      --
      Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    2. Re:With apologies by petermgreen · · Score: 2

      Soemtimes it works out that way, other times however things do converge, it used to be that every phone vendor needed their own chargers (or at least adaptor cables but even that could be dodgy). Nowadays they all use 5V and most of them use a microUSB connector to deliver it. In the early days of power over ethernet there were serveral competing standards. Nowadays all the major vendors use the IEEE standard. In the early days of computer networks there were many standards, now pretty much everyone uses BASE-T etehrnet with TCP/IP unless they have a very good reason not to.

      --
      note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
    3. Re:With apologies by dinfinity · · Score: 1

      You have no idea what the word 'merge' means, do you?
      You just wanted to karma-whore by posting an irrelevant XKCD-link. Shame on you.

    4. Re:With apologies by adolf · · Score: 1

      it used to be that every phone vendor needed their own chargers (or at least adaptor cables but even that could be dodgy). Nowadays they all use 5V and most of them use a microUSB connector to deliver it.

      That is because of a EU directive specifying that phones have micro USB for charging, not because of a diverse industry suddenly making sense.

      (although, before that, the world had almost settled on mini USB.)

      --
      Kid-proof tablet..
    5. Re:With apologies by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's not this, though. There's 3 competing standards: QI, AWP, and PMA. AWP and PMA make distinct technologies: one makes inductive chargers like QI, the other makes magnetic resonance chargers which don't require coil alignment and work over larger distances. Back in Feb they decided that chargers sold by both groups would support both technologies. Now with the merger they'll continue to use one technology or the other in the devices and both technologies in the chargers.

      The end result is more like how USB 3.0 port works for 1.1, 2.0, and 3.0 devices and less like the XKCD comic.

    6. Re:With apologies by nitehawk214 · · Score: 1

      Why would someone that has been at the cap for over a decade need to karma whore? Also, funny mods have not increased karma for at least as long.

      The joke here, for people that lack either foresight or humor (and, to be fair, you are right, most xkcd jokes are just not funny); is that while they intend to merge the standards, they will probably end up either picking one of the two or creating a third one.

      Note how the article (did you read it?) worded this. "set up an as yet unnamed organization" That sounds like a 3rd standards body to me. While they might actually pull this off (look at the Micro-USB charging standard for phones for an example of a successful standards merge)... I have no faith that they will actually do it.

      I would be happy if they could just make a reliable wireless charger. I have a Google Android wireless charger. The thing is flaky at best. I never use it in a situation where I must rely on the charge to work, such as when I am using the phone as an alarm clock. Also it does not work with any other charging brick other than the one shipped with it. (I have tried quite a few.) And there is no way to hook it up to 12V for a car charger.

      --
      I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
    7. Re:With apologies by dinfinity · · Score: 1

      Why would someone that has been at the cap for over a decade need to karma whore? Also, funny mods have not increased karma for at least as long.

      I'm not sure that improves your position.

      The joke here, for people that lack either foresight or humor (and, to be fair, you are right, most xkcd jokes are just not funny);

      I never said that.

      is that while they intend to merge the standards, they will probably end up either picking one of the two or creating a third one.

      Note how the article (did you read it?)

      I did.

      worded this. "set up an as yet unnamed organization" That sounds like a 3rd standards body to me.

      You forgot the start of that sentence: "They have agreed to merge their two organizations by mid-2015 and set up an as yet unnamed organization ..." (remember what I said about your knowledge of the meaning of the word 'merge'? I'll help you. Replace 'and setup' by 'into' and read the sentence again. Remember that it was a reporter who wrote the sentence.)

      The key point you're missing is that the XKCD-comic is about a third party creating a standard. This is about two parties already solely responsible for their standards agreeing on a single standard. Whether or not that is a new standard or one of the two existing standards doesn't matter for the resulting count of standards. It's not as if the new standard will be competing with the old ones (as is the case in the XKCD-comic). The old ones will obviously be abandoned, ergo: fewer competing standards.

      I have a Google Android wireless charger.

      I'm not familiar with the 'Android' wireless charging standard. Is it new?

    8. Re:With apologies by nitehawk214 · · Score: 1

      The device itself was released in 2013, so it is the newer of the google wireless chargers. I am not sure which standard it is using. I was unaware there was more than one standard before reading this article. And I have not tried my device on a different wireless charger.

