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Got an Android phone like an LG V30, Motorola Droid or Samsung Galaxy S8, or one of the cool new Apple iPhone 8 or iPhone X units that support wireless charging? Welcome to the world of Qi charging. First off, it's pronounced "chee", not "key" or "que-eye". And if you're curious, yes, the charging base units themselves do need to be plugged in; it's not magic. :-)
In this review, tech expert Dave Taylor of https://www.AskDaveTaylor.com/ checks out two Qi charging bases, from PowerBot and FoneSalesman, along with a slick little iQi Mobile Qi charging adapter for older iPhones with lightning connectors.
PowerBot Qi Charger: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F6SPYJS/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_x_h1E9zbT6SJKPV
Fone Salesman WoodPuck Qi Charger: http://amzn.to/2zZrA7W
iQi Mobile Lightning Charger Adapter for iPhone: http://amzn.to/2ydZx7q
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0:00
ready for wireless charging let's check
0:02
out some options Dave Taylor here and I
0:12
want to talk about Qi charging yes the
0:15
Qi is pronounced Qi now you're know and
0:18
what I want to look at is I want to look
0:20
at a couple of different charging bases
0:22
from a couple of different companies and
0:24
then I want to look at a little adapter
0:26
you can use for your existing generation
0:28
iPhone if you don't yet have an iPhone 8
0:31
or an iPhone 10 now the iPhone 8 and the
0:34
iPhone 10 and a number of Android phones
0:37
actually support Qi charging for example
0:40
this is the LG v 30 it's a very nice
0:43
phone and one of its many cool features
0:46
is that it does support Qi charging so
0:48
I'm actually charging it right here on
0:50
this base as we're talking so let's look
0:53
at this first
0:54
so this first base this is from a
0:57
company called phone salesman and it's
1:00
really nice if you look in the back you
1:02
can see there's sort of you know the
1:03
sort of standard tech gadget thingamabob
1:06
but more interestingly is it actually
1:09
has a bamboo cover so it's very
1:11
attractive looking and it sits there
1:13
with an anti slip surface and one of the
1:17
things I really like is it comes with a
1:18
matching color cable and Qi charging if
1:23
you've never used it before
1:24
it's like magic it's like what you've
1:26
always wanted with your devices because
1:28
you don't want to screw around with
1:29
plugs you want to just put it on a
1:31
surface and get it centered and it's
1:36
charging my phone is now charging which
1:38
is super nice now this particular one
1:41
this is known as the wood puck and as
1:44
you heard it gives you an audible beep
1:46
on charge will test the other one and
1:47
see if it does that too and has the
1:50
color matching USB cable it's a bit
1:53
bigger with 3.7 inches in diameter
1:55
you'll notice that the powerbot PB 1020
2:00
which I'll be looking at momentarily is
2:02
definitely smaller it's really actually
2:04
exactly the same size as the inside unit
2:08
on the phone salesman in fact who knows
2:10
maybe it's the same unit
2:12
but we'll get back to this guy in just a
2:14
second so the basic thing with Qi
2:17
charging is that there is sort of like a
2:20
sweet spot on the back of your device
2:22
and this will be the same for iPhone
2:24
eights and iPhone 10s and any other
2:26
devices that will support Qi charging
2:28
I'm hoping the Apple watch will move to
2:30
that because having all these
2:32
proprietary Chargers and stuff it's kind
2:34
of for the birds if you're gonna have a
2:36
standard have a standard but you get it
2:39
centered you get the feedback and you're
2:42
good to go and it's charging and now it
2:44
says on the bottom here on Android
2:45
charging wirelessly two hours 21 minutes
2:48
till full and that's part of the thing
2:51
is that it doesn't charge as fast as if
2:53
you plug it in that's just sort of a
2:55
reality but if you can imagine there are
2:58
some cars now that have a Qi charging
3:00
pad built into the dashboard so you just
3:02
put your phone in the little pocket or
3:04
something and it just starts charging
3:06
fantastic like I want you can also
3:10
imagine these being built into tables at
3:12
a coffee shop so there you are
3:14
Starbucks or something and there's a
3:15
little circle in the middle of the table
3:17
and you just put your phone on that
3:19
circle and is charging while you're
3:21
having a cup of coffee again this feels
3:24
very futuristic I'm really excited for
3:26
this so this particular unit runs $19.99
3:31
at amazon.com again the phone salesman
3:33
would puck I really like it but here's
3:36
the thing with this and with all of
3:38
these devices you have to be yoc bring
3:42
your own charger so what I'm using for
3:44
this is I have this really nice little I
3:46
clever mini charger and it's a 2.4 amp
3:50
smart charger with smart ID so it's
3:54
pretty darn inexpensive if you want to
3:56
pick it up again as an addition but you
3:59
probably have spare Chargers so now I'm
4:01
gonna plug in the power bot and this
4:04
also comes with a cable and I suppose
4:07
it's a matching cable because it's a
4:08
black unit and a black cable and I
4:10
realize I'm wearing a black shirt so a
4:12
little hard to see there things that
4:14
better now you can see it cool so again
4:17
same sort of thing non-slip base cords a
4:22
little shorter here which is a little
4:23
awkward
4:24
which is probably something to know that
4:26
a little shorter and again we'll put our
4:28
