[MW Forums]

A recent Apple patent describes a method for charging devices like iPhones and iPods without requiring exposed metal contacts -- using inductive coils, instead. more

[Moof_in_Charge]

ahhh and here I was thinking this is what you're getting in to...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070607/ap[/u]onhite/wireless_power
Now this is wireless.

[bigpics]

Free from more wires and plugs: YESSSSS...

[Moof_in_Charge]

Just a point,
While the benefits of wireless charging are touted, he didn't talk about the darkside.
In this era of wasteful carbon emissions, massive energy consumption, it is a bit disturbing to see devices being offered that actually worsen the equation here, all in the name of convenience. In all of the techniques described above, more electricity is wasted and the process will never be as efficient as a simple wired connection.
I am not saying there is no need for it, I am saying if it's going to take 30-100% more electricity to charge my phone or ipod then the product is an irresponsible whimsy.
I wish MacCentral/Macworld started to include energy consumption in their product benchmark comparisons.

[bjojade]

Yeah, but then manufacturers will need to make less chargers and cables, saving energy there to offset it.
There are tons of examples on products that use energy that could otherwise be done without. Do you have carpet in your home? You should replace that with hardwood floors. Your vacuum cleaner uses more electricity than charging your phone ever would.
Electric shavers? These should be banned then too. You can do just as well of a job with a straight razor and not need electricity to do so.

[Netizen_Kane]

You beat me to it, Moof. As much as we (or at least some of us) are concerned about and try to do something the waste power bricks already bring, others offset those gains by bringing in a very inefficient charging process. There's no indication it would include any circuitry to shut it down when there's no device being charged, either, so it'd be continuously using power generating an EM field trying to charge nothing.
Whatever happened to the universal charging grid system somebody showed a few years ago? Something like a large pad with a grid of metal dots on it. Put any compatible device on it and the contacts straddle pins, so it's still a fairly efficient conductive charger, but it's more efficient since you don't need tons of wall adapters and more convenient since you don't need to plug each device in separately.

[Netizen_Kane]

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Yeah, but then manufacturers will need to make less chargers and cables, saving energy there to offset it.

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Why would you assume that? Where does it say in the article that devices can use a common inductive charger? More likely, each manufacturer will have its own design, so you'll still need a jungle of chargers for all your devices.

[flybynight]

Are you telling me that with all of these companies working on this technology - that they are actually all going to agree on which subset is best and make a "universal" charging pad like you describe? Have we learned nothing from VHS vs Beta, HD-DVD vs BluRay, and any other competing standard in the world? Heck, if it were so easy for them to get along, why isn't there just one (or even just a few) standard cell phone charger right now? It wouldn't be that hard for everyone to make their phone to use one charger. But they don't. It's not in their best interest - they make money off of those accessories... and will continue to do so no matter what the new technology is.

[flybynight]

Kane just beat me to it. Sorry to repeat, but I agree!

[heisetax]

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Yeah, but then manufacturers will need to make less chargers and cables, saving energy there to offset it.

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Why would you assume that? Where does it say in the article that devices can use a common inductive charger? More likely, each manufacturer will have its own design, so you'll still need a jungle of chargers for all your devices.

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I agree with you.
With voltages from 1.5 to 35 or more volts, how can one charger do it all?
Bill the TaxMan

[myoung]

My first thought was also that these things must be inefficient in thier power delivery. The above assumptions that manufacturers will need to make less chargers appears to be the answer used to justify these from at least one of the companies involved. This is from the faq sheet (pdf) on the wildcharge website.

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8. Does the WildCharger waste power?
No. The WildCharge system is very efficient and is designed to be compliant with the newest power conservation guidelines. Whats more, a family can share a single pad for all their devices, eliminating the need for multiple chargers and power adapters.
9. Do I need to turn off the pad when not in use?
No. When its not in use, the pad automatically switches to a standby mode.
10. Does the WildCharge pad harm the environment?
No! The WildCharger pad is environmentally friendly in that it replaces an assortment of conventional chargers. An entire family can use a single WildCharger pad to power all of their devices. In the past, a family typically had many chargers one charger per mobile device. When a new device was purchased, the old charger was thrown away. Moreover, often those corded chargers were left plugged into the wall even when not being used. These chargers burned energy simply to remain idle. A single WildCharger pad can now replace all those chargers and eliminate the wasted power for idle chargers.

