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I got a wireless charger a year ago because I thought the idea was cool. While it is simple to just "drop" my phone on the charger, over all I gotta say I think this is an inferior way to charge things. While my phone is plugged in, I can still use it within the reach of the wire. On these mats I have to leave it there unless I want to stop it from charging. I still think they're a cool idea, but less convenient in real world applications IMO.
 
Call me pedantic, but both these mats have wires. Truly can't see the point in having to put a device on a mat to charge as really no more convenient than plugging it in to an cable in the same location. Only place I can see a use is in a car, place it in a compartment in the centre console and have it charge while you drive.

I still don’t get it why the hell would you want to wirelessly charge your iPhone. A full charge takes like 2h40mins. Ain’t nobody got time for that. Enable fast wireless charging and then maybe.

Have either of you tried one? Serious question...
I have them in several places throughout the house, one at work, one at each of the in-laws (actually three at one in-laws as she has an XR), two at my sisters and one in the car. My phone rarely ever drops below 50% and I always know where the phone is. I FREEKING love it, that's an understatement. I cant believe the competition had this feature so long before Apple, its amazing. Please give them a try, don't buy this crazy over-priced crap, there are several very good brands on Amazon for crazy cheap. So cheap sometimes (with promotions) that I keep sending them out to friends and family.

no Apple Watch charger I'll pass I personally like the harderciderlabs SlicechargePro it has 6 coils and a Apple Watch charger

I didn't see this mention in the article (I glazed) but this was going to be a question. My cheap chargers don't work with my watch either, sucks. Hard pass.
 
Apple was trying to do beamforming with charging whereby you could direct where the charging energy went regardless of where the device was placed.

People say Apple used 32 coils, but that's a rumor (and not a very good one). The whole point of beamforming is you don't need a large number of overlapping coils to be able to charge a device since you're "directing" where the energy is going. Multiple coils are used when you can't do beamforming and just want to have the entire mat "covered" in coils so wherever you place a device it's bound to be over one of the coils. It's a brute force method and not very elegant.
What's the source for the beamforming claim? That multicoil claim is based on a patent application image from Apple displaying the coil layout. Funnily enough, that image displays 16 coils. 12 around the outside and 4 in the middle.
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32 coils... I'm guessing some assumed 2 layers of coils. Idk. 22 (7-8-7 layout) coils was rumored by one of the serial leakers. Have heard beamforming in relation to the Apple-Dialog Semi-Energous near/mid/far field wireless charging, but not with AirPower.
 
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But wireless charging doesn't use beams. It's not radiowaves, it's a pulsing magnetic field, like in a transformer. It basically is a transformer, just with the two sides in different devices.

I could imagine you could create a grid of power transistors, that dynamically create virtual coils by shorting in a certain loop depending on the device above. But it would be very costly. But I don't think you can focus magnetic fields like beams as you can with radiowaves, especially in something that's supposed to be flat.

Also, with beamforming the transmitter origin position doesn't change, only the direction of the beam changes. But because the "receiver" would be right on top of the transmitter, it wouldn't really allow the receiver to change positions anyway, the signal doesn't travel far enough to really end up in a different place.

Beamforming isn't something that's confined only to radiowaves. Any type of "wave" can be beamformed, including magnetic waves. Several companies have been working on this exact technology for wireless charging (not just Apple).
 
Call me pedantic, but both these mats have wires. Truly can't see the point in having to put a device on a mat to charge as really no more convenient than plugging it in to an cable in the same location. Only place I can see a use is in a car, place it in a compartment in the centre console and have it charge while you drive.
Totally agree. When my phone is plugged in, I can still actually use it. When it's sitting face-up on a mat? Not so much.
 
If you used a USB splitter on the USB port could you charge two USB devices?
 
I think the main issue was how tight the coils needed to be to be able to charge the Apple Watch like Apple wanted.

I think I remember reading somewhere that they had AirPower working for charging 2 normal devices, but the heat from charging an Apple Watch was almost enough to burn a hole in it.

haha, please try harder. Apple paid poster
The watch with its tiny Batterie burns a hole, while the huge iphone accu keeps the mat cool, hahah
Oh my god, what have You done to humanity?!
 
