Speaker 1: The latest wireless chargers to keep your phone topped off
Speaker 1: at home, the office, and on the go. What's going on?
Speaker 1: I'm Rich Demiro. This is Rich on Tech. So wireless
Speaker 1: charging has been around for a while. Samsung has had
Speaker 1: it on its phone since the Galaxy S six, but
Speaker 1: last year, when Apple came on board, this technology was
Speaker 1: propelled into the big time. Funny how that happens. So
Speaker 1: if you have an iPhone A and up, which is
Speaker 1: an iPhone eight eight plus ten, ten S, tens Max
Speaker 1: or the ten R, you've got wireless charging built into
Speaker 1: your phone. If you have a Samsung Galaxy S six
Speaker 1: and up, that's the S six, S seven, S eight,
Speaker 1: S nine, Oh my gosh, what are they up to now?
Speaker 1: The Note nine, the Note eight, not the Note seven
Speaker 1: that was recalled. If you have one of those phones,
Speaker 1: you've got it. And LG has it on some of
Speaker 1: its models, and Google just jumped in with the Pixel
Speaker 1: th three that also has wireless charging. So overall, I
Speaker 1: still like plugging my phone in for a more consistent charge,
Speaker 1: but these little wireless charging devices and pads are great
Speaker 1: for your desk and when you're on the go. Basically,
Speaker 1: if you're using your phone a lot, like if you're
Speaker 1: picking it up and placing it down a lot while
Speaker 1: it's at your desk. These are a great solution because
Speaker 1: you don't have to keep plugging and unplugging your phone
Speaker 1: in to use it. You can just basically lay them
Speaker 1: on this charger. It's keeping it topped off and everyone's happy. So,
Speaker 1: by the way, almost all the manufacturers have adopted this
Speaker 1: G standard, which is actually spelled QI. I know, a
Speaker 1: little confusing. There used to be like this big war
Speaker 1: of standards. There was PMA, there was CHI, but that's
Speaker 1: all over now. So basically all wireless chargers now will
Speaker 1: work with almost all phones, all the newer phones at least.
Speaker 1: The only thing to know about this is that you
Speaker 1: have to kind of look at the speed of charging.
Speaker 1: So the speed might be different depending on the phone
Speaker 1: and also the wireless charger. So ideally you want to
Speaker 1: match up what capacity your phone can charge at along
Speaker 1: with what capacity the charger can push that charge through at.
Speaker 1: So here's a few unique models I've been checking out lately,
Speaker 1: starting with the Google Pixel stand This is eighty dollars
Speaker 1: and this was really built for the Google Pixel three.
Speaker 1: It will work with other devices, but it does unique things.
Speaker 1: When you put your pixel on it first off Pixel
Speaker 1: three by the way, it will charge your pixel at
Speaker 1: top speed up to ten watts. All other phones it
Speaker 1: will charge at five watts. Now, when you place your
Speaker 1: phone on the Pixel stand, you'll activate the Google Assistant,
Speaker 1: so you're gonna see shortcuts on your screen related to
Speaker 1: the things you might want to do, like the good
Speaker 1: morning routine or the bedtime routine for nighttime. There's also
Speaker 1: this sunrise alarm that will slowly brighten your Pixel three
Speaker 1: screen in warm sunrise colors before your alarm goes off,
Speaker 1: which is really nice, so you might even wake up
Speaker 1: before you hear any sound, easing you into your day
Speaker 1: instead of with a blaring alarm. Although Pixel three has
Speaker 1: a nice gradual alarm so you'll be okay there too.
Speaker 1: It also turns your Pixel three into a digital photo frame,
Speaker 1: so while you have this thing on the stand, it's
Speaker 1: sort of a screensaver mode. It'll show off your digital pictures.
