Hasta La Gadget!

iQi is a hardware add-on that brings the tech Apple hasn’t — wireless charging (using the Qi standard) — to your iPhone without the need to put it in a bulky case. Think of it as akin to Bill Gates’ quest for sensation enhancing graphene condoms. Or, er, having some cake and eating it.

The slender iQi gizmo is designed to work with soft cases, including Apple’s leather iPhone 5 sleeve, so you don’t have to compromise the overall look of your iPhone just to be able to wirelessly charge it. Although, once this phone-hugging gizmo is installed, there will be a slight bump on your phone’s rear, i.e. where the case has to swell to accommodate its wireless-charge providing passenger.

Visually, this is an all-but imperceptible bump if you’re using Apple’s leather sleeve, but it’s a bit more sticky-outy when paired with some soft plastic cases. The slight swelling does mean the handset won’t now sit entirely flat on a table or other flat surface.

Wireless charging has huge potential, albeit much of that promise remains to come. For now it plays a relatively small role in the consumer electronics space — possibly making a few mobile owners’ lives slightly more convenient by allowing them to charge their device by sticking it on a charger plate, rather than fumbling around to plug in a power cord once per day. (Although wireless chargers still have to plug the charger plate in at some point, and make some space for it  – and its unpleasing cable — on their desk.)

Nokia adding wireless charging to its flagship Windows Phone Lumia smartphones wasn’t enough to convert legions of iPhone users to the platform and save the once mighty mobile maker from having to sell that business unit to Microsoft. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t appetite for the tech, even among iPhone owners. More Android flagships are adding built-in wireless charging (including Google); yet Apple continues to stand aloof.

iQi’s Indiegogo campaign for its slender, soft-case compatible iPhone wireless charger, concluded a successful crowdfunding run last December, raising over $161,500 (from 2,350+ backers) — more than 5x its makers’ original target of $30,000. So even though Cupertino hasn’t seen the point of wireless charging yet a portion of iPhone owners are clearly keen. Or keen enough to shell out $25+. (Update: The iQi is now on general sale available, via its maker Fonesalesman’s website, for circa $35.)

But, is the iQi any good? Well, it certainly doesn’t look like much when my test unit arrives, being packaged in an envelope housed on a piece of card with a small paper user manual. But that’s a good thing: less, not more, is exactly the point of this iPhone wireless charger hardware hack.

It’s basically a couple of pieces of cardboard (smaller than a credit card in size), sandwiched around some low profile electronic innards, with a flexible connector sticking out one end that plugs into the iPhone’s Lightning connector port.

Plugging the iQi into your iPhone is pretty straightforward, although it helps to have a fingernail long enough to push the connector snugly into the port. At that point you just bend the flexible plastic ribbon over so the main bulk of the iQi sits flush with the back of your iPhone (that’s bend, not fold; the ribbon won’t stand up to any kind of creasing). A flat silicon disk is also provided in the pack which you can stick onto the iQi’s rear to stop it sliding around on the phone’s rear. Simples.

Of course you do need a Qi charger plate to use the iQi with — such as the KoolPuck or KoolPad — or another charger plate that uses the Qi wireless charging standard. You’ll also need a soft-case to help protect the iQi and keep it fixed in place — unless you fancy augmenting your iPhone’s rear with duct tape.

Now to the main issue: does the iQi actually work? Not, I’m afraid to say, reliably. Which may well illustrate why Apple thinks this nascent tech isn’t worth bothering with (yet).

Some of the issues I encountered while testing the iQi (with an iPhone 5) are likely those generally associated with the Qi standard. As my TC colleague John Biggs has previously noted, Qi is slow and finicky — requiring the user to align the device with the charging place in just the right place or no dice. Or rather, no juice.

Which isn’t a huge hassle per se but it is a problem for a device that only offers an incremental convenience boost anyway. To add to the irritation, when it’s not aligned, the iQi beeps persistently, like a mournful robot child in need of a bottle feed.

One time I left it charging — everything apparently going tickety-boo — yet when I returned to the house half an hour later I heard its urgent call. Turns out the phone was sitting there, where I had left it charging on the plate, now not charging but beeping. Stuck on 99% battery.

Perhaps the iQi cuts out charging when it’s almost full and beeps to signify this but, if so, that’s going to get really annoying if the moment it chooses to pipe up coincides with the middle of your night.

