charging

Fumbling for charging cables and even charging pads could soon become a thing of the past. That is if Energous will be able to take advantage of the door that has just been opened for it. The company’s WattUp Mid Field Transmitter has just gotten the approval of the Federal Communications Commission, making it the first “power-at-a-distance” wireless charging tech to get the green light. Should actual commercial products get created from this tech, it could mean we’d be charging devices from as far as three feet away from the charger.

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The Xiaomi Mi A1 is notable for being the first Xiaomi device to be enrolled in the Android One program. It isn’t, however, notable for having the latest Android version, despite being part of that said program. That said, Xiaomi has already gotten the ball rolling to bring Android 8.0 Oreo to the mid-range device and it even threw in one unexpected treat. The smartphone can now charge from zero to full in one and a half hour, becoming Xiaomi’s first device to use Qualcomm’s Quick Charge tech.

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The Galaxy S9 seems to be shaping up to be somewhat of a disappointment. Just recently, a leak seemed to confirm that it might not have dual cameras, which is being reserved for its Galaxy S9+ sibling. Now a new leak claims that, despite being powered by Qualcomm’s latest and greatest Snapdragon 845, it won’t actually be supporting Qualcomm’s latest and greatest Quick Charge 4+ technology. But as it turns out, that might actually open a bigger can of worms as well.

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Forget charging your phone with a cord; if it supports wireless charging, that's the way to go. It's convenient and, thanks to TeknFun's new Pikachu Wireless Charger, potentially adorable. The charger is designed to look like Pikachu lying on its stomach, the wireless charging surface residing on its back. The charger measures nearly 10 inches across.

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When the OnePlus 5T launched, critics and even some fans were quick to chide the startup for missing the boat yet again on wireless charging. With even Apple onboard, wireless charging is surely the future, right? It might be so, but that future isn’t going to be fast, OnePlus is basically saying. It still believes that its own wired charging offers an even faster experience, and it seems it has found a believer in Tom’s Guide.

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There is no such thing as a perfect smartphone. Even the Google Pixel, especially the new Pixel 2, forces even its fans to compromise on some things. While Google has, like it or not, embraced wireless audio by ditching the 3.5 mm headphone jack, it seems to still snub the other wireless trend: charging. One of Google's reasons is that wireless charging isn't fast enough and there is some truth to that. "USB C Crusader" Benson Leung reveals exactly how much power the Pixel 2 can take in.

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You can credit the iPhone 8 and iPhone X for the recent resurgence in interest in wireless charging, and IKEA isn't letting that opportunity pass it by. The company has offered select versions of its furniture with wireless charging functionality since 2015, but until now iPhone owners have required an adapter in order to take advantage. With the arrival of native support in the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, as well as the upcoming iPhone X, IKEA is relaunching its range.

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Like with almost anything, Apple’s adoption of an existing technology is a sure way to boost said technology (and rewrite history in the process). This year, it’s wireless charging, thanks to the iPhone X. But while wireless charging promises the convenience of having no wires, it doesn’t exactly deliver complete freedom. You still have to put your phone on top of a flat surface. That’s where the Pi comes in. Billing itself as the world’s first truly wireless and contactless charger, it doesn’t require users to place their devices on it. In fact, given it’s conical shape, you really can’t anyway.

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Qualcomm is boosting its charging technology, unveiling Quick Charge 4+ for getting juice back into your phone's battery even faster. The technology, which launches today on the nubia Z17 Android smartphone but is likely to be featured on a number of flagships in the coming months, promises faster recharging but also greater safety while that happens. Given high-profile issues surrounding exploding batteries in phones like the Galaxy Note 7, that's likely to get some attention among increasingly safety-conscious users.

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Some car makers are already announcing the death of diesel engines and their replacement by electric ones. As ideal as that might be from an economy and environment perspective, it's still an untenable future, mostly because of problems with the ubiquity and spread of charging stations. If all goes well with this new development, however, that may no longer be a problem at all. Renault, Qualcomm, and Vedecom have successfully demonstrated a Kangaroo Z.E. that was able to charge wirelessly up to 20 kw, even while traveling at speeds of or more than 100 kilometers per hour.

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Electric vehicles are only as great as the charging network available to those who buy them. We've seen different companies roll out charging stations at destinations all over the U.S., and now BMW is adding its name to the list (again) with plans to launch 100 electric vehicle charging stations at National Parks throughout the nation. The first of those 100 planned stations has gone live at the Thomas Edison National Historical Park, the former home of Edison.

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With smartphones these days that are slowly but surely turning away from removable batteries, the battery problem can only be solved in two ways: either with a bigger battery or faster charging times. Since bigger batteries usually mean bigger phones, most manufacturers and users might prefer the latter solution. But even the fastest charging tech takes more than an hour to go from drained to full charged. Unless they adopt Meizu's Super mCharge, which promises to fully charge a battery in the time you can finish a cup of coffee. Leisurely, of course.

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