Texas Instruments Designs Tiny Qi Chip for Wireless Charging

[dgstorm]

Very soon, wireless charging will not require special back covers for phones anymore. Texas Instruments has just unveiled their newest tech advancement, in the form of a tiny Qi chip for wireless charging. To put it in perspective, this chip is only .12 inches at its longest point, which is a decrease in size of 80% over their last chip of the same technology. Furthermore, this little baby pumps out 5W of juice with an amazing 93% efficiency. This little "doohicky" will allow you to charge your phone as fast as if it were plugged in directly. The chip is compliant with the current Qi standard, and it will facilitate thinner phones getting wireless charging.

In the past, this technology has never garnered a large amount of large-scale buyers, because it was just a bit too big to fit into all the fancy new super-thin smartphones coming out. This new technology will change that.

Source: Android.net via PhoneArena

 

[nyeshia0431]

Cool, they better put this on the Bionic lol

 

[Wuffpack99]

Neato. I hear the bionic will come with one of these:

 

[gflam]

Sounds cool although wireless charging isn't a huge advantage really in my mind it's really not that hard to plug a cable into my phone

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[JohnnytheK]

Sounds cool although wireless charging isn't a huge advantage really in my mind it's really not that hard to plug a cable into my phone

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Are you mad? It goes in one way, for Bob's sake! If you get it wrong you have to turn the plug over!

 

[GDP]

When they start making high-end smartphones that can go the entire day without needing a charge I will be impressed.

 

[Beardface]

Sounds cool although wireless charging isn't a huge advantage really in my mind it's really not that hard to plug a cable into my phone

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Yes and no...

It really depends on the range of the charging. If its only a foot or two, ok, whats the big deal. But if its to the point where as long as I have the charger set up in a central point that I'll have continual charging from the moment I get home to the moment I leave (like a Wifi range) then thats another story altogether. That would be a game changer.

 

[gflam]

Sounds cool although wireless charging isn't a huge advantage really in my mind it's really not that hard to plug a cable into my phone

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Are you mad? It goes in one way, for Bob's sake! If you get it wrong you have to turn the plug over!

I sometimes try to put it in sideways or i once tried sticking the wall prongs into the phone that didn't go well :/

 

[MoeDaddy]

I'm pretty sure that with Qi chargers you have to basically sit the device on the charging mat in order to charge it. I don't think it can be very far away at all however maybe this has changed. Even so I see the advantage of just putting your phone down on a mat as opposed to plugging it in. It's quicker, it will become an almost mindless routine plus you get the added bonus of less wear and tear on the micro USB...

 

[dfuser312553]

I'll want this tech when I can buy a desk that acts as a charging pad.

 

[gflam]

Ha a desk as a charging pad sounds expensive but a very cool idea i could definately see that being created in the future

 

[kodiak799]

There's already some experimentation out there for wireless charging. Don't think they've successfully gotten it to work very well beyond a few inches/feet, though.

Wouldn't that be something if your 3G/LTE service also charged your phone? Even if not very efficient (say 25% charge in 4 hours) it would be enough to make it through the day for even heavy users.

 

[dark juggalo]

Wouldn't that be something if your 3G/LTE service also charged your phone? Even if not very efficient (say 25% charge in 4 hours) it would be enough to make it through the day for even heavy users.

Now that would be impressive.

 

[mikezq8ss]

That's what I was thinking as I was reading this thread...

It would be awesome for a phone to be able to leech charge from the environment it's in. Hell, if they could figure a way to do the 3G/LTE charge thing that kodiak mentioned, I'd pay more for it. Imagine, never having to plug your phone in as long as you have service somewhere? I'm pretty sure my phone costs me around $.07 a month (if that) realistically to keep charged, but I'd be willing to throw down a $10 per month fee to have them keep it charged! That'd be amazing to never need a charger again....

 

[dfuser312553]

I remember right before this tech launched a few years ago an NPR interview with an engineer describing near future router-esc devices that broadcast the charge.