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The Best Qi Charging Devices - Roundup and Comparison Review!
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May 30, 2025
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
View Video Transcript
0:00
ready for wireless charging let's check
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out some options Dave Taylor here and I
0:12
want to talk about Qi charging yes the
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Qi is pronounced Qi now you're know and
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what I want to look at is I want to look
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at a couple of different charging bases
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from a couple of different companies and
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then I want to look at a little adapter
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you can use for your existing generation
0:28
iPhone if you don't yet have an iPhone 8
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or an iPhone 10 now the iPhone 8 and the
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iPhone 10 and a number of Android phones
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actually support Qi charging for example
0:40
this is the LG v 30 it's a very nice
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phone and one of its many cool features
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is that it does support Qi charging so
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I'm actually charging it right here on
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this base as we're talking so let's look
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at this first
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so this first base this is from a
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company called phone salesman and it's
1:00
really nice if you look in the back you
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can see there's sort of you know the
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sort of standard tech gadget thingamabob
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but more interestingly is it actually
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has a bamboo cover so it's very
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attractive looking and it sits there
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with an anti slip surface and one of the
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things I really like is it comes with a
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matching color cable and Qi charging if
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you've never used it before
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it's like magic it's like what you've
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always wanted with your devices because
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you don't want to screw around with
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plugs you want to just put it on a
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surface and get it centered and it's
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charging my phone is now charging which
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is super nice now this particular one
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this is known as the wood puck and as
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you heard it gives you an audible beep
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on charge will test the other one and
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see if it does that too and has the
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color matching USB cable it's a bit
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bigger with 3.7 inches in diameter
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you'll notice that the powerbot PB 1020
2:00
which I'll be looking at momentarily is
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definitely smaller it's really actually
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exactly the same size as the inside unit
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on the phone salesman in fact who knows
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maybe it's the same unit
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but we'll get back to this guy in just a
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second so the basic thing with Qi
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charging is that there is sort of like a
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sweet spot on the back of your device
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and this will be the same for iPhone
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eights and iPhone 10s and any other
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devices that will support Qi charging
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I'm hoping the Apple watch will move to
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that because having all these
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proprietary Chargers and stuff it's kind
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of for the birds if you're gonna have a
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standard have a standard but you get it
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centered you get the feedback and you're
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good to go and it's charging and now it
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says on the bottom here on Android
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charging wirelessly two hours 21 minutes
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till full and that's part of the thing
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is that it doesn't charge as fast as if
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you plug it in that's just sort of a
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reality but if you can imagine there are
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some cars now that have a Qi charging
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pad built into the dashboard so you just
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put your phone in the little pocket or
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something and it just starts charging
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fantastic like I want you can also
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imagine these being built into tables at
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a coffee shop so there you are
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Starbucks or something and there's a
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little circle in the middle of the table
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and you just put your phone on that
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circle and is charging while you're
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having a cup of coffee again this feels
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very futuristic I'm really excited for
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this so this particular unit runs $19.99
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at amazon.com again the phone salesman
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would puck I really like it but here's
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the thing with this and with all of
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these devices you have to be yoc bring
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your own charger so what I'm using for
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this is I have this really nice little I
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clever mini charger and it's a 2.4 amp
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smart charger with smart ID so it's
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pretty darn inexpensive if you want to
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pick it up again as an addition but you
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probably have spare Chargers so now I'm
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gonna plug in the power bot and this
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also comes with a cable and I suppose
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it's a matching cable because it's a
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black unit and a black cable and I
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realize I'm wearing a black shirt so a
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little hard to see there things that
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better now you can see it cool so again
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same sort of thing non-slip base cords a
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little shorter here which is a little
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awkward
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which is probably something to know that
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a little shorter and again we'll put our
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phone on here and it didn't give us the
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beep
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that's an interesting difference but it
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is now charging wirelessly and it's
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saying again two hours 22 minutes so
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same sort of charging really it's the
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charger unit that you're plugging into
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the wall that's the thing that's going
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to make this work faster or slower
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although some devices some of the
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Samsung's can charge faster over Qi
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charging if you use the Samsung gear my