Speaker 1: They've got digital well being features mixed in as well,
Speaker 1: so you can set the stand to automatically put your
Speaker 1: Pixel three into do not disturb mode while it's charging
Speaker 1: and when you're ready to go to sleep, the screen
Speaker 1: will go dark until it's time for your alarm, which
Speaker 1: is really nice. Kind of what the iPhone does with
Speaker 1: the do not Disturb wall sleeping feature. Now, there's also
Speaker 1: seamless integration with the Nest Hello Video doorbell. So basically,
Speaker 1: if you have your pixel on your pixel stand on
Speaker 1: your desk, and you also have a Nest Hello Video doorbell,
Speaker 1: when someone rings your doorbell, this is really cool. Your
Speaker 1: screen on your phone just comes to life with what
Speaker 1: your doorbell is seeing. So again, that only works with
Speaker 1: the Nest Hello does not work with the ring, but
Speaker 1: it's a really cool little feature. I saw it demoed
Speaker 1: at the Google event in New York City and it
Speaker 1: almost makes me want to switch to a Nest for
Speaker 1: that feature, because that's really cool. Next up the Samsung
Speaker 1: Wireless Charger Duo. So this lets you charge two devices
Speaker 1: at once, which be two smartphones or a smartphone and
Speaker 1: a Samsung smart watch. No, it does not work with
Speaker 1: the Apple Watch. This is not the air power system
Speaker 1: from Apple that we still have not seen yet. This
Speaker 1: will charge a Gear s three, a Gear Sport, and
Speaker 1: a Galaxy Watch. Along with one of these Samsung phones,
Speaker 1: it will also charge a wide variety of other devices,
Speaker 1: and there's even a built in fan to keep your
Speaker 1: device and the charger cool. One thing I noticed about
Speaker 1: this Samsung Wireless Charger Duo, which by the way, is
Speaker 1: one hundred and twenty dollars. It's got a giant power
Speaker 1: plug that you plug into the wall, so this thing
Speaker 1: is taking a lot of power to work this thing.
Speaker 1: Next up, we've got a wireless travel kit from a
Speaker 1: company called Nimble. This is a new company that was
Speaker 1: created by some of the folks who originally created Mofi.
Speaker 1: They're creating high quality, eco friendly tech products at lower prices.
Speaker 1: They also include an e waste bag with every product
Speaker 1: that you buy, So basically, this little plastic bag is inside.
Speaker 1: You dump all your old cables and gadgets in there,
Speaker 1: and then you mail it in. They will properly dispose
Speaker 1: of this old stuff for you. But if you're like me,
Speaker 1: you can't give up any old cables, so they just
Speaker 1: collect in a drawer in your house. I've got lots
Speaker 1: of them now. The Wireless travel Kit works in two ways.
Speaker 1: You can plug it into the wall and then plug
Speaker 1: in two gadgets with USB, or you can also use
Speaker 1: it as a wireless charging pad, so you can charge
Speaker 1: an iPhone at seven point five watts or Samsung and
Speaker 1: Android devices at ten watts max. There's even one extra
Speaker 1: USB port at the bottom even when you're wirelessly charging,
Speaker 1: so you can charge one gadget wirelessly and plug another
Speaker 1: one in. The Nimble device also looks and feels cool.
Speaker 1: It's kind of different from all of your typical black chargers.
Speaker 1: This is made from recycled water bottles. It's a gray color,
Speaker 1: it's kind of fabricy feeling. It's made from organic hemp
Speaker 1: and plant based bioplastics. Plus you can store the USB
Speaker 1: cable right inside the device. It snaps together magnetically, hence
Speaker 1: the travel charger. That one's a cool one. Next up
Speaker 1: two devices that I'm loving from Mofi. Mophy's kind of
Speaker 1: the leader when it comes to all of these chargers
Speaker 1: and things, but they are expended. You pay a premium
Speaker 1: for these things. The charge Stream power Station Wireless XCEL
Speaker 1: is basically their portable battery bank, but it also has
Speaker 1: built in wireless charging. So this one looks like your
Speaker 1: typical backup battery. If you've used one of these, It's
Speaker 1: basically a battery that you plug in, you charge that
Speaker 1: and then you unplug it and you can plug your
Speaker 1: phone in to charge your phone. But this one also
Speaker 1: has wireless charging built in, so you can just lay
Speaker 1: your phone on top of it and it will charge.