      --
      I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
  4. How does it help? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So what if the two organizations are merging into one. The merged organization is still going to push two standards: one for inductive charging, the other for magnetic resonance charging.

    1. Re:How does it help? by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      Worse. They'll also come up with one that tries to combine the two (and fails), and one that tries to fix the mess (and fails spectacularly).

      In the end you'll have consumers sitting here, twiddling their thumbs and waiting for which standard will eventually win out, only to end up with no adaptation of either because "there is no market".

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    2. Re:How does it help? by TWX · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I suspect in the end, like Ethernet, Token Ring, DECnet, and other IEEE 802 network standards, one will win-out over the others. And like IEEE 802, it'll take close to 30 years for that one that becomes dominant to win-out, and it'll have some ridiculous limitations (like Ethernet's 100m physical limit and Ethernet's relatively small frame size) that plague its use for all time.

      --
      Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    3. Re:How does it help? by hawguy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I suspect in the end, like Ethernet, Token Ring, DECnet, and other IEEE 802 network standards, one will win-out over the others. And like IEEE 802, it'll take close to 30 years for that one that becomes dominant to win-out, and it'll have some ridiculous limitations (like Ethernet's 100m physical limit and Ethernet's relatively small frame size) that plague its use for all time.

      100m is hardly a ridiculous limitation, it's a tradeoff among speed, cost of media and transceivers and distance. Granted, it can be a problem in some circumstances, but the limit had to be set to *something*.

      If you want to pay more for media and transceivers to get more distance you can use fiber. Or if you willing to trade speed for distance, you can get VDSL repeaters and extend the range to over a kilometer and you can use existing CAT-5 (or even CAT-3) wiring.

      All of my network equipment supports 9000+ byte frames, how big would a frame need to be to stop being ridiculous? With TCP offloading, Jumbo frames don't make a huge difference in throughput.

    4. Re:How does it help? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      My Ethernet can do 500m and my other Ethernet can do 185m.

      Token Ring cable length is only 101 meters with STP, 45 with UTP and the speeds are not that great either. Token Ring has/had its own limitations and I can see why it is no longer the network of choice.

    5. Re:How does it help? by jabuzz · · Score: 2

      My Ethernet does 10km, 20km, 40km and 80km and 120km at various speeds up to 100Gbps all with off the shelf transceivers over either 1 or 2 cores of single mode fibre. Note not all combinations supported.

    6. Re:How does it help? by AmiMoJo · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Qi has already won. Almost all wirelessly charged devices use the Qi standard, especially phones. Qi has the advantage of not requiring any data transfer, so the "free" chargers in coffee shops don't get to spy on you. Receivers can be extremely simple and retro-fitted to almost anything that uses USB for charging.

      The other guys have lost, this is just their way of buying in to the winning standard while maintaining their contracts with people like Starbucks. What worries me is that those contracts may require future standards to log unique IDs as the competing wireless charging systems already do. No thanks.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    7. Re:How does it help? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >If you want to pay more for media and transceivers to get more distance you can use fiber.

      Or you could just use Arcnet. You'll save money on media but you'll spend a little bit of it on the dip switches to change the settings on the card. And yes, get off my lawn!

    8. Re:How does it help? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      To the people modding down: whoosh. You completely missed the point that no industry allows a device to survive which doesn't enable data collection.

      Too subtle for Slashdot? My, have we gone down hill..

    9. Re:How does it help? by Twinbee · · Score: 1

      Just seems a bit paranoid to me. Also, I'm sure there are good points to using data aside from privacy implications.

      --
      Why OpalCalc is the best Windows calc
  5. There''s a Voltron joke here somewhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I just can't make it work...

    1. Re:There''s a Voltron joke here somewhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I just can't make it work...

      You have the ability. Search deep within yourself and you can accomplish anything.

  6. Jesus help us. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wireless charging is of the devil.

    1. Re:Jesus help us. by plover · · Score: 1

      F**king magnets, how do they work?

      --
      John
  7. Doesn't include Qi by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Except the catch is that it doesn't include the Wireless Power Consortium who makes Qi. Without Qi you still pretty much have two standards, it just seems that the the rest of the industry has banded together to fight the one standard that has actually been shipping on devices.

