This is a daily opinion column written by Lowell Heddings, the founder of How-To Geek, featuring his take on the latest in the world of technology.
I’m pretty sure there’s a wire in that picture.
Soon, Power Will Be Delivered to Your Device by Air (WSJ Paywall)
What is coming are hermetically sealed smartphones and other gadgets that charge without ever plugging into a wall. And soon after there will be sensors, cameras and controllers that can be stuck to any surface, indoors or out, without the need to consider how to connect them to power.
Wireless power will be, in other words, not just a convenience, but a fundamental enabler of whole new platforms. The players in this field are myriad, but their technology can be boiled down to four basic types
There are a bunch of different types of “wireless” power, and they aren’t all the same. And most of them don’t really exist yet — they are still being worked on by companies that hope to be able to produce a groundbreaking new product. But many questions remain about whether they can actually achieve what they claim, since wireless charging can’t transmit power as efficiently as a wire.
Wireless Charging Pads Seem Silly to Me
The first kind of wireless power is a charging pad like the one pictured above, which is supported by some Android phones, and by a bunch of third-party cases that you can add to your phone. You set your phone down on the pad, and it will charge without specifically plugging it in — although it will generally charge a lot slower than if you had plugged it in. And how hard, really, is it to plug the little cable in versus setting the phone down specifically on the charging pad? On average it takes me about 3 seconds to plug my phone in, and 20-30 minutes later my phone is charged to 80%. You’re going to need to leave your phone on a charging pad for a lot longer to get a similar charge. So are you really saving time?
Another problem with charging pads is that you can only charge your device wherever you have a charging pad — so if you aren’t at home, you’re still going to need to bring a cable with you. There’s still a wire involved, connecting the wall to the pad, just a few inches from your phone. It’s really not wireless, it’s plug-less. But that isn’t as great of a marketing term.
But the biggest problem, IMO, with “wireless” charging pads is that you can’t use your smartphone or tablet while it’s charging, because it needs to be sitting on the pad. You might be reminded of hilarious pictures you’ve seen online of people sitting in awkward positions to charge their phone with the short included cable, but it only costs a few dollars to buy a nice long cable that allows you to sit comfortably, using your device, while it is also charging.
When your battery is down to 1% and you want to keep playing your game or typing a message to a friend, having to place it on a stupid pad on a table isn’t a good solution.
Truly Wireless Power is On the Horizon, Maybe
There are a lot of other companies working on wireless power, including one using magnets and a few others using sound or radio waves. The idea is that energy is already being beamed through the air and if it could be harnessed, it could be used to charge a device.
The problem is that physics gets in the way, because you can only beam so much energy through the air before you start cooking things like a microwave. So these technologies are more focused on trickling power to devices in a way that can’t hurt people. If your smartphone was (very) slowly being charged all day long while you sit in your office, home, or car, the battery might not run out by the end of the day. Or that’s the idea, at least.
The much more interesting angle for this type of power is for tiny little sensors and other devices in your home that normally would require a battery, like home security sensors on your doors and windows, or a temperature and humidity sensor placed in various locations in your house. So instead of requiring that every tiny little device gets plugged into an outlet, they could be wirelessly powered from a central hub.
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