Wired is more efficient, you can pick it up and use it while charging, and the cable usually comes free with the phone. What is the point of wireless charging pads?
So I can keep the waterproof case sealed.
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I use wireless charging 99% of the time. It’s convenient to plop your phone or earbuds down and effortlessly grab them when it’s time to go.
The other reason I like wireless: less wear on your phone’s USB port. Even though USB-C is supposedly good for millions of plug/unplug cycles I’ve had several phones with USB-C that get wonky after about 2+ years. “Wonky” as in having to hold the cable just right to transfer data or even successfully fast charge.
Wireless charging drastically cuts down on the amount of times you’ll be ramming a USB cable into it’s port, hopefully prolonging it’s useful life.
That wonkiness often times is just lint jammed into the charging port, and a thorough cleaning fixes the issue
Follow up: does it work well with cases?
Wireless charging is unaffected by normal plastic or silicone cases (unless it’s super thick, like an OtterBox). Metal cases don’t work.
Thanks. Also love your username
Yep, convenience of plopping the phone down really is 100% of it for me. Especially with Apple’s magnets setup, it’s a one-hand, one-second operation, and then the phone is standing at attention on its cradle stand. The thought of having a dangling cable on my desk and picking it up and fiddling to plug it in then laying the phone flat seems like something from 10 years ago. I’ve even forgotten once or twice what kind of port my phone has.
I’m actually really impressed because I’ve had a pixel 6 for over 2 years and the USB c port is doing great. But you’re right, I should probably get a simple wireless charger just to cut down on some of the plugging
I have a wireless charger by my bed for charging overnight, it’s easier to just plop my phone on the stand when half asleep rather than fumble with a cable. Also, charging speed doesn’t matter because it’s going to be plugged in for a few hours when I and it’s easy to grab when my alarm goes off. But when I need a quick charge, then it’s a fast charge cable all the way
Probably if you’re too lazy to grab a cord, line it up with the plug, and press gently but firmly. With wireless, you can just lob it vaguely in the right vicinity and not overstrain your fine motor skills.
The amount of times I have tripped on a charging cord and sent my phone flying…
… but it’s weird that it happened twice, right?
I don’t trust public wired charging ports to anything other my mobile battery.
Since I can’t verify if a weird charging port won’t upload malware on site, I’d use wireless charging instead.
You should be able to use the charging only mode that’s under developer settings on your phone.
Some charging pads also prop up the phone at an angle, making it easy to read the screen while also not having to hold the phone up. Most phones have their charging port on the bottom, so a phone stand couldn’t be used while charging with a cord.
Maybe I’m old and prefer having the phone in my hand rather than propped at an angle unless I’m watching some videos, in which case my phone would be landscape mode anyways so the port is easily accessible
Apple’s mag safe charger is pretty popular and you can easily hold the phone in portrait mode while charging (at 25W with the latest models). The puck is thin and sticks to the center of the back of the phone.
Does it charg as efficiently as a wired power bank?
The one I’ve used on my Samsung isn’t as fast as a wired power bank, but I don’t need to wrangle the cables like I do with the wired ones. I wouldn’t use a magsafe power bank to charge my phone from 0 (too slow). But leaving it attached gives me an extra couple of hours with just a little extra weight. Useful for things like conventions or travel.
Not even close. Ifixit did some testing, daily MagSafe wireless charging uses 36% more energy than a wire (which includes idle power draw). It also means slower charging.
That’s not physically possible.
But it is extremely efficient for what it is. The first number I found on google said it’s 95% efficient.
That doesn’t sound correct, considering the amount of wireless chargers that will take 10W, but can only deliver half that to the phone.
Are those qi2 chargers or qi1? The magnets make a huge difference.
I’m also old, but I understand people do watch portrait videos. Sometimes a lot of them, in a single sitting. There’s a popular social media app which exclusively has short-form portrait videos.
I’m old enough that it would probably be creepy if I did use tik tok
Admittedly, charging ports are the first to break on any electronic unless it has a joystick. Wireless charging is a lot more robust, more water resistant, and allows you to do sleek shit without a weird hole in it
I use one in my car - it’s more convienet for short trips or trips with multiple stops. I do keep a cable for longer trips though, especially if I need to keep the screen on for GPS - the wireless charger makes the phone warm enough to stop charging over the course of an hour or so.