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Call me pedantic, but both these mats have wires. Truly can't see the point in having to put a device on a mat to charge as really no more convenient than plugging it in to an cable in the same location. Only place I can see a use is in a car, place it in a compartment in the centre console and have it charge while you drive.

You're right - that's why I was never bothered about the wireless thing when Android had it - it's largely useless and very inefficient. I definitely would never use it for overnight charging - it wastes about 60% of the power used and creates far too much heat.

In the car is definitely the best place for it, especially when you're in and out a lot - I have it built into a cradle which also holds the phone so I can use Waze etc.

I do however have one at my desk and I usually leave it on there whilst I work - most of the time it's almost always full when it goes on anyway but it does help to keep it there whilst I use messaging apps etc - I do like that aspect of it.
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The mats are also pretty fantastic for nightstands, just plop it on when you're ready to sleep.

Very inefficient and not good for the battery either though. Always use a cable over night.
 
I still don’t get it why the hell would you want to wirelessly charge your iPhone. A full charge takes like 2h40mins. Ain’t nobody got time for that. Enable fast wireless charging and then maybe.

Since you get them for $15 or so, you can buy a number of wireless chargers and put them in different places in your home and office.

You can have them on the arm of your couch where you drop your phone while watching a game or movie and texting. Put one next to the bed so your phone is charged in the morning. Put one on your office desk and it charges your phone between calls. Bottom line, every time you pick up your phone it is at 100%

And if you want you can even get magnetic mounts for your car that charge wirelessly while you drive. You just throw your phone on when you get in the car. And when you pull it off at the end of your drive, you know your phone is charged.
 
Call me pedantic, but both these mats have wires. Truly can't see the point in having to put a device on a mat to charge as really no more convenient than plugging it in to an cable in the same location. Only place I can see a use is in a car, place it in a compartment in the centre console and have it charge while you drive.

The difference with 'wireless' vs. wired is that it never actually feels like you're charging your phone. The pad/s just become a resting place for the phone when it's not being used. Essentially the device is always charged. I never get charge anxiety and never set about deliberately 'charging' my phone. It's no longer something that needs doing.
 
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Without being able to charge the watch, this is completely useless to me. It could charge 5 devices and cost $50 and i wouldn't buy it. I'd rather spend $50 for a Qi phone / watch charger stand which is much more useful to me.
 
Given that AppleWatch proved to be the Achilles heal for AirPower, I get the feeling that AppleWatch Series 5 will have standard Qi charging, after which AirPower will be released as intended.
 
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The difference with 'wireless' vs. wired is that it never actually feels like you're charging your phone. The pad/s just become a resting place for the phone when it's not being used. Essentially the device is always charged. I never get charge anxiety and never set about deliberately 'charging' my phone. It's no longer something that needs doing.

"It never actually feels like you're charging your phone" Is that a feeling you feel people cannot cope with? "Charging anxiety" ?
You still have to place the phone on the charging mat. How is that not "deliberately charging" your phone? "It's no longer something that needs doing" What the heck are you talking about? You must deliberately place the phone on the mat (and the mat was previously deliberately plugged in) or it won't get charged.

The internal mental gymnastics that some of you Apple fanboys go through to justify nonsense is mind boggling.
 
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Call me pedantic, but both these mats have wires. Truly can't see the point in having to put a device on a mat to charge as really no more convenient than plugging it in to an cable in the same location. Only place I can see a use is in a car, place it in a compartment in the centre console and have it charge while you drive.
Wireless charging is only good in convenient places where unplugging and plugging in is more complicated. I have a wireless charger stand in the kitchen/desk and bed. I don't have to look where im putting the phone with them I just set it on it and it charges. In bed I used to have to find the cable and plug it in then put my phone somewhere. Now I just put my phone on the stand and don't have to look. I can use one hand and take it off and on without thinking about it. Thats the only reason I like wireless charging. I prefer stands over pads as I think they are just better in most situations.
 
The difference with 'wireless' vs. wired is that it never actually feels like you're charging your phone. The pad/s just become a resting place for the phone when it's not being used. Essentially the device is always charged. I never get charge anxiety and never set about deliberately 'charging' my phone. It's no longer something that needs doing.

Unless you live in a van or a micro apartment, there's no such "resting place."

People leave phones on their desks, countertops, bags, and pockets.
 
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