    Although now that qualcomm quick charge 2.0 is shipping in devices I will no longer care about wireless charging until it is much faster.

  8. Palm Pre by JDAustin · · Score: 1

    And yet none of the current wireless chargers are as good as the ones for my Palm Pre (6 years ago). You didnt need a car mount with the pre charger...

  9. The alliance. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Alliance for Wireless Power and the Power Matters Alliance

    I hope they call the result the 'Alliance for Alliance' or maybe the The Power for Power.

    1. Re:The alliance. by greg1104 · · Score: 1

      #WirelessPowerMatters to align with recent social media promotion trends.

  10. FM reception by bickerdyke · · Score: 1

    I had one of those wireless chargers on my desk, but that completly broke FM radio reception. (streaming is no option due to company security policies)

    --
    bickerdyke
    1. Re:FM reception by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      I have a cheap chinese one on my desk that works just fine and isn't affecting anything.

    2. Re:FM reception by bickerdyke · · Score: 1

      I had those effects with both a (I guess also cheap chinese) qi-compliant and a high-end apple mouse charger.

      --
      bickerdyke
    3. Re:FM reception by virtualXTC · · Score: 1
      I have had the oppsite exprence:

      The cheap (~$10) chineese chargers = no interference, but you really need a 3A supply if you are going to use it with GPS on and hope to keep your device at least even on power. I bought 2 because the first one didn't use a micro usb input which meant I had to have an extra cable if I wanted to directly connect for a faster charge.

      The expensive OWL charger ($50 and also not mini or micro usb) which I got for my dad as a present totally messes up the radio and only comes with a 1A charger so I'm guessing it can't keep up (never used it long enough to find out due to the radio interference and aux in hiss it generated). I contacted OWL about a fix or refund, but have yet to receive a response.

  11. The two groups which nobody uses decide to merge by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    qi FTW!

  12. Great news for early adopters by DrXym · · Score: 4, Funny

    It means that regardless of which alliance you got behind your tech is now obsolete.

    1. Re:Great news for early adopters by dohzer · · Score: 1

      Which is why you never adopt early. I mean, what is this... amateur hour?!

  13. The names remind me of Monty Python by turp182 · · Score: 1

    Off topic, but I believe comical enough given the name similarities of the organizations...

    From Life of Brian:

    Brian: Excuse me. Are you the Judean People's Front?

    Reg: Fuck off! 'Judean People's Front'. We're the People's Front of Judea! 'Judean People's Front'.

    Francis: Wankers.

    --
    BlameBillCosby.com
    1. Re: The names remind me of Monty Python by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Splitter!

    2. Re:The names remind me of Monty Python by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Off topic, but I believe comical enough given the name similarities of the organizations...

      From Life of Brian:

      Brian: Excuse me. Are you the Judean People's Front?

      Reg: Fuck off! 'Judean People's Front'. We're the People's Front of Judea! 'Judean People's Front'.

      Francis: Wankers.

      Came here for this. "Are you the Wireless Power Alliance? Fuck off! 'Wireless Power Alliance'. We're the Alliance for Wireless Power!"

  14. Figures by cdrudge · · Score: 1

    It figures that this news comes out now. Yesterday I ordered 3 QI receivers for my family's Galaxy S4 phones and 8 charging pads to charge them and two other tablets. I'll eventually get to toss em on on the pile of technology I was on the losing side of, next to the HD-DVDs, plasma screen, Betamax player...

    1. Re:Figures by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Probably not. QI isn't one of the groups in the merger. The 3 standards are QI, AWP, and PMA. PMA and AWP are merging to make chargers that work with both AWP and PMA devices. So after the merger the 3 standards will be QI, AWP, and PMA but there will only be 2 types of chargers: QI and AWP+PMA.

      FTFA there's no new standard being created; existing products aren't obsoleted.

  15. it's past time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    for household and office electrical systems to have a single socket, multiple DC voltage, that would be used for almost all electronics. Gone are the days of needing to boost voltage for TV's and radios, everything in my house has a low voltage buss inside. I think it'll need 5, 12, 24 and maybe 48 volt integrated. Use one power converter to take the 120v line and create the DC circuits. With switching supplies, this will be more efficient than 15 wall-warts and all the power supplies in the TV, PC, clock radios in my house. We'll still need 120 and 240 for large appliances.

