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Or how about a household with multiple i-devices? Instead of having to plug each and every one of them, you can lay them all on a power mat, placed in a common area like the living room, freeing up sockets and eliminating the need for redundant cables!

This. You should see my dang kitchen counter with 4 iPhones and a couple of iPods in the family. It's a white spaghetti mess when everyone wants to charge.
 
so u don't have to plug in the cable

Really? So how does the pad get electricity? Oh, you mean I still have to plug it into the wall? That sounds like a charging accessory to me.
Yep.

Instead of searching for the cable, turning it around properly (I guess this is not the case with Lightning), and putting it in... you just place your phone on a magnetic pad and it will charge.

Obviously it's not a necessity at all, but it would have been a cool feature to have.

Funny, because I use my phone when it's charging a fair amount of the time. The USB cable is ridiculously short enough but now you want me to use something that stops charging when I pick up the phone? Yes, that makes a lot of sense.
 
Since we're talking future products here then lets bring NFC into the mix

First off, with iPads and (older) iPhones having different charging plugs then a charging mat would eliminate the search for the "right" charger. But consider a bedside or car NFC sticker inside that charging mat set for 'bedtime" or "car" modes? Place your phone on a charging mat at your bed and it changes your DND settings, or in your car and it pulls up Pandora, GPS and adjusts your volume all WIRELESSLY. Nobody could deny the usefulness of that.

CNet:The most practical, creative ways to use NFC with your Android device
On the bedside table
If you have a phone dock by your bed (or want to DIY your own), place a tag near the dock and program it to disable sounds, enable any alarms, disable auto-sync, disable the notification LED, and decrease the brightness.
 
How does it compare to a dock stand?

So wireless charging, as currently implemented, can be considered a less efficient, more expensive version of the iPhone dock? :confused: (Which, admittedly, Apple doesn't sell anymore. :( ) What advantage over said dock would wireless charging give to an iPhone? I can see it being slightly easier to get the charging going, but it's not exactly difficult to utilize a dock and it's connector.

P8030818.jpg
 
i likely would not take advantage of wireless charging. cord is quicker for now and more versatile as i can use it anywhere there is either USB or A/C - i'm not lugging a charging pad around with me and i'm not buying multiple ones for the home, car, office and for travel... one cord to rule them all.

the advantage of wireless charging is I lay the phone down on a pad versus plugging it into a cord. not enough payoff for me. and one of the shortcomings of coreded charging, aligning the pins correctly has been resolved with lightning - so the potential benefit for ME is now very limited.
 
no one is ever going to argue effectively against someone else's convenience.

i'd love inductive charging, and would likely setup three or four bases around my house; but i'm not going to cry over it when it doesn't show up in the next iphone.
 
I think wireless charging is still a gimmick. It isn't really supposed to be called wireless charging. Perhaps more of a conductive charging.
If wireless charging manages to take it to the next level by allowing us to charge our phones while we use our phones on our palms, that is what I call a useful, non-gimmicky feature. Right now, it is extremely convenient to place our phones on a charging mat, but extremely irritable to have to constantly take it off the mat to use and see your iPhone disconnect from charging only to put it back on the mat again for it to charge. This, to me, is an annoyance.
 
A lot of folks on the board seem to be disappointed about the lack of wireless charging on the iPhone 5. What benefit does this honestly offer? Didn't Palm used to charge wirelessly?

It's the future. It's inevitable.
 
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Wireless Charging isn't a necessity but I had a Palm Pre and the wireless touchstone really was amazing so I'd love to see it get introduced into an Apple product.
Same here! The TouchStone functionality of the Pre was stellar! The snap to orientation of the magnets... the simple, small design and ease of use... People who knock wireless / inductive charging haven't used a phone that does it well. Why couldn't the iPhone use both inductive and traditional like the Lumia 920? Best of both worlds.
 
It's the future. It's inevitable.

I still contend the future is an extra long battery. It appears that Apple's goal isn't to change charge methodology but instead to limit the amount of time the phone charges.
 
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Honestly, this sounds like one of those fancy features it'd be nice to have but you'd never use. I always have an iPod/iPad data cable plugged in and on my desk. There's no point adding a new peripheral.
 
Also, there was a rumour (possibly based on a patent) floating around that new iMacs might have proximity components built in that would allow iPhones/iPads in future to charge wirelessly directly when they are in range. That would be very handy for people who sit at desks all day/night…
 
Great things about wireless charging:

(1) Cant use your device while charging!
(2) Charging is more inefficient and takes longer.
(3) Requires expensive charging pads that take up countertop space.
(4) Requires components that severely limit the engineer of a thinner device.
(5) It's easier to charge your phone when drunk.

