Wireless Charging

[TheUI]

I don't know about you guys, but I'm pretty excited for some officially supported wireless charging with the Nexus 4. Are these things proprietary, or can we use an old Palm Touchstone (Duarte - lmao) to charge one of these devices?

 

[qnet]

I will be getting the wireless charger as soon as it's available. I hope they make a car and desk dock also but not sure they will this time.

Sent from my XOOM 2

 

[anon(357286)]

That would be cool if I could use my old touchstone.

 

[Pre-dawn raid]

I'm interested in this accessory too. The one shown looks like they lopped off the top third of a Nexus Q.

Sent from my NookColor using Android Central Forums

 

[Woosh]

I don't know about you guys, but I'm pretty excited for some officially supported wireless charging with the Nexus 4. Are these things proprietary, or can we use an old Palm Touchstone (Duarte - lmao) to charge one of these devices?

I was reading on xda and they said that the old touchstone should work since they use the same Qi? technology. So it might be possible. But I also watched a vid where it said that it was rubber that held on the N4 while the Touchstone I believe is a magnet. so that may be an issue.

Hopefully tech sites will get their review units soon so we can find out more.

Wireless charging Orb - xda-developers

 

[rubi76]

Do you think a regular Powermat would work just by putting the Nexus on top of it?

 

[Woosh]

Do you think a regular Powermat would work just by putting the Nexus on top of it?

I don't think they use the same technology tbh....But as time goes on we may see these in phones soon -

Duracell Powermat WiCC could bring wireless charging to any smartphone, we go hands-on (video) -- Engadget

 

[TheUI]

Interesting. I like the idea of the wireless charging dock because it cuts back on clutter and is the epitome of convenience.

As far as XDA goes, I'm confident some mods will come out to either old touchstones (could you just attach a thin felt to one?) or the N4 itself that give us a little more versatility. Heck, I'm sure Touchstones can be picked up cheap from eBay should they prove useful.

 

[Woosh]

Interesting. I like the idea of the wireless charging dock because it cuts back on clutter and is the epitome of convenience.

As far as XDA goes, I'm confident some mods will come out to either old touchstones (could you just attach a thin felt to one?) or the N4 itself that give us a little more versatility. Heck, I'm sure Touchstones can be picked up cheap from eBay should they prove useful.

They have them on Amazon as well for $5 and change. There are ppl talking on xda there that have already ordered just in case it works. I am tempted to get one simply for work so I can have it sitting here.

I am curious the price Google will end up charging for these, accessories normally are where these kind of companies make the big profit margins. But otoh its a cheap phone so who knows if people are willing to pay $50+ for a charger.

I've been waiting for years for this tech to be in my phone, its almost a reality!

 

[Slow_S10]

Well when the TS originally came out for the Palm devices they were getting $70 fo tthe TS + the Inductive charging back. I even bought one at that price when they were first released. Then I ended up buying 3 more at various lower prices. I think I spent $40 on the second one, and then the last two I got for like $15 each with Palm Pixi back covers. I had one on my desk at work, one on my night stand at home, one for my Wife's Pixi on her night stand, and one on the kitchen counter. It was inductive charging bliss. I think I gave one of them away to a friend who also had a Pre when I got a new phone, but I know I still have at least three of them in a box somewhere. It would be absolutely awesome if I could use them on a N4, and that would definitely be one more reason to buy it.

Edit*

LOL here is a picture of them just for giggles... unfortunately the phone didn't charge any faster this way.

 

[tbonepat11]

I too miss WebOS and the wireless charging. Having it mounted in my car was fantastic and I still miss it to this day. You just drop it on there and off you go. No hassle, no scratching the bezel in the dark trying to plug the USB in. People who have not used it before, you will have no idea how you lived without it once you start using it. It is that good.

I however do not believe this will work with the old touchstones. The Pre3 did not and it was only a slightly different size. I also remember having to make sure it was VERY closely aligned to get the charging work. The magnet mounting will most likely be different. So for this to work I am sure some hacking/modding will be required to get the magnets lined up.


Regardless....I have about 8 touchstones laying around and if anyone can make this work, it will be the Android community!

 

[Ziptied]

Do you think a regular Powermat would work just by putting the Nexus on top of it?

I have a powermat and it won't charge my N4.

 

[Slow_S10]

Well there's one down. Now see if you can beg, borrow or steal a Touchstone charger and find out if that works. Or fwiw they are like $14 on Amazon with the wall charger included. Which as far as I know it needs the Palm wall charger to function, or at the very least it needs the cable from a Palm charger because most other ones won't actually fit in a Touchstone.

 

[rubi76]

I have a powermat and it won't charge my N4.

Thank you. I won't ask you how you got the N4 already!

 

[tbonepat11]

Well there's one down. Now see if you can beg, borrow or steal a Touchstone charger and find out if that works. Or fwiw they are like $14 on Amazon with the wall charger included. Which as far as I know it needs the Palm wall charger to function, or at the very least it needs the cable from a Palm charger because most other ones won't actually fit in a Touchstone.

It just has to be a usb cord with a smaller plastic area around the plug because of how small the entry area is. Generic ones off eBay and whatnot worked. There was a long thread about it in the WebOS section a while back. I am sure if the touchstones work, the topic will be breached again in depth.

 

[youareme7]

From the limited amount of information I have been able to find online I don't think the touchstone is Qi compatible so I don't think it will work with the N4. Shame too because they are freakin cheap! On the flip side those Nokia chargers for the lumia 920 that were announce ARE Qi compatible so they should all work with the N4. Depending on the price I might end up with the Nokia charging stand or fatboy pillow. I also really hope they make a car dock with wireless charging and an NFC tag to launch a car app; that or someone makes a universal one that is Qi compatible would work for me too. If not I might have to fashion something myself for the car dock, wireless charging is just too awesome; hopefully it can pump out enough amps to keep it going with GPS, bluetooth, music, etc.

 

[Slow_S10]

Well I just found this article about the inductive charger. It even mentions that they have taken a lot of inspiration from the Touchstone charger.

http://www.theverge.com/2012/10/29/3569230/google-wireless-charging-orb-touchstone-qi

I don't know if a touchstone will work with the N4 but sine I already have one it definitely can't hurt to try. Bottom line though if I get a N4 I will get an inductive charger for it even if that means buying a brand new one.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums

 

[ragnarokx]

So, I assume wireless charging doesn't work if you have a case on the phone?

 

[Ziptied]

So, I assume wireless charging doesn't work if you have a case on the phone?

No clue there are no cases yet, but that's why I posted my comment about the bumper case. To the guy asked how I have one, I'm a Googler.

 

[ragnarokx]

No clue there are no cases yet, but that's why I posted my comment about the bumper case. To the guy asked how I have one, I'm a Googler.

I was more asking about the Touchstone, as I'm assuming it might be the same answer.