Wireless Charging for the Nexus 4

Wireless charging or inductive charging is a technology that I have always wanted to prosper. Here it is 2013 and most people don't know it exists, or simply think of it as a novelty gadget.

Recently when showing my friend my Nexus 4 phone charging on top of my Energizer QI charger from Amazon, he said "Oh cool I guess; you must have gotten one of those charging cases for your phone." I was a bit steamed, but it was understandable. I own the Energizer QI mat because it was much cheaper than the official Nexus orb, and it was available, (So much for Google releasing accessories at the same time as phone; Oh wait they cant even launch a phone smoothly... ok back on task.) For most smartphones inductive charging is not built in.

The Nexus 4 adopted the QI inductive charging standard, which from my experiences is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it works fine for me in my every day use. Just picking a charging standard is one of the major hurdles for the Inductive charging industry right now. Much like the mobile payment industry everyone fighting to be "The standard" Square, Google Wallet, Paypal, Intuit Gopay, Apple Passbook... and so on. As it stands these are both battles that will have no clear winner for years to come.

QI to me was at first just a cool gimmick, but it really become a second hand part of every day life. My QI charging mat is on my night stand (err... air-conditioner), which is within arms reach of my bed and my desk. My phone is almost always fully charged when I need it. When I get a call I simply pick up my phone without having to unplug.

This is much better than feeling like your being a bad smartphone owner when you don't immediately plug your phone in, or you feel like you have to use your phone shackled to a three foot USB cord. Or worse you forget your phone is plugged in when your frantically trying to answer a call. You pick up your phone, only to have the charging cord yank it right back out of your hands, and your phone goes bouncing off the desk and onto the floor; all of this happening when the party calling you hears all the scuffling and swear words.... I know we have all done this atleast once (right?!?!)

All of that is a thing of the past for me. Wake up at three am remembering you need to set your alarm to wake you up, no problem pick up the phone and set. No need to figure out how to plug your phone back in in the dark (Yeah its hard, well at least for me. Props to Apple's lighting connector for being reversible.)

No more broken USB charging cords. If your like me, I abuse my USB cords, they typically become bent and frayed at the ends. (Although I do tend to buy the cords that are only ~$0.89 on Amazon.)

I think you get the picture, Inductive charging is not just a gimmicky novelty (something I had to convince myself of first before making this blog post), and can be had at a reasonable price.