back to article Wireless charging snakes' wedding of tangled alliances gets WORSE

Not content with founding the A4WP, and joining the board of the WPC, Qualcomm has now spread itself all across the various wireless power alliances by signing up to the PMA too - while Samsung sinks $4m into Qi-producing PowebyProxi, and alternatives look increasingly weak. Qualcomm is now on the board of two competing …

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  1. Sureo

    Standards

    Wall outlets are standardized over large regions of the world, and every device comes with a charger. Looks like they have a long way to go.....

    1. HMB

      Re: Standards

      Wireless charging isn't equivalent to wired charging, so I don't see the logic there.

      With wireless charging, you're selling a couple of seconds to several seconds (depending on how organised you are with your charging cables) a day. It's not much, but I'd buy into it at the right price for the right advantage. QI chargers that require exact positioning don't do it for me at the moment, but I'm looking forward to the future.

    2. Richard Gadsden

      Re: Standards

      Plug standards? How many standards do you want today? Would sir want an IRAM 2073, or perhaps AS 3112, or BS 546, or BS 1363? How about a CEE7/4 or CEE7/5? A nice, juicy Italian CEI 23-16/VII? Then there are the NEMA selections, plain old NEMA 1-15, or the earthed options such as 5-15.

      The IEC letters the standards from A to N.

      The least standardised standard ever created.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    There are times when wired clearly beats wireless. Recharging devices is one of them.

    When I'm not using my charger I unplug it. Power use = zero.

    If you need a mat on your desk to keep charging your device constantly, then buddy, you're using it too much and need to go out side without it and get a life.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      QI chargers run in a standby state. Upon putting a phone on the charger it recognises it and ramps up power.

      So a wireless charger is not pumping out energy when nothing is on top.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Doh! Standby uses power! Ever monitored your TV when it is on Standby?

        The only way to cut power consumption is to switch the frigging thing off when it is not used. Yeah, we know that the switch is probably burried underneath some rats nest of Cables but in the end we will be forced to switch things off rather than leave them on Standy.

        I unplug my TV every night. Easier than switching it off at the wall. In my office I have sockets on the top and side of my desk. Easy to switch them off.

        1. Charles 9

          But why bother?

          Okay, so some of the less-effieicnt devices may draw a bit while plugged in, but most devices on standby literally sip the power when not in active use. I think El Reg once did an article about it and found the power draw they did on standby amounted to pennies a day, at worst a few bucks a year. Meanwhile, cutting the power in and and out hard like you would with a strip increases the risk of introducing a shock to the system which can damage the sensitive electronics.

    2. Matt_payne666

      I think you are in the crazy minority... yes, standby uses fractions of a penny a week, but bending over and unplugging things every morning and night could well end up with you pulling your back... most people are more than comfortable with parasitic waste from standby chargers- which plague all chargers, not just wireless ones...

      I have a qi phone and a wireless pad to charge it - its very convenient, but certainly not life changing, I could live without it, but then I wouldn't go out of my way just to have it again... just being able to reach over and look at my phone without pulling on the connector, or having to look for the wire when its charging time are handy... maybe im lazy, but I tend to also use the remote control to turn on the tv, even if I walk past it...

      as for life? well I race yachts, have 3 kids and level 2 accelerated freefall qualification.... wireless charging has neither helped nor hindered in those past times...

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