Does anything on the market have the interface Apple showed? I mean would it show the status of all three devices like the photo? Unsure if that was an Apple specific interface or other charges show this as a property of iOS 13?
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Mophie Working on AirPower Replacement Able to Wirelessly Charge Multiple Devices Regardless of Position
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Does anything on the market have the interface Apple showed? I mean would it show the status of all three devices like the photo? Unsure if that was an Apple specific interface or other charges show this as a property of iOS 13?
You could also make a similar argument on project Titan, Apple’s failed attempt at self driving cars. Surely if Apple can’t do it then no one can right...oh wait, Tesla did it because they know what they are focused on, cars. Apple is a computer and software company. They are not a car company or an expert in wireless charging.
How are they going to charge the proprietary watch? oh, they won’t. Just CES attention seeking.
lol. There are a lot of things that Apple is not capable of doing, while others can.
Why don't they just make a base with a few coils that sense where the devices' charging coils are located and move with servos to center the charging coil under the devices' charging coils rather than trying to layer dozens of immovable coils that tend to overheat. All of this comes down to cost of device including the R&D costs and manufacturing to market said device at a dollar amount that a consumer will purchase. Other words, with Anker and others making cheap single-coil charging pads and stands that "works" why would anyone want to pay so much for an "AirPower-like" device. "You" can make it but will "they" buy it? That's the question. I've tried the expensive multi-device Qi charging pads from multiple vendors and they are just too finicky for placement and the cheap Anker pads just work without bright lights etc.
I don’t think consumers purchase a ‘wireless charging pad’ for speed, they just want the convenience of setting the device down in a dark environment or without having to search for the lightning port with a cable. If you want fast, your only option is a fast charger.
I understand the "place it anywhere on the mat" mentality.
But then you'll have a device with 16 or more small coils... when you only really need a few (or one big one)
If plugging in cables is too difficult... is placing your phone in the proper spot difficult too? Do you really need a pad three times larger than your device just because you can't place it properly?
I prefer charging stands for phones since they remain upright and you can see the screen. And there's only one place to put it anyway (no alignment issues). Same for Watch stands too (thanks to the magnet).
But these large pads with an excessive amount of coils just seem like a waste to me.
Hell... why not put 100 little coils under your desk so you can really put it anywhere!
But then you'll have a device with 16 or more small coils... when you only really need a few (or one big one)
If plugging in cables is too difficult... is placing your phone in the proper spot difficult too? Do you really need a pad three times larger than your device just because you can't place it properly?
I prefer charging stands for phones since they remain upright and you can see the screen. And there's only one place to put it anyway (no alignment issues). Same for Watch stands too (thanks to the magnet).
But these large pads with an excessive amount of coils just seem like a waste to me.
Hell... why not put 100 little coils under your desk so you can really put it anywhere!
That's pretty much my use case, I have a wireless charger on my nightstand and can just drop the phone there before I go to sleep. It has all night to charge so I don't care if it's slow.
Any other charging I do is wired, because if I'm charging during the day it's likely because my battery is unexpectedly low and I need to get as much charge into it as possible while I'm at the charger.
just because mophie may be able to do it doesn't mean Apple's engineers absolutely couldn't do it. my theory is that if they are able to make it, they probably won't support Apple Watch and would probably use less coils which would have less coverage (may result in lower charging efficiency == slower). essentially Apple engineers likely had far more constraints than mophie.
how do you "sense" where the device coils are? need to figure that out while keeping in line with the QI charging standard so that all QI devices work, meaning you can't stick a sensor in the iPhone and have the iPhone tell AirPower "I'm at coordinates 32.1239, -40.9292 with respect to the mat".
then you have to figure out how to build the motor to move the QI coil in 2 dimensions in this thin device.
then you have to build three QI coils and have the motor(s) move all three coils (make sure you have enough power from a 30W charger to power all three coils + motor to move all three coils).
then what happens if you placed device 1 on the left, device 2 on the slight-left-middle, and device 3 in the middle, REMOVED device 2, then add device 4 on the right? does the coil in the middle jump over the coil that's charging device 3? seeing as how the arms moving the coil can't collide, coil #2 can't "go around" coil #3. the only option is for coil #3 to disconnect from device 3, move to 4, then have coil #2 charge device #4. but then what if you placed devices in vertical arrangment (airpods on bottom, watch on top)? can't charge like that. so then you have to think about how to tell the user "NOPE, can't charge like that, please move it to horizontal arrangement".
i assume the motor would add more cost, even more than adding 30 QI coils into a single device. and anything with a motor will die out quickly so need to test the longevity. and i assume the motor would add thickness to the device. and maybe the motor would likely be loud. are all of these compromises worth it?
