- Sunday, 22 November 2009
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The thing with high tech is that you always end up using scissors - David Hockney
Powermat comes to the UK
WIRELESS CHARGING outfit Powermat has launched inductive coupling products in the UK that allow wireless charging of mobile phones and other electronic devices.
There are two versions of the mat available, a thin home and office version and a portable fold-up unit. Both can wirelessly charge up to three devices at a time and include a USB port as well to charge one more device the traditional way.
To wirelessly charge one of your gadgets you'll need to equip it with one of the receivers. In the case of some Blackberrys this can be done with a replacement back cover, while the Apple Iphone and Ninentdo DS get a special cover which has the receiver embedded in it.
There is also the option of using an Apple dock accessory for Ipods, and most other devices can be charged using the Powercube, a small block with a mini-USB port and a collection of other heads to connect to most of today's phones.
Once you place the receiver on the mat, an RFID tag identifies the device, how much current it requires and its battery level. The connection is monitored at all times and power transmission will cease once the connection is broken.
"Tangled wires, multiple adaptors and ugly brick chargers have become an unfortunate side-affect [sic] of the digital age," said George McGhee, managing director of Powermat Europe.
"But Powermat brings this to an end with an easy-to-use, convenient and simple system that de-clutters your home or office in style. The technology is able to scale up to address higher power applications and is flexible enough to be embedded into both existing and future device designs."
At first glance, this may not seem that much more convenient than just using a regular charger, but certainly in the case of the Blackberry we can see where Powermat is coming from, or trying to get to, rather.
The company is also working with device manufacturers and OEMs to get its technology embedded right into the units or their batteries, thereby making it a lot easier. The mat is also powerful enough to be able to charge netbooks and similarly sized devices.
Powermat couldn't give us details on who might be providing Powermat compatible devices, but it promised that there will be some related announcements coming at the CES show in January.
The guys at Powermat reckon their system has an efficiency rating of about 90 per cent but couldn't tell us what the idle power draw is. We've been given a unit to review, so we'll have our own results soon.
You can buy a Powermat from John Lewis, Amazon or Carphone Warehouse, but they aren't exactly cheap. The mat costs £70 for the home and office version and £80 for the portable one, with receivers going for between £30 and £35 each. µ
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£70 mat + £30 doo dee. or a free charger that you plug in...... nuff said. This mat only can do 3 at a time so where is the space saver? I thought that there is a drive for every1 to use mini usb anyways. so why we need this
that 90% (under most optimal circumstances) is on top of the efficiency of psu supplying the mat. I only guess that they did not bother to include the losses in the device that has to process current from an antenna. would not expect high power density either - trickle charge for patient folks only, and a new source of static noise.
just get a plug
to see 90% efficiency. I am a bit knowledgeable in PS design, and the best wired commercial (i.e. better than consumer grade) PS in the tens of watts power range may reach 90%-92%. Wall plugs consumer grades power supplies are much lower than that. Then the mat's people need to convert the juice for coupling duty - another efficiency loss path.
Now for the inductive coupling: the best coupler there is, a ferrite-based transformer, may reach 90%-96% efficiency under ideal conditions. Air coupling like in the mat are way below that level.
Overall, I would expect wall-to-gadget input at about 40-50% efficiency. However, I suspect they push the "green" aspect since it is fashionable now. The important thing for such device is functionality, convenience and price.
Say these at BestBuy just today in the states. Caught my attention and seemed like a cool idea until I saw the adapters on the phone. Not sure how many people are going to want to add a good 3mm + weight to the backside of their phones. Ugly. No thanks. Integrated into the battery maybe, otherwise, keep it.
I live in the UK and as always we get this sort of rubbish all the time when it to late, and as for ADDING another 3MM to an iphone WHY OH WHY would anyone do this.
This thing takes up more space than a charger and it will have a mains lead going to it. It is a proof of concept device, that only a fool will buy. Also Apple's battery policy is pretty shoddy and they will use any excuse not replace anything under warranty.
I'm afraid powermat current trust of publicity is because they are on the ropes.
Their propriety system is threatened by a cross company standard call "qi" anyone buying this system now could end up with the betamax of powerchargers!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_Power_Consortium
I think all the comments so far just about sum it up. However this is the future, mass cable less tech is just around the corner and about time. However this particular tech has been around for ages and i am surprised that it hasn't come further, once device manufacturers start adding the componant in their devices which will happen soon it will become the norm.
Conclusion: Def worth waiting for a year or so!!!!!
This device is obviously a big step in terms of consumer technology. While it isn't quite a refined product now, in ten years we will all be using technology that stems from 'powermat'.
Remember the early days of mobile phones? 'Why would I want one of those bulky, power-hungry things' people would say. Now, with R and D spanning over a decade the things are practical.
While this is obviously the future of charging, limiting yourself to one brand makes it expensive and potentially redundant in the long term.
Hopefully efforts like the Wireless Power Consortium will result in similar technology being integrating into devices, which will all be compatible with an 'open-standard' charger. No bulky cases, no vendor lock-in and potentially greener charging.
Devices then shouldn't need to be shipped with chargers, and unlike the current 'bricks' which are left plugged into the wall wasting electricity when they're not being used, the mats can almost completely power-down when they're not being used.
This is a great idea, but requires collaboration and integration with a large range of manufacturers to make it work well - hopefully the future will make this a reality.