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belief is that if you're just gonna have
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this sitting on there while you do
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something else anyway like make dinner
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or I don't know watch a movie or
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something then the difference in
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charging speeds probably fairly
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negligible but let's go back to this so
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this little hockey puck is called the
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power bot PB 1020 and it maxes out at
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2.1 amps so my 2.4 amp chargers a little
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more juice than it wants to deal with
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but it has some nice built-in circuitry
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so it won't overcharge it won't
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short-circuit it's gonna stop anything
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overheating including your device and
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it's a little smaller at 2.5 inches and
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1 point 8 inches thick and has that
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groovy LED on the front which I like
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which tells you that it's hot and it's
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ready to charge
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and this one's considerably less
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expensive this powerbot unit is $9.99 on
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Amazon and it comes with the cord too so
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while you have to use your own charger
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I'm not a huge big challenge so these
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are both interesting I'm going to
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actually switch back to the wood puck
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just because the wires a little longer
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because I want to show you something
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else so let's get that one back hot ok
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now with the longer cord it lets me just
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have it sitting here which is great when
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we just went to the side and what I want
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to show you is the company that makes
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the wood puck also has this iqi mobile
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or Ikey I'm not sure what you'd call it
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but this is actually pretty interesting
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so iPhone 7 not Qi charging if I put it
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on here nothing happens so they sell
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this little gas
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which is basically everything you would
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have wanted to have built into the phone
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so it would support wireless charging as
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an external thing so has a lightning
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connector I plug it in and now and it
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only works on one side not the other but
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now let's see I think it's this way no
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this way let's try this and if I get it
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just so via retic Li there we go
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so now I hope you can see my iPhone is
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charging via wireless charging because
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I'm using the I Qi mobile and the idea I
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suppose is that you actually tuck this
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in and then you use a case that actually
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lets that sit in the back and then when
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it's on the case then all you have to do
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is drop it on a wireless charging device
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and you enjoy all the benefits of Qi
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charging even though you don't have an
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iPhone 8 or an iPhone 10 now in practice
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this is a pretty dicey proposition this
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is just a really tricky little gadget to
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work with as you saw it's super small
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and it's only a half a millimeter thick
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so it'll work with a fair number of
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cases but you need a case that gives you
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space on the bottom to have that wire go
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and it can't be made out of metal or any
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other device sort of substances because
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that will actually get in the way of the
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charging pad working so you can use like
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a soft rubber case or something but
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again you could I suppose you could even
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just tape it to the back if you wanted
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to really just enjoy the benefits and
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then you have that same challenge of
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getting it to Center but the good news
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is that because it beeps when you're
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charging you at least have that feedback
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with this particular Qi charging pad but
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all in all I love Qi charging I really
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do I'm so excited to get this for my new
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iPhone 10 I really like the power bot at
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$9.99 it is a no-brainer acquisition so
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you have an extra one maybe at the
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office or something or if you want to
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spend a few more bucks the bamboo one's
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really beautiful this is a really
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nice finish and bamboo is a super
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sustainable material so if you're
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thinking oh my gosh they're gonna cut
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down that poor bamboo and it'll take 30
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years to grow again totally not the case
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bamboo grows insanely fast it's really
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really a highly renewable resource and
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it's very attractive so this seems like
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a much better deal to me at 1999 but
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when you get to this last final piece
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the little iqi mobile it might only be
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$14.99 but I'm not sure I'm gonna
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recommend it even at that price because
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I suspect that like me you'll find it
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more frustrating than interesting and
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it's just sort of a novelty honestly if
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you really really want wireless charging
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with an iPhone then you need to get an
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eight or a ten so all in all before we
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go any further do me a favor click on
9:42
that subscribe button
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fantastic and while you're at it if you
9:46
can click the like if you do actually
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like this video I sure appreciate that
9:50
feedback and let's see so we got the two
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wireless chargers both super cool and we
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have the little wireless adapter for
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your iPhone not so excited about that
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one so be it
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this is Dave Taylor and I'll catch you
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in my next movie
10:06
[Music]
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