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What Finally Killed AirPower

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Re: What Finally Killed AirPower

#21

Post by tolmasky »

brian-armstrong wrote: post #11

So my phone is charged by a cable. It plugs into the wall on one side and then plugs into my phone on the other. This system works great - I plug my phone in when I go to bed and unplug it when I wake up. The cable is long enough to plug into my phone even if I want to use it in bed. It's easy, cheap and failproof. What is the draw of wireless charging? What is it that I'm missing? Did anyone ask for this?

The wireless charger is a better experience than putting a cable in your phone in my opinion, but the dock they used to include in the box is a far better than both.

It was simple to put your phone in (as opposed to a cable that might fall off the table or move around), and kept the phone facing you making it easy to interact with while charging (unlike the wireless charger).

But at some point they probably figured out they could save 20 cents by selling it separately.

Re: What Finally Killed AirPower

#22

Post by sp332 »

brian-armstrong wrote: post #11

So my phone is charged by a cable. It plugs into the wall on one side and then plugs into my phone on the other. This system works great - I plug my phone in when I go to bed and unplug it when I wake up. The cable is long enough to plug into my phone even if I want to use it in bed. It's easy, cheap and failproof. What is the draw of wireless charging? What is it that I'm missing? Did anyone ask for this?

I can slap my phone down on the charger next to my bed in the dark. I can grab my phone off the charger on my desk at work with one hand. Before wireless charging, it wasn't much hassle, and I only rarely had trouble with my phone battery dying. Now it's almost no hassle, and I never have trouble with my battery dying. It's just a nice quality-of-life boost.

Re: What Finally Killed AirPower

#24

Post by darkpuma »

samtho wrote: post #19
brian-armstrong wrote: post #11

So my phone is charged by a cable. It plugs into the wall on one side and then plugs into my phone on the other. This system works great - I plug my phone in when I go to bed and unplug it when I wake up. The cable is long enough to plug into my phone even if I want to use it in bed. It's easy, cheap and failproof. What is the draw of wireless charging? What is it that I'm missing? Did anyone ask for this?

Cables are subject to breaking (specifically the connectors) and given how hard it is for many phones to listen to music via headphones and charge at the same time, I can see the appeal. Also, jacks are only rated for a limited number of cycles (connects, disconnects) due to the fact that there is mechanical connection taking place. In the future, I imagine wireless charging being built into key pieces of furniture (…

> "Cables are subject to breaking (specifically the connectors)"

Apple cables are. Somehow I don't have this problem with other brands... ever.

Re: What Finally Killed AirPower

#25

Post by [deleted] »

wickedsmile wrote: post #18
brian-armstrong wrote: post #11

So my phone is charged by a cable. It plugs into the wall on one side and then plugs into my phone on the other. This system works great - I plug my phone in when I go to bed and unplug it when I wake up. The cable is long enough to plug into my phone even if I want to use it in bed. It's easy, cheap and failproof. What is the draw of wireless charging? What is it that I'm missing? Did anyone ask for this?

Charging phone when you are off to bed is really very bad. Lithium charging protection circuit could fail anytime due to one of the components in the circuit malfunctioning and your lithium battery inside the phone can catch fire. Many houses have been burned down to ashes from lithium fire. Just YouTube for 'lithium fire' and you'll see how dangerous it can be. I usually charge the phone in an empty place where lith…

[deleted]

Re: What Finally Killed AirPower

#26

Post by slimsag »

darkpuma wrote: post #24
samtho wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cables are subject to breaking (specifically the connectors) and given how hard it is for many phones to listen to music via headphones and charge at the same time, I can see the appeal. Also, jacks are only rated for a limited number of cycles (connects, disconnects) due to the fact that there is mechanical connection taking place. In the future, I imagine wireless charging being built into key pieces of furniture (…

> "Cables are subject to breaking (specifically the connectors)" Apple cables are. Somehow I don't have this problem with other brands... ever.

The best way to make profit is to introduce both the problem and the solution.

Re: What Finally Killed AirPower

#28

Post by Analemma_ »

brian-armstrong wrote: post #11

So my phone is charged by a cable. It plugs into the wall on one side and then plugs into my phone on the other. This system works great - I plug my phone in when I go to bed and unplug it when I wake up. The cable is long enough to plug into my phone even if I want to use it in bed. It's easy, cheap and failproof. What is the draw of wireless charging? What is it that I'm missing? Did anyone ask for this?

The handiest place to have one, IME, is not at home but at work: you can leave it on the pad for most of the workday but always pick it up right when you need it and not have to worry about fiddling with the cable. Especially when the phone gets a couple years old and you need midday charges for it to last through the day.

It's not a vital feature, but since decent chargers are only like $25, why not?

Re: What Finally Killed AirPower

#29

Post by KingMachiavelli »

Strange, the most obvious benifit of having lots of coils while would be to selectively use only the ones directly in the optimal location for charging so the charger - device coil relationship is still 1 to 1, I don't think any electrical engineer would think a M to N setup would be practical.

I think it's the combination of slow charging and as the article said; heat production, - and the physical design the charging 'station' requires to account for these problems. A lot of the current 'fast' wireless charging solutions seem to have fans or a design than can dissapate a lot of heat. A flat mat charging multiple devices would need to either have a fan or a hefty heat sink to dissapate all that heat. Apple's very picky about the physical aestetic of their products which throws out a lot of designs that include visable heat sinks and/or grills.

Also, if I'm not completely out of the loop, Apple devices tend to excel (relatively) at battery life making wireless charging, likely, an even more niche product for their devices.

TLDR, once again Apple's aestetic requirements and the currently, relatively niche market of wireless charging make an Apple manufactured (not just branded like Google might do) a poor product to invest time and capital on and is unlikely to impress share holders.

Re: What Finally Killed AirPower

#30

Post by altmind »

brian-armstrong wrote: post #11

So my phone is charged by a cable. It plugs into the wall on one side and then plugs into my phone on the other. This system works great - I plug my phone in when I go to bed and unplug it when I wake up. The cable is long enough to plug into my phone even if I want to use it in bed. It's easy, cheap and failproof. What is the draw of wireless charging? What is it that I'm missing? Did anyone ask for this?

The two benefits from the wireless charger: 1) you dont wear out the usb port 2) I have the charger next to my bed. You can pick a phone at night to check anything and put it back without looking for a cable - much less mental and eye strain when you're half asleep.
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