Guest The Soup Thief Posted December 7, 2012 Report Share Posted December 7, 2012 (edited) I'm always a bit wary about starting new Topics on Modaco - looks like I'm breaking virgin snow here though... I see from this news item Paul posted last month and the comments that followed that the N4 uses the Qi standard. I'm an utter noob when it comes to wireless charging, but I assume that one needs a receiver device (here, a Nexus 4 with built in receiver) and a compatible transmitter, so in this case a Qi charging pad. The Maxell Air Voltage and Bitmore Charging Pad are each available for 40 quid. XDA developers has a few optionsfrom Energizer and Panasonic, though it appears only the former is available in the UK currently (and quite pricey too) In the comments on the above-linked news page Flibblesan linked to a Nokia device available through Handtec - not available anymore :-( Also as Zarch1972 points out the Palm Touchstone doesn't work There are a bunch of cheap Powermat options (I think Powermat is a Duracell brand) on Amazon, but I assume these are not Qi compatible Similarly there are some Duracell Mygrid pads going for pennies - I guess these are not compatible Can anyone confirm whether the Nokia chargers are compatible with the N4? Any other suggestions? EDIT: Here's a bit more info on N4 wireless charging. Confirms that Nokia chargers are Qi compatible, Powermat are not. Also that Qi is pronounced "chee" - who knew? Also there's an "LG Portable Power Mat", but it's unavailable through Amazon UK at the mo Edited December 7, 2012 by The Soup Thief Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pondlife Posted December 7, 2012 Report Share Posted December 7, 2012 Think all those cheap ones were around before qi. Expect we'll see some better options eventually just like a larger array of cases would be nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Soup Thief Posted December 7, 2012 Report Share Posted December 7, 2012 (edited) I've ordered a crappy plastic case from some amazon seller - just to save me smashing the fragile beauty in the early days. Hopefully will get something a bit prettier as things come on stream. It will be a shame to cover up that gorgeous backplate... Re chargers, the two 40 quid ones mentioned above are both Qi chargers. I just want to hear a few reviews before I flash the cash Surprised the Chinese sellers haven't weighed in here - Qi is an open standard - there are no royalties to pay, so it should just be a matter of someone wanting to set up buiding them EDIT - just had a look on Aliexpress - the best anyone will do for a Qi charger is about $50 - slightly less wholesale, but only slightly. That's about 30 quid - for the reduction in hassle, I think the Maxell or the Bitmore look well worth the tenner extra Edited December 7, 2012 by The Soup Thief Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pondlife Posted December 7, 2012 Report Share Posted December 7, 2012 Yeah I got that the 40 quid ones were qi, but thought the cheap ones were too old. I did see one reviewer had troubles with the nokia charger and the n4. I expect there's not been enough interest in wireless chargers for the budget sellers to flood the market yet. If there is more interest now I think they'll start churning them out fast. I'm in no rush for the qi charger can wait for saner prices, preferably that charge more than one device. Expect we'll see more cases first though. Yeah was hoping for one with a totally clear back. Ordered front and back screen protectors and a slip case as temporary measure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest everett_psycho Posted December 8, 2012 Report Share Posted December 8, 2012 I've ordered a maxell charger but it's taking a while to turn up, I'll post more when it arrives. Also found this as an import but went with the maxell as I had a play voucher to use anyway http://www.vococal.com/qi-wireless-charger-for-iphone-4-4s-white_p12461.html Also got a cheap tpu case of eBay for about £3, the clear ones hide a chunk of the back but you can still see the nexus logo and some of the effect of the back glass, hopefully some manufacturers will get on board making decent cases and qi chargers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Soup Thief Posted December 10, 2012 Report Share Posted December 10, 2012 Just saw this Forbes article which gives a little background to why there are so few Qi chargers about at the moment Sounds like the standard has been set - Chinese fabs, start your engines! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Pondlife Posted December 10, 2012 Report Share Posted December 10, 2012 Not really as that was over a month ago and they were churning out charging cables for the new iphone in hours. Tbh I don't see the adoption by wp8 phones and the nexus 4 of qi as definitive for which charging standard wins out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest professordes Posted December 11, 2012 Report Share Posted December 11, 2012 The 40 quid Maxell charger picked up from one of the on-line retailers in the UK works very nicely with the N4 (as it should, being Qi). It is a fair bit bigger than the phone, although it is light, so it isn't really a very portable option. It would be nice to have something rollable.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest everett_psycho Posted December 11, 2012 Report Share Posted December 11, 2012 Mines in my bag at the moment to try at work, it's really light but it is about the size of a 7 inch tablet so not that portable. Also add Paul found out, nexus glass on a plastic plate is very slippery, you need a case on the nexus to stop if sliding off Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest t0ph0id Posted December 11, 2012 Report Share Posted December 11, 2012 My Maxell case arrive today. I don't find it slippery in the slightest when my phone is on it with no case. It is bigger than the phone, but it needs to be. About the size I expected to be honest. I found it charged pretty quickly, but did get a bit warm. Will try and log some temperatures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest everett_psycho Posted December 11, 2012 Report Share Posted December 11, 2012 My Maxell case arrive today. I don't find it slippery in the slightest when my phone is on it with no case. It is bigger than the phone, but it needs to be. About the size I expected to be honest. I found it charged pretty quickly, but did get a bit warm. Will try and log some temperatures.I found mine seems to charge faster in the case which is a bit weird Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest StuMcBill Posted December 12, 2012 Report Share Posted December 12, 2012 I looked at the Nokia wireless charging plate the other day, seems to be a nice piece of kit! I *think* it is qi compatible, and if I had my N4 (its being held hostage until Christmas), I would have stuck it on the plate in Carphone Warehouse! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ethicalstrategy Posted December 12, 2012 Report Share Posted December 12, 2012 I can confirm that the Nokia plate works fine with the N4. I've stuck mine on a few in CPW without any problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Weasley Posted December 13, 2012 Report Share Posted December 13, 2012 I can confirm that the Nokia plate works fine with the N4. I've stuck mine on a few in CPW without any problem. I tried the Lumia 920 wireless plate on my N4. its keep displaying charging and not charging. ocassionally its will charge 1% on wireless then not charging again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Soup Thief Posted December 20, 2012 Report Share Posted December 20, 2012 In a thread over at xda some guy reports having been in touch with this company about compatibility of their device with a the N4. Claims it works http://store.wpcentral.com/zens-wireless-single-charger/5A233A12862.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Soup Thief Posted December 20, 2012 Report Share Posted December 20, 2012 Here's the link to the thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2040340 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Soup Thief Posted December 20, 2012 Report Share Posted December 20, 2012 This Xda post is interesting... http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=35132235 Maybe the Nokia pads are ok after all... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Rusty! Posted January 12, 2013 Report Share Posted January 12, 2013 I use the Maxell Air Voltage charger with mine, it's pretty cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest everett_psycho Posted February 11, 2013 Report Share Posted February 11, 2013 The official orb has appeared on the play store, well it's there but us in the UK can't buy it yet, it's going for $60 plus p&p in the states Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Sn0warmy Posted February 14, 2013 Report Share Posted February 14, 2013 (edited) If you can get your hands on the LG WCP-700 Wireless Charging Pad, I highly recommend it. I've been using it since mid-December and it's been absolutely flawless. I picked it up for about $40 shipped at the time it was available on Amazon. I should mention that it charges the phone perfectly even with the official bumper and the Diztronic TPU case. Edited February 14, 2013 by Sn0warmy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest logitechor Posted February 20, 2013 Report Share Posted February 20, 2013 I ordered and received the PowerQI from China. Cheaper then Google's and I could order it. It came already. Works like a charm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Phil Lee Posted February 21, 2013 Report Share Posted February 21, 2013 (edited) Does anyone know if any of these mats work when the official bumper is fitted to the phone? Edited February 21, 2013 by Phil Lee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest everett_psycho Posted February 21, 2013 Report Share Posted February 21, 2013 I'd guess the maxell does, or works through my tpu case which has rubber all down the back of the phone so with nothing in the way I'd think the bumper would work fine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest logitechor Posted March 4, 2013 Report Share Posted March 4, 2013 Hi. I have the bumper and it charges fine with it on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ribs85 Posted March 5, 2013 Report Share Posted March 5, 2013 Hi, I've ended up getting two QI Chargers this week. I only ordered the car version, but actually got the car version, and the desktop version. Dunno why, maybe I ordered wrong, but whatever... The charger is here: Car version: http://owlpad.net/carpad-for-nexus-4/ Desktop version: http://owlpad.net/owlpad-for-nexus-4-n-qi/ Initial impressions are good. Both the car charger and the desktop charger did indeed charge the phone. The car charger struggled on the *very short* journey I did yesterday (6 minutes!), phone was 96% charged, and the car charger said it was fully charged in about a minute, the phone stayed at 96% however, so who knows. But that's good enough for satnavving, if it holds the charge long enough. I shall be testing it this afternoon when I go for a much longer drive. I've mounted the car charger onto a 17mm mount, in turn mounted to brodit mount in the car. It's all a little bit more bulky than I would like, but looks nice and keeps things away from the screen, which is what I want. Oddly, the car charger comes with a raiser, to move the phone off the QI coil a little bit. Moon (the man who made this), says it's to prevent heat build up with charging the phone and using satnav at the same time. I shall try it both with and without the mount and see how I get on. Heat build up and the phone/unit ceasing to charge when it's getting too hot have been a major problem during the development of this product. The car environment only makes it worse, with sunlight hitting the device and high temperatures (or no air-conditioning) causing issues (I did experience this more than once with my old Orange San Diego with regular wired charging). The desktop charger worked fine. Woke up this morning to 100% charge, but oddly the phone said it had only been off the charger for 26 minutes when I took it off the QI charger, so maybe it had charged, discharged a bit and then charged again? I don't know. I use a app in the background to help me sleep, so this might have something do with it. I've heard awful things about this charger crapping out at 60-80%, so I guess time will tell on that one, but initial impressions are good. So be honest, even if it charges in chunks and stop/starts overnight, I think I'll probably be okay with that. I've only used both items once so far. Will report back later if anyone is interested in hearing more? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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