I did also have a missed call, which perhaps caused the charging function to cut out. Whatever triggered the Qi break, the iQi’s reliability evidently can’t be relied upon.

It had been working prior to this point, but after this break it stubbornly wouldn’t resume charging — even after I tried draining the battery a bit to give it more scope for juicing. I also swapped out the KoolPuck charging plate for the KoolPad. But it still didn’t want to charge (even though the charger light on the plate switched to blue, as if charging, yet the battery indicator did not respond).

Next I tried removing the iPhone sleeve. Still no joy. So, finally, I did the inevitable reboot of removing the iQi and then plugging it back in again. And lo it started working again. So, yeah.

Another caveat: this is a hardware hack of the iPhone. iQi Mobile notes on its Indiegogo page that it’s not part of the MFi program, and “as such is not Apple certified” — so, while it claims the iQi “works well with iOS 7.0.4″, that statement carries an implicit caveat that it can’t guarantee smooth operation with future iterations of Apple’s OS.

So, down the line, iQi owners might have to choose between their iPhone having a sporadic wireless charging ability, and their iPhone having iOS 8. So, yeah…

Bottom line

If you really are desperate for an iPhone that supports wireless charging, and are willing to live with temperamental tech while you wait for Apple to take the plunge itself, the iQi does get around the need to stick a bulky, unattractive case on your iPhone. It’s certainly very visually unobtrusive, especially paired with Apple’s leather case.

Just don’t expect your phone to sit entirely flush with any flat surface, ergo prodding a resting-on-a-table iPhone’s screen or pushing its home button will result in the handset rocking about or lifting up like an angry ouija board.

But — above all — don’t expect the iQi-powered wireless charging to ‘just work’. Much like the nascent convenience of wireless charging generally, the additional functionality offered by the iQi can be marginally useful sometimes — but only when it’s not being a bit annoying.

Apple has received a patent from the USPTO (via AppleInsider) for a method of wireless induction charging that can perform different actions based on the orientation of the device as it’s laid on the charing mat or pad. The patent application was originally published back in September, 2012, and we covered it then, but it’s interesting to revisit in light of recent reports about Apple using induction tech in iWatch prototypes.

The New York Times said earlier this week that Apple is working on versions of the iWatch that use induction charging to power up, so that users won’t have to plug them in. The idea is likely that charging yet another digital device has to be as easy as possible for consumers, who already have to deal with keeping their phones, tablets and computers juiced up and ready to go.

Apple has a number of patents related to this tech, which is already in use among various Android OEMs as well as Nokia in its Lumia line. Apple has yet to release a device that makes use of the tech, however. An iWatch is a good candidate because of its specific battery challenges, and this positional function switching could potentially apply to a smartwatch, too. You could see triggering an alarm or sleep mode by docking an iWatch in a certain way for overnight charging, for instance, or maintaining an active state for mounting when you’re at your desk and working.

Induction charging is far from a lock for a wearable for Apple (nor is the Apple wearable itself, in fact), but Apple is definitely investing in R&D around the tech. And however it addresses it, power management will be a key differentiating factor for any Apple smartwatch, I’d guess, so turning it into a value-add feature with orientation-based actions is an idea with a lot of potential.

[CES 2014] At every edition of CES, you can be sure that there will also be an area that showcases vehicles as well as the different kinds of technology that has been incorporated within, or in this particular case of the Wireless Power Consortium (WPC), from without. We are referring to how German automaker Audi has been demonstrating Qi wireless charging capability at this year’s edition of CES.

This would place Audi alongside the ranks of Daimler, Toyota, Jeep and others who have already incorporated Qi wireless charging capability in current and future car models. Needless to say, cars are but a natural fit for wireless charging, so to have Qi wireless charging capability just about everywhere the consumer needs it makes perfect sense. The Audi phone box that debuted in 2012 has been refreshed to include Qi wireless charging capability, where the electricity in the floor of the phone box will flow to a receiver coil in the smartphone via induction. Future versions will see the very same Audi phone box provide perfect cell reception, in addition to making sure that a user’s smartphone will remain fully charged all the time. Apart from that, Audi makes use of the WLAN hotspot in the car so that it can combine the world of smartphones and tablets with the automotive world in an intelligent manner. [Press Release]

Audi Demonstrates Qi Wireless Charging At CES 2014 original content from Ubergizmo.

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