Lack of compatible gadgets may doom new charger
We call them wireless phones, but who are we kidding?
Just leave your precious wireless phone disconnected from a power outlet for a few hours. That smartphone isn’t so smart with a dead battery. The same goes for other portable electronic gear: game machines, music players, digital cameras. To keep all of them running requires a spider web of incompatible power adapters. You can’t use your Nokia adapter to heat up your Samsung phone, or your BlackBerry wire to charge up the iPod.
It’s a nuisance, and for Powermat USA LLC, an opportunity. Powermat recently launched a device that can feed electricity to the batteries in your gadgets, and with no wires. It’s a clever trick, but subject to some unfortunate limitations.
Powermat is a new application of magnetic inductive charging, an old idea found in millions of electric toothbrushes. The receptacle holding the brush generates a magnetic field, which turns to electricity when it contacts a coiled wire inside the brush. Feeding this trickle of power into the brush’s battery keeps it charged and ready for you.
For years, electronics firms have tried applying the same principle. One popular device, the Palm Pre smartphone, offers an optional inductive charger that works quite well. But most companies have steered clear of the idea. Powermat hopes to change this by developing a universal wireless charging system that can easily be adopted by gadget makers.
There’s a home and office version, designed for a permanent place on a shelf or countertop. I tested the travel version, which unfolds from a plastic pouch. Each sells at Amazon.com for about $93, and is designed to recharge up to three devices. Plug Powermat into the wall, and place your devices on the surface. There’s a slight magnetic tug which helps center the gadget on the pad. The Powermat emits a vaguely creepy sound to tell you when you have hit the right spot and charging has begun.
It’s an attractive idea, and it works, but only up to a point. That’s because hardly any gadgets on the market are compatible with this method of charging. Like the aforementioned toothbrush, the device needs a way to turn the magnetic field into electricity and send it to the battery. Otherwise, Powermat does nothing at all.
Powermat is working to persuade electronics firms to make compatible products. Until then, the company sells accessories that make products Powermat-compatible. For users of BlackBerry phones, it’s a simple matter of swapping the rear battery door for a replacement that channels the Powermat’s magnetic power. The cover, which sells for around $26 at Amazon, fit nicely onto my BlackBerry Bold and performed as advertised.
Working with Apple’s iPhone isn’t so simple. It lacks a user-replaceable battery or a removable battery door. So Powermat sells a $40 dock that rests on top of the charging pad. It uses no wires, but I did have to plug the iPhone into the dock instead of just plopping it down as I did with the BlackBerry.
Powermat also sells an iPhone case that’s supposed to solve the charging problem. I didn’t try it. But customers at Amazon posted a bunch of negative reviews, with some saying that the $32 device messed up the iPhone’s built-in compass.
As for thousands of other incompatible devices, Powermat falls back on hard wire connections. There’s a “powercube,’’ which sits on the pad and feeds electricity into a piece of wire. The powercube comes with adapter tips to fit a variety of game machines, cameras, and phones. There’s also that familiar charging option, a USB port.
Powermat is on to something, but few will pay extra for the accessories to make their devices compatible. And accessories don’t exist for many machines. I liked this charger, but I’d never buy one until digital gadget makers embrace the technology. And that may not happen, because Powermat has competition.
A consortium of device makers has developed its own standard for wireless charging, one that’s incompatible with Powermat. Meanwhile, there’s WiTricity Corp. in Watertown, a company founded by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. WiTricity has a wireless charging system that broadcasts power up to 6 feet from the charger. There’s no need to place gadgets on a pad. Just put it nearby and it powers up. Eventually, WiTricity hopes to make a system that’ll charge your devices as soon as you walk into a room. Then we’ll finally be able to speak of wireless technology with a straight face.
Hiawatha Bray can be reached at bray@globe.com. 
