Powermat - what am I missing here?

[wfooshee]

I don't get it. "Wirelessly" charge your device, be it phone, music player, headset, whatever. You have this Powermat sitting on your desk/table/nightstand/whatever, and it's plugged into the wall. You have your device with its required Powermat adapter plugged in to its charging connection. Now all you have to do is set it on the mat and it recharges wirelessly.

So, instead of plugging my device's power adapter into the wall and the cord into my device, I've added $130 worth of stuff between my device and the wall. This is better, how, exactly? What am I missing?

The only advantages I can see are that you can put up to 3 devices on it at once, so you don't have to plug three things in. And they have permanent adapters for some devices, like Blackberry phones and i-Phones, so you just pull it out of your pocket and set it down. Gee, that's kind of like pulling my iPAQ out of my pocket and setting it in its cradle.

 

[Danoff]

I think the idea is to reduce wire clutter. I suppose the coolest use of something like this is at work. Your laptop sits on your desk wirelessly connected to your keyboard, mouse, monitor (wishing), and power. Meeting time? Grab the laptop and go. Come back, set it down and you're already connected back at your desk.

But still all it does is cut down on wires and keep you from having to disconnect things. Not much of a benefit.

 

[Sureboss]

Can I ask, how the hell does that work?

 

[Eric.]

Can I ask, how the hell does that work?

The power mat and whatever type of receiver or other accessory you use with the device (on an iPhone its a thin case with a receiver on the back) charge the actual device through magnetic fields, I believe.

An electric field creates a magnetic field. A change in a magnetic field creates a flow of electricity.

 

[Rykon Zero]

Yeah, the same way my toothbrush charges.

 

[Omnis]

Yeah, the same way my toothbrush charges.

Lol, I was going to say the only thing I need to wirelessly charge is my sonicare.

 

[wfooshee]

I think the idea is to reduce wire clutter. I suppose the coolest use of something like this is at work. Your laptop sits on your desk wirelessly connected to your keyboard, mouse, monitor (wishing), and power. Meeting time? Grab the laptop and go. Come back, set it down and you're already connected back at your desk.

But still all it does is cut down on wires and keep you from having to disconnect things. Not much of a benefit.

It doesn't connect anything except the charging adapters which are either attached to or connected to your devices.

Can I ask, how the hell does that work?

Guessing, but I imagine there's a coil in the base (3, actually, since you can set three devices on it) and a coil in the adapter on your device, and when in proximity to each other they make an induction circuit. The powered coil in the mat induces a current in the adapter, which is used to charge your device's battery.


Discussing this at work, what would make this cool and useful is for battery packs to have the charging adapter built in. Your device could be plugged in when away from the mat if you need it to be, but at home (or office, wherever the mat is) you just set it down and it charges. But having to attach an adapter to your device to use the mat seems a bit goofy.

Yeah, the same way my toothbrush charges.

Those don't charge wirelessly. The cradle has contacts the brush body touches when you set it in the cradle. Those are wires. There's no contacts in the Powermat. No electrical circuit gets closed. Except by induction.

 

[Rykon Zero]

Really. There's nothing metallic anywhere on the brush. Or the cradle. I charged my toothbrush by putting it next to the charger.

 

[bergauk]

Currently the technology behind Powermat seems really silly to a lot of people. But I think eventually the technology will be integrated into many different devices so that we no longer need wires and can literally just have powermat desks or tables in offices. It should be interesting to see how it unfolds.

 

[wfooshee]

Really. There's nothing metallic anywhere on the brush. Or the cradle. I charged my toothbrush by putting it next to the charger.

Oh, OK. Not like the one I had, then. Carry on.

 

[Danoff]

It doesn't connect anything except the charging adapters which are either attached to or connected to your devices.

After re-reading my post, I certainly gave the impression that I thought it would connect your mouse or keyboard. I realize that it wouldn't. I was assuming the laptop had bluetooth to connect to peripherals and that the power cable was one of the last things you had to connect.

 

[Mark T]

I read that these Powermats require special cases for each item that you want to charge, is that correct?

 

[TB]

I read that these Powermats require special cases for each item that you want to charge, is that correct?

The Guided Tour video shows her taking off a battery cover and replacing a Powermat cover.

Roundabout way of saying yes.

And, for example, the iPod Touch case will set you back £34.99 and turns your nice thin Touch to a bit of a fat basterd:

 

[Mark T]

Seems like a gimmick to me. Yes you lose a few cables but you gain several plastic cases which have to be carried along with the unit itself.

👎

 

[bergauk]

Seems like a gimmick to me. Yes you lose a few cables but you gain several plastic cases which have to be carried along with the unit itself.

👎

At the moment yes it is a bit gimmicky. Imagine in the future things like iPods, mouses, keyboards, and laptops with the technology built in. Thats what I think the people behind Powermat are aiming at doing.

 

[wfooshee]

And it comes with a generic receiver with several tips to use with devices that are not Blackberry or Apple. If you have a device that they provide a case or battery door for, which gives you a permanently installed adapter, that's not quite the same as having to plug an adapter into your device to charge it. I already do that, it's called an AC adapter.