Sounds about right.

If there was a wireless charging option I would probably never use it. I prefer to be able to use my device whenever I feel like it.
 
Apple-in-the-future: "Introducing, wireless charging!"

Apple fans: "Wireless charging is the best!"


Need a more current example?

Before: "I like that the iPhone is heavy. The weight gives it a premium feel."

Today: "iPhone 5 is lighter than the competition. Amazing!"


Hey, it's great the iPhone is getting better, but it's also entertaining to watch the flippity floppities. :D
 
The type of wireless charging that would truly be of benefit would be one where you can leave it in your pocket while it's charging. You'd just need to be a few feet from the wireless charging device plugged into your car's power adapter as you drive or by the charging device plugged into a nearby wall (think "night stand or desk").

I would rather not have wireless charging happening that close to my family jewels. Im just sayin.
 
So wireless charging, as currently implemented, can be considered a less efficient, more expensive version of the iPhone dock? :confused: (Which, admittedly, Apple doesn't sell anymore. :( ) What advantage over said dock would wireless charging give to an iPhone? I can see it being slightly easier to get the charging going, but it's not exactly difficult to utilize a dock and it's connector.

Image

How many docks would one need to charge a family full of iDevices? Pad would be easier.
 
True wireless charging is still in the works and won't be long before its available. What we have today as "wireless charging" is gimmicky. Yea it's wireless but has none of the benefits of wireless charging. I am waiting for the day of DOCK/PADless wireless charging


The pad would be inconvenient in multiple iDevices. I don't want my iPhone to be charged with my family's iPhone in one spot. And what if I have to charge everyones iPad? Would I need a carpet sized pad? Again give us wireless charging without having to use a pad or dock. Then I'd be on board
 
You know, I thought wireless charging was the stuff I saw them posting an article about last year about maybe apple using. Which wasn't the stuff we see now where you have to put the phone on the charger but that the phone just had to be a certain distance from the charger.

Yeah, the first type, I'd rather have a cable. Cause even if you have a charger that props up the phone a cable makes it much more versatile to use while charging rather than having to have the phone be stuck to a certain location.

I would see benefits (like for multiple devices not having all the power cords), but overall, I think the cable has more solely cause of that one thing.
 
Yep.

Instead of searching for the cable, turning it around properly (I guess this is not the case with Lightning), and putting it in... you just place your phone on a magnetic pad and it will charge.

Obviously it's not a necessity at all, but it would have been a cool feature to have.

You still have to plug in the mat. Plus, there are already wireless charging cases and mats for the iPhone.
 
I think wireless charging is actually pretty nifty. If I understand it correctly, just plug in a mat, say on a desk, and drop-and-go with your phone. If I could put my iPad on it too, I'd say that'd be quite helpful.

Obviously gimmicky, but cool nonetheless.
 
This. You should see my dang kitchen counter with 4 iPhones and a couple of iPods in the family. It's a white spaghetti mess when everyone wants to charge.

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I use the Bluelounge Refresh for my multitude of devices, just one plug in the wall and then a bunch of connectors inside the tray itself. All the spaghetti cord winds up under the tray, only the ends of each connector comes out.

BJ
 
I would never use a pad for charging. They are not practical, they just seem "cool" and "cool" doesn't get the job done practically.

1. You would only get one charging pad and most people may leave that pad in their living room or kitchen.

2. What happens if you want to charge your phone in your bedroom? Now that's two charging pads..

3. What happens if you want to charge your phone at work? Now that's three charging pads.

4. What happens if you want to charge your phone in your car? Now that's four charging pads.

5. With the Apple cord you can charge the iPhone from any USB outlet. Last summer the power was out in my area for five days. I just used the USB cord and charged my iPhone from my already charged laptop :) Also, you can take the cord anywhere since it's small. Who wants to haul around a pad?
 
I think wireless charging is actually pretty nifty. If I understand it correctly, just plug in a mat, say on a desk, and drop-and-go with your phone. If I could put my iPad on it too, I'd say that'd be quite helpful.

Obviously gimmicky, but cool nonetheless.

The downside is that it adds componentry and weight to the phone so, ironically, the battery would get smaller. So it would make the iPhone slightly easier to charge but you'd lose an hour of battery life. Not good.

I have about 100 power outlets in my home, but I'd only have 1 charging mat. So now to get a charge in the living room I'd have to go upstairs and get the charging mat out of my bedroom? Yeah, that's convenient.

I make it through a whole day of serious usage without needing a charge, and plugging the little plug into the bottom of the phone on my nightstand just as I'm getting (yawn) sleepy isn't a bother at all.

BJ
 
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