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Qi is everywhere. The problem is that Starbucks announced this project back in 2012 when Powermat was more well known. Google, and others, shifted from supporti

Qi is everywhere. The problem is that Starbucks announced this project back in 2012 when Powermat was more well known. Google, and others, shifted from supporting pm to qi shortly after, I believe due to licensing costs, and now the market is full of android phones that use qi. I've been using it for my last 2 phones. Works fine with a cheap Energizer charging pad. Its simple and it works. I'm now at the point where I'm annoyed with fiddling with little connectors, especially if its late at night and I'm tired and keyed it the wrong way. Less damaged cables as well. While I'm skeptical it'll be used in public spots due to the potential of theft, its really nice to have at home. From a tech perspective they both use induction. The A4WP product uses magnetic resonance, but I don't think they have a sellable product yet, but in theory they could charge your phone from across the room. I think demos have only shown it work from a few inches away. This solution is very non-green considering the inverse sq law. I have a feeling that there will be pushback if people are wasting 2x or 5x the energy to charge their devices, as well as larger electricity bills. Not to mentionn, Joe User asking about "radiation." The war isn't over because Apple hasn't picked a side. I imagine they'll go with pm to be difficult and to hurt Android's qi based phones. "Oh, you can't charge here, its iPhone only," seems to be a narrative that helps sell the "exclusivity" of their devices. I also find it a little hard to believe that Starbucks would invest in all this technology without some kind of nod from Apple that this will be in their next phone. A4WP signed some agreement with PMA recently, so who knows whats going to happen here. It sounded like a desperate move to me, but now I'm not so sure with the starbucks roll-out and the Apple wildcard at play. http://www.theverge.com/2014/2/11/5398066/a4wp-and-pma-merge-tech-to-win-wireless-charging-war http://www.theverge.com/2014/2/11/5398066/a4wp-and-pma-merge...

chimeracoder 12y ago
I was very excited by this title and incredibly disappointed when I read the actual article and saw that they're using Powermat. Given Starbucks's historical relationship with Apple, I'm fairly convinced now that this means that the next iPhone will have wireless charging through Powermat. Format and standardization wars benefit literally nobody (look at VHS vs. Betamax and Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD). In this case, it's even worse because it'd be fragmentation for the sake of fragmentation - from an end-user perspective, there's essentially no difference between the two[0], and the main issue is really patent royalties more than anything else[1]. [0] This was not the case with VHS and Betamax - there were clear differences between the two formats [1] http://www.dvice.com/2013-11-15/opinion-unnecessary-smartphone-wireless-charging-war http://www.dvice.com/2013-11-15/opinion-unnecessary-smartpho...
jessriedel 12y ago
> While I'm skeptical it'll be used in public spots due to the potential of theft, its really nice to have at home. Well, plug-in charging is already fairly common in coffee shops, and the cord clearly doesn't provide security. I think wireless charging will be even bigger since you just pull the phone out of your pocket and plop in on the table, rather than bring the charger with you. > From a tech perspective they both use induction. One of the other commentators mentions that he thinks Powermat is more forgiving on exact positioning of the device on the mat. Do you know if this is real/important?
- chimeracoder 12y ago
  > One of the other commentators mentions that he thinks Powermat is more forgiving on exact positioning of the device on the mat. Do you know if this is real/important? I think you're referring to gdilla, who stated (incorrectly[0]) that this Powermat's technology is less sensitive to positioning because it does not use inductive-based charging (in fact, it does). I've been using wireless charging on the Nexus 4 and Nexus 5 for a while now[1], and the main factor is simply the size of the device and the surface area of the charger. There might be some subtle difference beyond that, but if so, it's too small for me to have noticed after several months of daily use. I never have to think about it. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powermat https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powermat [1] Qi-based, just like essentially all wireless-charging devices on the market
jack-r-abbit 12y ago
> I imagine they'll go with pm to be difficult and to hurt Android's qi based phones. Disclaimer: I really dislike Apple and am not likely to ever (personally) own any iDevices in the future (although, I am the Android minority in my household). But I can't really fault them for making their own charge connector that does appear to be superior to the mini/micro USB that is standard on most other phones. It would be nice if all phones used the same connector and if it was the Lightning Plug I'd be fine with that. But if they come late to the game and pick PM or Qi just to be difficult but gain no real tech advantage... well that is just a dick move. Which is exactly the type of thing they would do, sadly. :/

chimeracoder 12y ago

I was very excited by this title and incredibly disappointed when I read the actual article and saw that they're using Powermat. Given Starbucks's historical relationship with Apple, I'm fairly convinced now that this means that the next iPhone will have wireless charging through Powermat. Format and standardization wars benefit literally nobody (look at VHS vs. Betamax and Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD). In this case, it's even worse because it'd be fragmentation for the sake of fragmentation - from an end-user perspective, there's essentially no difference between the two[0], and the main issue is really patent royalties more than anything else[1]. [0] This was not the case with VHS and Betamax - there were clear differences between the two formats [1] http://www.dvice.com/2013-11-15/opinion-unnecessary-smartphone-wireless-charging-war http://www.dvice.com/2013-11-15/opinion-unnecessary-smartpho...

jessriedel 12y ago

> While I'm skeptical it'll be used in public spots due to the potential of theft, its really nice to have at home. Well, plug-in charging is already fairly common in coffee shops, and the cord clearly doesn't provide security. I think wireless charging will be even bigger since you just pull the phone out of your pocket and plop in on the table, rather than bring the charger with you. > From a tech perspective they both use induction. One of the other commentators mentions that he thinks Powermat is more forgiving on exact positioning of the device on the mat. Do you know if this is real/important?

chimeracoder 12y ago
> One of the other commentators mentions that he thinks Powermat is more forgiving on exact positioning of the device on the mat. Do you know if this is real/important? I think you're referring to gdilla, who stated (incorrectly[0]) that this Powermat's technology is less sensitive to positioning because it does not use inductive-based charging (in fact, it does). I've been using wireless charging on the Nexus 4 and Nexus 5 for a while now[1], and the main factor is simply the size of the device and the surface area of the charger. There might be some subtle difference beyond that, but if so, it's too small for me to have noticed after several months of daily use. I never have to think about it. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powermat https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powermat [1] Qi-based, just like essentially all wireless-charging devices on the market

jack-r-abbit 12y ago

> I imagine they'll go with pm to be difficult and to hurt Android's qi based phones. Disclaimer: I really dislike Apple and am not likely to ever (personally) own any iDevices in the future (although, I am the Android minority in my household). But I can't really fault them for making their own charge connector that does appear to be superior to the mini/micro USB that is standard on most other phones. It would be nice if all phones used the same connector and if it was the Lightning Plug I'd be fine with that. But if they come late to the game and pick PM or Qi just to be difficult but gain no real tech advantage... well that is just a dick move. Which is exactly the type of thing they would do, sadly. :/