Laser Australia has come out with two products just tested on the Samsung GS8/+ to take advantage of its wireless charging capabilities.
The products are a 6000mAh power bank (rechargeable battery pack) with Qi charging and a bedside alarm clock with Qi charging.
Managing director Chris Lau said, “Samsung’s new Galaxy S8 and S8+ have wireless charging as a standard feature and join others like the Lumia 830 and later, Google Nexus 4 and later, and Blackberry Priv. Then there is a range of Qi-enabled accessories like the Parrot Zik 3 headphones and Apple Watch. Wireless charging offers unmatched convenience and is kinder to batteries.”
A Qi-equipped device has an inductive coil inside it and it sits on an inductive coil in a charging pad, usually powered by a standard 5V/2.1A charger. Electronics control the correct amount of power via a feedback mechanism to be “drip fed” to the device. You cannot overcharge via wireless and it’s best used overnight as Qi tends to take double the amount of time that a wall charger would.
{loadposition ray}Samsung also has wireless fast-charging (PMA) as well as Qi and it uses more sophisticated electronics to speed up the process to a similar time as the wall charger.
Many phones, can be easily retrofitted like the iPhone and Moto Z with its TUMI wireless charge mods. A list of common retrofits is here.
Laser 6000mAH power bank and Qi charger
The GS8 has a 3000mAh battery and the GS8+ has a 3500mAh battery. This 21.6 Wh, 6000mAh power bank will recharge these twice and 1.7 times respectively. But it is also a wireless charging pad (buy it instead of a separate charging pad) as well as a portable battery back-up.
It also has two USB-A sockets (one x 1A and one x 2.1A) that can be used simultaneously with the Qi pad.
On a test with an S8+, the charge from zero to 100% took about two hours.
With a 5V/2.1A charger the power pack took just under three hours to recharge. That was shortened by using a 5/3A charger.
It costs $39.95.
Qi Wireless Charging Alarm Clock Bluetooth Speaker
This is a very functional device – dual alarm clock (with light-sensitive numbers), room temperature gauge, FM radio, Auxiliary 3.5mm input, Bluetooth speaker (and NFC connect), handsfree speaker (needs phone pairing), and three USB 5V/1A ports
Looks wise it is functional rather than beautiful – a squat black rectangle with large light sensitive numbers that were not intrusive at night. The buttons all follow industry standard.
Sound-wise there appear to be four speakers – one each side and two at the back. It produces reasonably good bass and midrange and has the volume to fill a typical bedroom.
It costs $129.95.