phone on here and it didn't give us the
4:33
beep
4:33
that's an interesting difference but it
4:36
is now charging wirelessly and it's
4:38
saying again two hours 22 minutes so
4:40
same sort of charging really it's the
4:43
charger unit that you're plugging into
4:45
the wall that's the thing that's going
4:47
to make this work faster or slower
4:48
although some devices some of the
4:50
Samsung's can charge faster over Qi
4:54
charging if you use the Samsung gear my
4:58
belief is that if you're just gonna have
5:00
this sitting on there while you do
5:02
something else anyway like make dinner
5:03
or I don't know watch a movie or
5:05
something then the difference in
5:07
charging speeds probably fairly
5:09
negligible but let's go back to this so
5:12
this little hockey puck is called the
5:14
power bot PB 1020 and it maxes out at
5:18
2.1 amps so my 2.4 amp chargers a little
5:22
more juice than it wants to deal with
5:23
but it has some nice built-in circuitry
5:26
so it won't overcharge it won't
5:28
short-circuit it's gonna stop anything
5:31
overheating including your device and
5:33
it's a little smaller at 2.5 inches and
5:36
1 point 8 inches thick and has that
5:39
groovy LED on the front which I like
5:41
which tells you that it's hot and it's
5:43
ready to charge
5:43
and this one's considerably less
5:45
expensive this powerbot unit is $9.99 on
5:49
Amazon and it comes with the cord too so
5:52
while you have to use your own charger
5:54
I'm not a huge big challenge so these
5:58
are both interesting I'm going to
6:00
actually switch back to the wood puck
6:03
just because the wires a little longer
6:05
because I want to show you something
6:06
else so let's get that one back hot ok
6:11
now with the longer cord it lets me just
6:14
have it sitting here which is great when
6:16
we just went to the side and what I want
6:19
to show you is the company that makes
6:20
the wood puck also has this iqi mobile
6:26
or Ikey I'm not sure what you'd call it
6:28
but this is actually pretty interesting
6:30
so iPhone 7 not Qi charging if I put it
6:34
on here nothing happens so they sell
6:37
this little gas
6:39
which is basically everything you would
6:42
have wanted to have built into the phone
6:44
so it would support wireless charging as
6:47
an external thing so has a lightning
6:50
connector I plug it in and now and it
6:55
only works on one side not the other but
6:56
now let's see I think it's this way no
7:00
this way let's try this and if I get it
7:04
just so via retic Li there we go
7:10
so now I hope you can see my iPhone is
7:14
charging via wireless charging because
7:17
I'm using the I Qi mobile and the idea I
7:22
suppose is that you actually tuck this
7:25
in and then you use a case that actually
7:28
lets that sit in the back and then when
7:31
it's on the case then all you have to do
7:34
is drop it on a wireless charging device
7:36
and you enjoy all the benefits of Qi
7:39
charging even though you don't have an
7:41
iPhone 8 or an iPhone 10 now in practice
7:44
this is a pretty dicey proposition this
7:46
is just a really tricky little gadget to
7:49
work with as you saw it's super small
7:52
and it's only a half a millimeter thick
7:54
so it'll work with a fair number of
7:56
cases but you need a case that gives you
7:59
space on the bottom to have that wire go
8:01
and it can't be made out of metal or any
8:04
other device sort of substances because
8:07
that will actually get in the way of the
8:09
charging pad working so you can use like
8:12
a soft rubber case or something but
8:14
again you could I suppose you could even
8:17
just tape it to the back if you wanted
8:19
to really just enjoy the benefits and
8:21
then you have that same challenge of
8:24
getting it to Center but the good news
8:26
is that because it beeps when you're
8:27
charging you at least have that feedback
8:30
with this particular Qi charging pad but
8:33
all in all I love Qi charging I really
8:37
do I'm so excited to get this for my new
8:39
iPhone 10 I really like the power bot at
8:42
$9.99 it is a no-brainer acquisition so
8:45
you have an extra one maybe at the
8:47
office or something or if you want to
8:48
spend a few more bucks the bamboo one's
8:51
really beautiful this is a really
8:52
nice finish and bamboo is a super
8:54
sustainable material so if you're
8:57
thinking oh my gosh they're gonna cut
8:59
down that poor bamboo and it'll take 30
9:01
years to grow again totally not the case
9:03
bamboo grows insanely fast it's really
9:06
really a highly renewable resource and
9:08
it's very attractive so this seems like
9:11
a much better deal to me at 1999 but
9:15
when you get to this last final piece
9:17
the little iqi mobile it might only be
9:20
$14.99 but I'm not sure I'm gonna
9:23
recommend it even at that price because
9:24
I suspect that like me you'll find it
9:27
more frustrating than interesting and
9:29
it's just sort of a novelty honestly if
9:33
you really really want wireless charging
9:35
with an iPhone then you need to get an
9:37
eight or a ten so all in all before we
9:40
go any further do me a favor click on
9:42
that subscribe button
9:44
fantastic and while you're at it if you
9:46
can click the like if you do actually
9:48
like this video I sure appreciate that
9:50
feedback and let's see so we got the two
9:53
wireless chargers both super cool and we
9:56
have the little wireless adapter for
9:58
your iPhone not so excited about that
10:01
one so be it
10:03
this is Dave Taylor and I'll catch you
10:05
in my next movie
10:06
[Music]
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