[caspr]

Powermat is about to launch a new innovative product. It's a new way to charge your electronic devices wirelessly. Handy!

YouTube - What The Bleep?! Dorm Trailer

[DeejayAJ]

Saw this a couple of years ago, finally made it.

[sim667]

I saw the advert for this, really like the concept, im interested to see how it works practically.

[djcla]

wow hat is wicked where can i get one

[CAS FAN]

It looks impressive on the adverts, but you have to buy cases or plug in adaptors for your devices (i.e. the special iphone case is an extra £35 and obviously adds extra bulk to the phone and the DS has a back unit that clips on and costs an extra £30). This form of induction charging is great though and if manufacturers start to release products with the tech built in then this will be a better idea.

It's still a good idea though if you're willing to splash out on all of the other bits. For now though i'll just plug in my charger when needed.

[sonyman]

Originally Posted by CAS FAN

It looks impressive on the adverts, but you have to buy cases or plug in adaptors for your devices (i.e. the special iphone case is an extra £35 and obviously adds extra bulk to the phone and the DS has a back unit that clips on and costs an extra £30). This form of induction charging is great though and if manufacturers start to release products with the tech built in then this will be a better idea.

It's still a good idea though if you're willing to splash out on all of the other bits. For now though i'll just plug in my charger when needed.

yeh..bit of a rip off really buying the separate adaptors for each thing....I remember seeing something like this on The Gadget Show but u dont need to add any adaptors on the phone/DS to charge it, cant remember if they said the tech was built into the item or u just dont need it, but they used a pretty old sony erricson fone on it

[CAS FAN]

Originally Posted by sonyman

yeh..bit of a rip off really buying the separate adaptors for each thing....I remember seeing something like this on The Gadget Show but u dont need to add any adaptors on the phone/DS to charge it, cant remember if they said the tech was built into the item or u just dont need it, but they used a pretty old sony erricson fone on it

Yeah remember that myself. I think that was pretty much this in a more conceptual form. If devices are made in future with the induction tech in them then adaptors will not be needed.

It basically works using the solenoid technology where the energy is transferred from one coil to another and can pass over a small gap in the magnetic field. There therefore needs to be a solenoid in the receiving device, which conductive charging devices do not have.

This would be a good tech to have in joypads IMO, so you could just chuck them onto a mat after playing and they will be fully charged when you next pick them up.

[Forbez]

£100 to be able to charge my iPhone by putting it on a mat, plus having to carry my iPhone with a larger case on it!

I don't think so, with the case it's still 70quid for the mat, and even then I think I could still put in the effort to conect my iPhone to the power source. Good idea, but not useful enough for me at the mo. John lewis stick them if any wants a look

[thenorth]

its the same technology that has been used for electric toothbrushes and kettles etc for years, saying that there is some impressive developments coming in the future in terms of range extension on this .

[Phill1978]

does make me worry slightly when this becomes longer range, im already a wee bit paranoisd about mobile phones and all the signals flying about let alone any home or work wireless.

speaking of which what frequency does this stuff work on ? is it EM / microwave energy like wireless 802.11 ?

[stuart07970]

one of life's disappointments!

It takes the charging technology from a 10 year old Braun Toothbrush

What took them so long????

The mats I saw in John Lewis were a bit, erm??? Crap!

The office-mat looked really cheap and nasty, for £70!
The travel mat just looks like a kids toy!

The biggest joke is the iPod dock. You have to dock your iPod and then place it on the mat. Why wouldn't you just use an Apple dock and charger???

I'll stick with my Apple dock for my iPhone for my overnight charging and alarm clock duties !

Shame - I really wanted to like it

[dunks517]

Santa is bringing me a powermat for Christmas, I have the Crackberry 8900 cover and will be buying the iphone, touch, multi-device and DS covers in due course to that end all mobiles and hand helds in the family will be covered (Xbox 360/PS3 & Wii controller chargers would be neat). I am quite happy with the price as I hate cable clutter and all the devices can sit discretly on the sideboard without a mass of 'wall warts'.

The magnetic 'clunk' as the device connects with the mat is quite neat.