how do you "sense" where the device coils are? need to figure that out while keeping in line with the QI charging standard so that all QI devices work, meaning you can't stick a sensor in the iPhone and have the iPhone tell AirPower "I'm at coordinates 32.1239, -40.9292 with respect to the mat".
then you have to figure out how to build the motor to move the QI coil in 2 dimensions in this thin device.
then you have to build three QI coils and have the motor(s) move all three coils (make sure you have enough power from a 30W charger to power all three coils + motor to move all three coils).
then what happens if you placed device 1 on the left, device 2 on the slight-left-middle, and device 3 in the middle, REMOVED device 2, then add device 4 on the right? does the coil in the middle jump over the coil that's charging device 3? seeing as how the arms moving the coil can't collide, coil #2 can't "go around" coil #3. the only option is for coil #3 to disconnect from device 3, move to 4, then have coil #2 charge device #4. but then what if you placed devices in vertical arrangment (airpods on bottom, watch on top)? can't charge like that. so then you have to think about how to tell the user "NOPE, can't charge like that, please move it to horizontal arrangement".
i assume the motor would add more cost, even more than adding 30 QI coils into a single device. and anything with a motor will die out quickly so need to test the longevity. and i assume the motor would add thickness to the device. and maybe the motor would likely be loud. are all of these compromises worth it?
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Mophie won't really feel the heat and be in a spotlight when this thing doesn't work as it should. While Apple has to do things close to perfect, otherwise it will get showered with lawsuits, plus the damage it's reputation. It feels as Apple has thrown a bone to Mophie
Do you work for Apple? Have you actually been involved in the actual project or are you talking out of your ass, as people tend to often do around here? Don't even bother answering, I know it is the latest.
Do you work for Apple? Have you actually been involved in the actual project or are you talking out of your ass, as people tend to often do around here? Don't even bother answering, I know it is the latest.
Because Apple can’t have some engineers on hand that are really competent and focused on charging.
I use the Mophie 3 in 1 charger at the moment. Really like it. It’s the fabric covered one. Tried the AirUnleashed but it was very hit and miss to get the correct alignment. It did charge my watch and has a magnet to keep it in place but again even with the correct alignment sometimes my was failed to charge. Would be very interested in this if they can pull it off. If not I will look the the new Nomad charger when it’s released.
Good point.
And with most bands it is more convenient to have a stand, so I see no problems in having a spot dedicated to the Watch.
I wish it was Qi compatible so I could charge it on a Qi mat at least while traveling, as I need to bring a cable only to charge the Watch. AirPower would have solved that problem, I don't think I'd have spent a lot of money on that but for a frequent traveler it looked like a great accessory.
Let's see if Mophie is able to deliver a product similar to AirPower with Watch support.
No third party could do this because they don’t have full access to iOS WatchOS and AirPod firmware.
Apple weren’t proposing a place anywhere charging pad. They wanted it to detect WHAT was being charged and pass all that information to the iPhones display, They wanted it to meet a set power efficiency limit.
If you read the other threads above about working in large organizations, I think it would paint a better picture. Yes, Apple could hire great engineers on charging but at the same time when you think about it, cook has several SVP’s that are responsible for different products and i’m pretty sure when he has to make a decision which products over run their budget on R&D and what gets cut first, he wouldn’t have hesitated on this. Pretty sure the SVP over this charging mat could have gone and opened up apples purse and thrown more $$$ at an exceptional group of engineers to solve this problem, but at what cost to the bottom line? Odds are it would have been a more negative impact than what the product was worth for the lifetime of its existence.
Wireless charging is really quite underwhelming isn’t it?
Keynote slides, I think you’ll find!
Tbh, the idea is cool, but in my opinion, this is a complete non-issue for most people.
I've been using wireless charging for both my iPhone and AirPods exclusively now for a couple of years, and not once have I not put it in the correct place for charging.
The only time I can see this being cool technology is if it was, for example, built into a desk, and the whole desk was able to charge your devices regardless of position - but we are a long way off of that!
I've been using wireless charging for both my iPhone and AirPods exclusively now for a couple of years, and not once have I not put it in the correct place for charging.
The only time I can see this being cool technology is if it was, for example, built into a desk, and the whole desk was able to charge your devices regardless of position - but we are a long way off of that!
Nope. Neither of those, or any other charging pad, allows you to charge the Apple Watch without the dedicated puck.
Not only that, it looks like Nomad bought the Aira.
This isn't a replacement to AirPower, the difference here is the different sized coils AirPower was going to have. Apple wanted a device that could do Qi charging as well as watch charging. This is just the larger qi coils. Hence why Zagg and others have released this device. Zagg released an x-ray image for this that was shown on another news site, it shows only the larger coils are inside this.