Nexus 5 Wireless Charger - Unboxing Pictures

interesting. the only variable i can think of is -

battery level higher than X% (95%? 99%?)

in one of the videos above the guy's battery is at 92% - and the notification happens. so the previous theory of 90% does not seem to be true. i still don't like this because often times i throw my phone on the charger at night and my battery may be full or almost full - that doesn't mean that i don't want it charging so that it's fresh in the morning. i ALWAYS want a notification of sweet spot - even if my battery is at 100%!

Yeah I double checked with my Nexus 4 Orb and TYLT VU this morning..... When the battery is fully charged the screen does NOT come on with either wireless charger.... So it has to be some kind of setting in the phone... It won't really matter which Qi wireless charger you have... I don't know yet what the % threshold is but I took mine off the Nexus 4 Orb this morning before leaving for work waited a couple of minutes and placed it back on it and nothing happened.... while still on the Orb I powered it on and it was charging but the screen didn't power on.... So I get to work and instantly throw it on the VU (Phone was still reading 98% battery) screen didn't come on... I just checked it again at 92% remaining and the screen doesn't turn on but it is charging.......... Typically I throw my phone on the Orb at night before bed when the battery is at or below 30% and at work I don't put it on the VU until about 2 hours before I leave for the day (and it's usually around 40% remaining)

Also I don't even know where the "Sweet" spot is on the Nexus 5... with my Nexus 4 Orb I just set it down roughly in the middle of the phone (basically try and put the X in Nexus in the middle of that circle on the hockey puck) and it charges right up.. On the VU it settles down at the bottom so you can't really adjust the phone around outside of Landscape or portrait orientation... but the VU says it has "Multiple" sweet spots for charging a variety of phones.... The VU works just fine with the much larger Nexus 7 as well...... (But the VU at least has a green light indicating it's charging and a red light if something goes wrong on the charger)

Good luck Gekko..... Let me know if you find a better option
 
Yep, the screen does not come on and no sound if it is fully charged. I tested this last night as well.
 
Yep, the screen does not come on and no sound if it is fully charged. I tested this last night as well.

i don't like this. just because it's fully charged at the moment doesn't mean i don't want to sit it on the charger - say at night before sleep - and KNOW that it's on the sweet spot. sorry to beat this to death but i see this is a big flaw. the sweet spot is somewhat touchy and fickle as it is and not having a confirmation in all daily real world scenarios is annoying. even at 100% battery the corded option will power up the phone for a few quick seconds to let you know it's engaged.
 
i don't like this. just because it's fully charged at the moment doesn't mean i don't want to sit it on the charger - say at night before sleep - and KNOW that it's on the sweet spot. sorry to beat this to death but i see this is a big flaw. the sweet spot is somewhat touchy and fickle as it is and not having a confirmation in all daily real world scenarios is annoying. even at 100% battery the corded option will power up the phone for a few quick seconds to let you know it's engaged.

I agree it's annoying... But it's not the charger... Your going to have the same issue with any Qi charger you buy unless Google sends out a patch/update to the phone's software.... I have a friend here at work who has the Note 3 and as much as I don't like Touchwiz it has a pop up notification that it is charging wireless...

I don't find the sweet spot on the Nexus 5 to be touchy or fickle at all.... I always try and make sure the charger is placed right in the middle of the phone but I've tested it more towards the bottom or top and it starts charging right away... Plus I thought the Nexus 5 wireless charger had magnets that locked onto the N5 and N7-2013 to make sure it's always perfectly locked into place to charge???? I know the N4 Hockey puck does not have this option and I did have to use some modeling clay to tilt it more upright... My N7 and N5 would slowly slide off at the factory angle and it would stop charging but the phone would slide all the way off overnight...
 
BUT at least with some other Qi chargers they have LED lights built in... I know this VU has one and it is green while charging and red if something goes wrong... I don't think a LED on the new N5 charger would help much because of how small it looks and how the phone or tablet would mostly cover any LED they could install...
 
did you see how difficult it was for Kellen to find the sweet spot - especially at 3:56? kind of annoying IMO.

I did, very annoying. You might want to check out the Nokia DT-900 (you can get three of them for under $60). The phone always seems to land on the sweet spot, probably because it has 3 coils overlapped - and it has a led to tell you its charging.

EDIT: But you would be giving up the magnets and the micro usb power connection.
 
Last edited:
And just an FYI for some of you impatient folks, the screen and sound does take a few seconds after you place the phone on the charger. At first I set it down and nothing. So I picked it up and moved it and nothing. I thought it wasn't going to light up or make a noise. But then I set it down and waited a few seconds and it worked.
 
So how much is this wireless charger? I didnt see any on Googleplay but didnt look real hard.

EDIT** Nevermind, ii heard it in the video.
 
Last edited:
Just did some testing with my Nexus 5 and the Nokia DT-900. Phone battery has to be below 95% for screen to turn on and for audible charging tone notification.
 
Mine is on the ups truck for delivery. Will be playing with it later along with unboxing photos

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
 
Gekko, could you check the plug and see if it supports 220/240 volts? I've looked all over the place, and can't make out that detail in any images I've seen.
Thanks.
 
Gekko, could you check the plug and see if it supports 220/240 volts? I've looked all over the place, and can't make out that detail in any images I've seen.
Thanks.

sorry but i already sent them back to Google for a refund.
 
did you see how difficult it was for Kellen to find the sweet spot - especially at 3:56? kind of annoying IMO.

However until the end, he kept putting it on at an angle. The very last time, he put it on at 90 degrees and it had no issue.

Gekko, did you find it tricky to find the sweet spot when it was at 90 degrees? There are 4 magnets at the corners that are pretty solid. Note that in Phil's "Weeee" video, he is swinging the device from the USB cable and the phone is attached via magnetic coupling. The should be no issue whatsoever finding the sweet spot.
 
However until the end, he kept putting it on at an angle. The very last time, he put it on at 90 degrees and it had no issue.

Gekko, did you find it tricky to find the sweet spot when it was at 90 degrees? There are 4 magnets at the corners that are pretty solid. Note that in Phil's "Weeee" video, he is swinging the device from the USB cable and the phone is attached via magnetic coupling. The should be no issue whatsoever finding the sweet spot.

yes i always positioned it at 90 degrees. it was being slightly higher or lower from center that threw it off.

i have a TPU case on my phone. there was some magnetic pull but not enough to flawlessly easily pull in and lock it in the sweet spot every time. perhaps without the case the magnetic effect would be stronger and it would be easier - but that's a moot point as i need some kind of case and the Diztronic TPU is about as thin and sleek as they come.

it was a combination of things that annoyed me -

1. tough to find sweet spot.
2. no consistent audio confirmation.
3. no consistent visual confirmation.

they should at least give me ONE of the THREE above IMO - but they gave me NONE.