New technologies emerge on an almost constant basis and the
smartphone industry has a knack at launching features that will ultimately lead
to the loss of separate devices. The compact camera device is slowly disappearing
with mobile phones boasting 13 megapixel cameras and GPS navigation can be
downloaded as an app. The next thing to go could be the mobile phone mains
charger!
Wireless charging has been around for a while, most electric
toothbrushes use this, but the mobile phone manufacturers are signing up to the
Qi standard so that mobile phones can be wirelessly charged on any charging
base station. We could see in the near future a single wireless charging pad in
a home that charges phones, tablets, iPods and any other small electrical
device,
At present there are wireless charging pads in Heathrow
Airport and McDonald’s is trialling the system in its European restaurants. The
beauty of this system will be the convenience of being able to charge a mobile
phone anywhere when out and about. There are several phones on the market
already offering this service and we will mention these later on.
How it works
The system is fairly easy to understand. The charging pad
takes a normal electric current and via an induction coil it coverts this into
an alternating electromagnetic field. The mobile phone then does the reverse.
An induction coil in the phone picks up the energy in the electromagnetic field
and converts this back into an electrical current for charging the battery.
The Qi standard means any device can be charged on any
charging pad. The mobile phone manufacturers have tackled incorporating this
technology in several ways. Some smartphones have this built in, others use a
special back cover and others simply slide into a charging sleeve. At the
moment the charging pads, back cases and sleeves where needed, will be an
additional accessory to purchase but this may well change before too long.
Pro’s and con’s
All emerging technologies experience a development stage and
this highlights the pro’s and con’s. On the pro side of things the devices will
make charging more flexible, there is a reduced risk of damaging the product as
there are no charging pins to connect and there is also a reduced risk of electric
shock and corrosion as there are no exposed conductors.
On the con side of things the technology is slightly less
efficient, slower to charge and the hardware is more expensive but newer models
are tackling these areas.
The mobile phones
These phones are currently available in the UK marketplace
and were released in either 2012 or 2013.
Wireless charging built in
LG/Google Nexus 4
HTC Windows Phone 8X
LG Optimus LTE2
Nokia Lumia 820
Nokia Lumia 920
Wireless charging via a special back cover
Samsung Galaxy S4
Wireless charging via a sleeve
BlackBerry Bold
BlackBerry Curve
Apple iPhone 4S
Samsung Galaxy S III
Samsung Galaxy Note II
The list of mobile phones that support wireless charging was
kindly provided by MobilePhones.com who provides contract phones and phone
deals in the UK.