Powermat wireless charging system
IN A BID to get rid of bulky chargers and tangled wires, Powermat has developed an inductive coupling wireless charging system, which it recently brought to the UK.
The Powermat itself can accommodate up to three devices at a time, and also includes a USB port which can be used for charging a fourth device. Sadly the USB port is around the back and quite recessed making it a pain to plug and unplug a cable from - rather odd given the Powermat's entire function is to solve that problem.
Each plate has a small LED light in the front which turns on when a device is charging. The unit also makes a sound when something is placed on, or taken off, the mat. Both of these features can be disabled if you prefer.
As well as the mat, you'll need receivers for whichever devices you wish to charge. The company has already released specialised covers for a few devices such as the Iphone, BlackBerry and Nintendo DS, as well as some more generic adaptors.
Small magnets are used to hold align the receiver which also contains an RFID tag to tell the mat what type of device it is and what the power requirements and levels are.
As we didn't have an Iphone or a Blackberry available, we opted for the more generic Powercube and Ipod dock accessories.
The Powercube is a small receiver ending in a mini-USB plug and also includes a selection of other heads for charging a wide variety of mobile phones and other gadgets, while the iPod dock allows you to charge just about any Ipod or Iphone around.
While these are slightly more cumbersome than something like the far more integrated replacement back plate available for the Blackberry, but still gives you a fairly good idea for how the Powermat performs.
We're happy to report that even when charging several devices at the same time, all charge at the same rate as they do when plugged into a standard wall charger.
For our tests we used an Ipod Nano 4G and an HTC Magic. Charging both at the same time on the Powermat, the Nano was fully charged in around minutes and the Magic was done in about two hours, pretty much the exact same amount of time as charging them with dedicated chargers.
The environmentally conscious reading this will probably be thinking that wireless charging is not as power efficient as using a regular charger, and our tests prove that you'd be right to think that - however Powermat has done an excellent job of keeping wastage down to a nominal level.
Without anything charging, the Powermat still draws around 0.7W, so ideally you'll want to keep it switched off at the wall when not in use, but the same could be said for standard chargers - although their idle power draw tends to be a lot lower.
On the flip side, the Powermat automatically turns off each plate when the device on it is fully charged so you don't have the issue of overcharging as when you leave a device connected to a standard charger for longer than needed.
It was difficult to get an exact idea of how much more power the Powermat used compared to a conventional charger as the power draw kept fluctuating even when just a single device was left alone to charge. But while charging the HTC Magic on its own the standard charger drew between 2.5 and 6.1W, while the Powermat drew between 3.4 and 5.9W according to our power meter. Charging the Nano and the Magic at the same time drew between 5.8W and 8.6W.
At this stage the Powermat system still has a long way to go to deliver a seamless wireless charging system, but it's still more convenient than digging out the correct charger from a drawer, plugging it in, connecting the device and then reversing the process once you're done.
Also, there is the added advantage that you only need to use a single plug socket even when charging multiple devices, which be especially useful if you have a wide range of different devices to charge.
The Powermat may be convenient, but that comes with a fairly hefty prices tag. The mat alone costs £70 for the home and office version and £80 for the portable one, with receivers going for between £30 and £35 each, which means you're looking at around £150 - £200 to get yourself started.
Powermat is more about what it will hopefully offer in the future. The company is pushing hard to get its technology embedded into big name consumer electronics devices as well as talking to OEMs to get it installed into batteries. If it can get that right, then all of a sudden it becomes a completely different prospect, one where the profile of your devices doesn't change and you literally just have to drop it on the mat to begin the charging process.
At the IFA show in Berlin earlier this year the same guys also demoed powering a large LCD TV hanging on the wall by embedding the wireless power unit into the wall itself.
Add to this plans to include charging of netbooks and similar types of devices and you begin to get a feel for the potential of this device.
It's a way off still, but the Powermat guys insist there will be some major announcements coming at the next Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas in January, so it may not be too long before their plans start coming to fruition.
At this stage for us the Powermat falls squarely into the 'nice to have' category - we like it and we'll use, but we certainly wouldn't pay the current asking price for it. That said, we look forward to seeing where it goes in the future. µ
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Just to be clear: if you leave a phone or other device with a LiPo battery on charge for longer than necessary, it _will_ stop charging at the right time. This is certain because LiPo batteries will suffer irrevocable and inevitable damage if they are overcharged so their chargers _must_ prevent this automatically. When this happens, a modern mains charger employing switching technology will waste very little energy; probably much less in a 24 hr period than the leakage from a cordless charger during the hour or two needed for a simple routine charge.
And another thing:- why are we not told the frequency at which these things operate.
Totally, and utterly pointless!
You have to plug in a adaptor to your device to get it to work with the plate? so why not just skip that phase out...and an expense and simply plug in the charger!
Ok, if every device out there used a uniform system of charging so you just dropped it on and hey presto, charging. That would be fair enough. But charging everything this was is just a waste of effort, money, and time.
Its like a beta...they have a 'wireless pad' that you can put an adapter on and plug in a usb cable? Talk about going the long route.
I for one won't be paying to make this technology a standard, they need to work something out with the vendors themselves.
This isn't going to be convenient until they do away with the need to put an adapter onto the device needing to be charged. Any idiot can see that.
its a intresting concept, but not worth it, first off this review should of been done with the proper accessories, such as iphone, blackberry, nintendo DS, 2nd you have to buy the Powermat for $100 then you pay another $29.99 - $39.99 for each device that will use the power mat, and forget those accessories like cases that you may have bought or will buy to protect your device. I'ts just not worth spending $150 - $500+ (depending on have many devices in your household) for the convience of not having to plug it in.
you are focusing on the drawbecks and no looking at the advantages.If you have multiple mobile devices (I have a Blackberry, a Nokia phone and two iPods)then you can charge them all in one place, with one wire, using one outlet. For years we've been complaining about all the chargers and all the wires and now there is a solution. It my not be perfect yet, but it's a hell of a lot better than what I had only 3 weeks ago.
Josh, you just described what is pretty much a $5 powerstrip.
So lets see you put lots of copper wire in a coil (several times more than you would need for a wire) so you can transmit power over the air less efficiently than a wire.
so you waste more copper and you waste more power,as well as making another chunk of plastic, just so you dont have to look at a wire.
Exactly what does this solve?
Your device still has to be fixed on a location and there are actually more steps involved in charging the device.
For example, with a cellphone you can leave the charger plugged in the wall and just bend down to pick the cable and plug it. Or, just get a USB cable and plug the end in the fron USB drive.
With this device, you have to get the right adapter for the device you want to charge (and program it with the needs of the device before), plug the adapter in the cellphone and then place the adapter on the charger.
Heck, it's even worse - with a regular wall charger you can actually pick up the phone and talk to it while it's charging.
Diver, when using a powerstrip, you still need a wire attaching every device. With this, you don't. Plus, the powerstrip takes more room. To me, getting rid of the clutter makes a difference. It's not just because I love gadgets (and yes, I do). Putting all the discussions aside, I simply find it convenient.
This technology will only be worth something when the induction circuitry is built into our gadgets as well.
If you can just set your gadget down on a charging mat without having to fuss around with adapter doohickeys, that's something to run out and buy straight away.