My port isn’t worn out, but I’m worried it will become that way. I also don’t need it to charge at full speed overnight. Therefore, wireless charger.
I’ve noticed that with the varying quality of USB cables, and them having broken/cracked wires over time, I usually get much faster charging when doing it wirelessly. If anything is way more consistent. With cords it’s a crap shot. Is this a fast charge cord? Was it cheaply made, is it deteriorating? I can use 4 different cords and get different results from each
Similar. I got a vehicle that had android auto, but not wireless. Plugging and unplugging all the time I’d go through a cable every few months. Power would work, but the shielding would break and it would screw with cell/GPS until I replaced the cable.
Got a wireless android auto adapter to stop buying cables. That’s great but I knew I wouldn’t plug in my phone every time like normal, so I use the wireless charging.
My issue is typically also with Android Auto. The sound fidelity, especially low end, is much better with a good cable, and when the cable starts to go bad it will default to just Bluetooth for audio which is noticable
I just like being able to walk by the nightstand and have the phone “lock” to the charging pad when I lay it down.
In my car it is a lot more convenient than a charging cradle for being able to use turn by turn while driving.
I know people love these and I’m not going to go and break anyone’s balls but the reality is, because it is inductive charging you will never get clean voltage
Anything electronic, it really doesn’t matter what it is, is going to suffer basically the equivalent of “mechanical damage” when powered/charged with unstable current
An inductive charging is always going to be highly unstable, there’s no way around that
Anybody who tries to tell you different just doesn’t understand that this is a real thing, and yeah, really nobody should ever use wireless charging unless they’re willing to accept continual device (battery) damage
I get what you’re saying but as a counterpoint I charge exclusively via wireless and my last phone lasted 4 1/2 years. The only reason I replaced it was my friends kid was playing a game on my phone and dropped and it got damaged. It was running just fine right up to the end.
Maybe it’s because I only use low power wireless chargers, or maybe it’s something with Samsung’s wireless charging controller. Who knows.
That’s not a counterpoint, you’re just describing that you had a battery that was okay for 4 years
It doesn’t say anything really I’m sorry friend
Eh, I couldn’t think of a better word so I just went with it.
Can you explain why it’s not possible to stabilize the voltage on the receiving side before the power is sent to the battery?
That can be done but the voltage that it receives is variable so that’s causing damage. Which ripples down the chain, it’s not avoidable no matter how much you put in capacitors and diodes
It’s really just an unavoidable aspect of electricity, people think of it as magic fairies floating through wires but really it’s like ropes pulling on things, and just like mechanical things, ripples and vibrations fk things up!
If you’re really want to get down to it, electricity is destroying things by its very flow. But you want to reduce the unwanted harmonics as much as possible and wireless is not the way to go
I bought a wireless magnetic battery recently, and what quickly turned me off was that it charges at ~2/3rd efficiency (so effectively I have only 2/3rds of my powerbank capacity) and speed compared to its wired mode, even though it’s fast wireless and a solid brand and build. Also heats up my phone battery way more, so I just snap it to my phone and use the short and unobtrusive usb-c cable to charge it instead.
Now, if I was changing phones every year or two and I didn’t care about keeping its battery life - sure, I’d use the wireless charging without worries, although it will still be slightly slower than wired (but still fast charging anyway).
On my S5, there’s a little flap that you had to open and close to maintain the IP67 rating. Constantly opening and closing it was a recipe to breaking it off, where wireless didn’t put that kind of wear in.
With my newer phone, it’s easier to keep the cable with a battery pack to charge when out and about, and charge wirelessly at home, since I generally don’t need it done with any great speed, and it saves having to buy/replace another cable, or forgetting to unpack and take it with me.
Qi charging is also pretty standard, which is also good if I have a few devices with different cable needs, but mutually support the same wireless charging standard, since I can put an iPhone and an android on the same pad, without having to swap cables back and forth.
They’re very convient, I use them for the phones, airpods, battery phone cases (airpods cases even with a silicon skin still on much less). Just nice to be able to leave your device on them while running them and know they won’t die out
So you just don’t like plugging the cable in?
Also charge battery phone cases that are much easier to slip on the wireless charger than plug with micro usb