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Even still, the power required to charge the same battery as a standard wall charger must be several percent greater using wireless charging, as long the wall charger is unplugged when not being used. As pointed out above this also assumes that all your devices will work with the same charging pad, which is probably unlikely.

[George76]

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Are you telling me that with all of these companies working on this technology - that they are actually all going to agree on which subset is best and make a "universal" charging pad like you describe? Have we learned nothing from VHS vs Beta, HD-DVD vs BluRay, and any other competing standard in the world? Heck, if it were so easy for them to get along, why isn't there just one (or even just a few) standard cell phone charger right now? It wouldn't be that hard for everyone to make their phone to use one charger. But they don't. It's not in their best interest - they make money off of those accessories... and will continue to do so no matter what the new technology is.

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You're exactly right. I'm sure most if not all of you have cell phones. How many of your phone chargers are interchangeable between devices? I bet the answer is probably none. Even if you only buy phones from one company like Nokia or Motorola, the chargers can't be used among the different phone models. Why? Money. It's easy money selling car chargers and extra wall chargers. Will wireless charging change that? H*ll no. Just a bigger waste of electricity.

[MacGod]

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Are you telling me that with all of these companies working on this technology - that they are actually all going to agree on which subset is best and make a "universal" charging pad like you describe? Have we learned nothing from VHS vs Beta, HD-DVD vs BluRay, and any other competing standard in the world? Heck, if it were so easy for them to get along, why isn't there just one (or even just a few) standard cell phone charger right now? It wouldn't be that hard for everyone to make their phone to use one charger. But they don't. It's not in their best interest - they make money off of those accessories... and will continue to do so no matter what the new technology is.

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How many Beta VCRs have been sold in the last few years? None, and you know why? Because the market picked a winner (as it will eventually with BluRay vs. HD-DVD). If this technology becomes cheap and easy to access, there will be a HUGE financial incentive for companies to add support. Put it this way: let's say Nokia makes a phone that supports wireless charging or wired charging; Motorola makes one that only supports wired charging. Consumers see enough of an advantage and "wow" factor to desire wirless charging and they buy the Nokia. Nokia makes more profit, etc.
The phone industry is a cutthroat one; anything that can give them a leg up on their competitors is good. You're right, they don't all standardise on one wired-charger plug design, but that's because there's no advantage of plug A vs. plug B. But if I have a wireless charging pad there's a MAJOR advantage of wireless charging over wired, so it's a desirable feature and I'll look for it on my next phone. Companies that don't support it will lose my business.
Put another way: you point out that every phone company has its own connector for its chargers. This is true. But guess what? They all adhere to one standard when plugging into the wall (well, one per country anyway)-i.e. the three-pronged 120V 60Hz plug in North America-and one standard for car plug-the 12V DC round plug. They all connect to a computer via either a single wired standard (USB) or a single wireless one (BlueTooth). Why? Because of IEEE/ISO standards and the market forces have pushed them to standardisation. If such standards and market acceptance comes of wireless power, I don't see this being any different.

[OM_user]

Unfortunately, I tend to agree with you all. The problem is that the scientists who come up with technology such as wireless charging envision a utopian world where all devices get along and communicate and work with each other effortlessly. it's a wonderful vision then it gets into the hands of the big companies and they all want to have their own version and/or standard.
I can just imagine Microsoft having their own version, Apple having their own versions, every phone manufacturer having their own unique chargers, etc. We'll just be in the same mess we're in now with having to have multiple charging pads or whatever for each device.
What needs to happen is a standards board needs to take control of this situation somehow and implement a standard that all device manufacturers need to comply with. But it probably won't happen, because there is too much money to be made with this tech.