Speaker 1: It has a ten thousand million amp hour battery, so
Speaker 1: it's going to charge your iPhone several times. That model
Speaker 1: is one hundred dollars. They also have a six thousand
Speaker 1: milliamp hour model for eighty dollars, but I say spend
Speaker 1: the extra twenty dollars. You're almost getting double the charging
Speaker 1: capacity for just twenty more dollars. One other thing I
Speaker 1: like about the charge Stream power station wireless Excel. There
Speaker 1: is a tiny indicator light and led light that lets
Speaker 1: you know when your phone is charging, which is really
Speaker 1: handy because yes, you can look on your phone and
Speaker 1: see if it has the battery icon with a little
Speaker 1: charge amp on it, but it's nice to just be
Speaker 1: a to look at the charger and know that the
Speaker 1: light is lit up. That means your phone is seated
Speaker 1: properly and it's actually charging right. Also from Mophy the
Speaker 1: charge Stream vent mount for seventy dollars. This one's for
Speaker 1: your car. You pop it onto your car's air vent,
Speaker 1: which by the way, my wife hates because it blocks
Speaker 1: the AC and I'm always concerned about these things in
Speaker 1: the winter because you have the heat on the car,
Speaker 1: so you're pumping all that heat onto the back of
Speaker 1: your phone. So I usually switch to the vents in
Speaker 1: the floor so my heat comes out of there. I know,
Speaker 1: so complicated with all this stuff, but I don't want
Speaker 1: my phone to overheat, especially when it's charging. And these
Speaker 1: things are very convenient because they hold your phone in
Speaker 1: a very nice place in your car so you can
Speaker 1: see the screen. So once you pop this thing on
Speaker 1: your vent, you then plug it into your car's USB
Speaker 1: poor and then you pop your phone into the holder
Speaker 1: and it will wirelessly charge your phone. So that means
Speaker 1: you can have your maps right in your view and
Speaker 1: your phone is charging at the same time. My favorite
Speaker 1: part about this thing, I love how you can place
Speaker 1: your phone in and out of the holder with just
Speaker 1: one hand. It's super easy and it's the first time
Speaker 1: I've seen that, and I love it now. The only
Speaker 1: downside for me is that I use CarPlay and Android Auto,
Speaker 1: so I need to hardwire my phone into my car's
Speaker 1: USB port, like plug it directly into there, so you
Speaker 1: have to take that into consideration if you're thinking about
Speaker 1: getting this one. If you want a similar setup, there's
Speaker 1: a device called the Keynu airframe that I also like.
Speaker 1: It's much cheaper and that serves a similar mounting purpose
Speaker 1: on your vent, but that does not have the wireless
Speaker 1: charging built in, and you also can't place your phone
Speaker 1: in and out with one hand. You kind of have
Speaker 1: to use two hands. It takes a while each time,
Speaker 1: but it works and I do like that one. And finally,
Speaker 1: Bezilel they're taking the idea of a portable battery bank
Speaker 1: and they're adding a useful feature which is a sticky back.
Speaker 1: This way, you can stick the portable battery to your
Speaker 1: phone so it stays put with nanosuction technology. Now this
Speaker 1: is useful because if you've ever tried walking around with
Speaker 1: one of these wireless portable battery packs, it can be
Speaker 1: really tricky. Like I said before, your phone does need
Speaker 1: to stay in a sweet spot for it to stay charging.
Speaker 1: So Bezilel has a great idea. But this also has
Speaker 1: to work with your case, and in my case it
Speaker 1: does not because I use a case that is texthured.
Speaker 1: My favorite case is the Spec Presidio grip and yes
Speaker 1: it's super grippy and I love it, but it is
Speaker 1: not smooth on the back, so it will not stick
Speaker 1: to this Bezelel sticky charger, So keep that in mind
Speaker 1: if you're thinking about this one. The Bezelel Prelude Portable
Speaker 1: Power Bank is five thousand million hours. It has a
Speaker 1: fifteen watt charging Oh my gosh, it will be ninety
Speaker 1: dollars when it officially launches. Right now, you can get
Speaker 1: out on Indiegogo for half that price if you back it,
Speaker 1: and there you have it. Some useful wireless chargers. These
Speaker 1: are some of the more unique models. You can get
Speaker 1: the one that sits on your desk from a company
Speaker 1: like Belkan. Those costs anywhere from thirty to sixty dollars.
Speaker 1: They're even cheaper if you get one of the no
Speaker 1: name models from Amazon. But just keep in mind. The
Speaker 1: thing to look out for here is the charging watted.
Speaker 1: You also want a high quality charger because you don't
Speaker 1: want your phone to overheat or this device to overheat,
Speaker 1: so make sure you're getting the right fit for your phone,
Speaker 1: Otherwise the charge is going to be so slow it
Speaker 1: will not be worth the time time that your phone
Speaker 1: spends on top of this device. Thanks so much for
Speaker 1: listening to the podcast. If you like it, please feel
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Speaker 1: the world. About the rich on Tech podcast. If you
Speaker 1: want links to everything I mentioned here, just go to
Speaker 1: my website richon Tech dot tv, or check the show notes.
Speaker 1: Thank you to everyone who has purchased my book one
Speaker 1: hundred and one Handy Tech Tips for the iPhone, now
Speaker 1: in paperback on Amazon. I'm rich Dimiro. Have a great day.
Speaker 1: I'll talk to you real soon.