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What's up with Qi charging anyway? We've had well-implemented inductive charging starting with the Palm Pre in 2009, but very few devices since then. It was on
by imglorp 8y ago
What's up with Qi charging anyway?
We've had well-implemented inductive charging starting with the Palm Pre in 2009, but very few devices since then. It was on the Nexus 5 but not the 6 or the Pixels, I think. It adds very little hardware and enormous value. I dreamed of inductive charging everywhere, incorporated into desks, tables, and cars. But no.
So, what happened to prevent its wide adoption long ago?
- gumby 8y agoIt's a harder problem than it looks: since it's typically pretty inefficient, how do you manage the signalling to get the right amount of power into the target device (you have 1/r2 issues, alignment issues, and insulation issues) without heating everything up and wasting power. I think that's why Apple's Airpower pad has quietly been put down -- heat. The current Qi protocol is pretty low power.
- imglorp 8y agoTrue, but the Pre and the Nexus 5 both did an excellent job. The latter was Qi branded, the former was Palm's proprietary. The N5/Qi was 2013.
- Fnoord 8y agoI've been using that on my electric toothbrush before 2009, but it probably has nowhere near as big of a battery as a smartphone.