    1. Re:it's past time by ArcadeMan · · Score: 1

      It would also mean we could use LED lighting without needing an AC/DC converter in each damn light "bulb". At the very least we should have sockets with a built-in AC/DC converter and use regular LED lights made for RVs or something.

      --
      Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
  16. Wireless charging should be banned by ArcadeMan · · Score: 2

    Wireless charging is less effective than charging with a physical connection, meaning there is wasted energy in the process.

    I don't know if you noticed but the whole planet is going at war over sources of energy.

    Wasting energy just so it's a little less annoying to recharge toys is just plain stupid.

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    Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
    1. Re:Wireless charging should be banned by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      >Wasting energy just so it's a little less annoying to recharge toys is just plain stupid.

      FWIW, for many people this decision is about device wear and tear more than convenience. If you've ever had to replace the USB connector on your phone or had the USB connector fail and your device nearly go up in smoke (often when you hear reports of phones catching fire it's because the USB cable or the USB connector in the phone wore out, shorted inside the connector and overheated) then you might be a little more interested in a wireless solution.

      That said... almost 50% of the energy is lost. From an engineering perspective, I really take issue with these technologies.

    2. Re:Wireless charging should be banned by ArcadeMan · · Score: 1

      That means we need better USB connectors, not wireless charging.

      Also, why not make a standard connector at the bottom of smartphones, like those on wireless phones? It works for those phones, why not smartphones? The hardest part would be to get Apple on-board with the idea but there's that's not an engineering problem since it's already been done and we know it works. Put your smartphone on a charging station/dock, done. It's easier than connecting a wire and there's no losses like wireless power transmission.

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    3. Re:Wireless charging should be banned by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Real wireless charging, where you transmit power over a distance without wires if very wasteful. Connectionless charging, where the device is basically touching the charger, which is pulled in with a wire, is pretty efficient. Sure it's not as efficient as a electrical connection, but it isn't that bad. Then again, if you find it so hard to plug in your phone, get a doc. It's as easy as these connectionless chargers and works better.

      I'm not to worried about connectionless charging, because it's a solution looking for a problem. Wireless charging is a fairy tail.

    4. Re:Wireless charging should be banned by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Isn't it more energy efficient to just walk up to someone and talk to them instead of using a computer? Computers should be banned for communication.

  17. doesn't need to be faster by electrosoccertux · · Score: 1

    couple things:

    * you need to buy a quality Qi charger. Lots of the cheap ones on Amazon are aweful. Having purchased 11 and shipped back 7 to Amazon, I personally recommend the Gmyle Qi black pad, but they are out of stock of the microUSB port one in black (useful if you want to rapid charge faster). A good charger does 750mA screen on, 1A screen off. There are some apps with the ability to monitor current draw, set to log when screen off so you can track performance. Many of the cheaper chargers will start at 1A but after a weak peter out to 400mA or so which, I agree, is too slow. Usually replacing the wall-wart with a solid supply is all that's necessary, or just buy a better Qi charger.
    * you have one at your desk at work, and at home at your computer, and by your night stand. For $10 each that's cheap convenience. You leave it on the pad any time you're at the station.
    * your current solution of just using the quick charge still wears out the microUSB port. I mounted a pad inside the CD tray of my car using rubber feet as guides. Pretty convenient, but most trips are short enough that I need to use a rapid charger.

    1. Re: doesn't need to be faster by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 1

      your current solution of just using the quick charge still wears out the microUSB port

      one of the clever things about MicroUSB is that the wear parts are in the cable, not the port. Most people won't ever use up the 10,000 or so insertions they're rated for.

      --
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      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
    2. Re: doesn't need to be faster by electrosoccertux · · Score: 1

      no, female side definitely still wears

  18. SAR by fxsoap · · Score: 1

    I'm curious if this technology could cause people who are sensitive to SAR radiation have the same issue. I've known a few people who would get pretty severe head aches from using certain cell phones.

    Seems like it could happen with all the extra spilling in the air around people...

    Those who aren't familiar:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specific_absorption_rate