Unshackle your charger!

Thanks to new wireless technologies, you can soon throw away that mobile charging cable

In Jonathan Swift’s 18th century satire, Gulliver’s Travels, the people of Lilliput are divided into two warring camps: the Big Enders who broke their breakfast egg at the larger end and the Little Enders who did ditto at the small end. There were six civil wars between the fierce adherents of both techniques.
Similarly, Indians today are divided into two camps: those who charge their phones with flat-tipped cables and those whose cables come with a round tip. The “Roundians” are further divided into multiple groups depending on the size of the round pin. At airports and other public places, if your phone battery runs dry, you head for a free charging station — a cat’s cradle of many charging cables — and fight for one that matches your phone. Can it get more ridiculous than this? Can’t mobile phone makers agree on a single standard for the charger cable? We wish we could throw out the cable entirely and find a neater way of recharging phone batteries.
And now, it seems our prayers have been answered — wireless chargers have officially arrived! They come in the form of small palm-sized charging pads. Place your phone on the pad and it gets charged wirelessly. In fact, you can place two to three phones on the pad to charge them simultaneously.
What’s the trick? It’s a technology called Qi (pronounced ‘Chie’), a Chinese word which means ‘natural energy’. The technical term is ‘induction charging’. The charger pad includes a coil which transmits charge over a short distance. The phone has a special coil which couples wirelessly with the charging coil and absorbs the charge. Qi is now emerging as the global standard for wireless charging. Online sellers offer wireless charger pads, which promise to fully charge a phone in around three hours. The prices start at around Rs 500.
The only catch is, your phone must have the matching Qi coil. The Qi standard is currently being endorsed by Microsoft, Samsung, HTC, Motorola, LG, Asus, Blackberry, Sony, Verizon etc — so pretty soon most popular phone makes will be Qi-ready. If your current phone is non-Qi, you can buy a Qi chip separately and install it under the back cover to make the phone wireless charge-ready. I’m guessing by next year all new phones will allow wireless charging. In fact, as they are doing with power banks, some phone makers are launching their own branded charging pads or ‘pillows’.
High fashion has also embraced the idea. Furniture maker Ikea has embedded a Qi charger into some of its tables, desks and lamps.
It’ll soon be time to throw that charging cable away — flat pin, round pin and all.
What about solar phone chargers?
Phone chargers which work from their own solar panels rather than a mains power outlet, are useful items to have if you are often on the move. A number of models, priced between Rs 500 to Rs 5,000 are available online.
A quick guide
Solar chargers come in two types. One charges your phone or tablet directly, through the micro USB port. These types are compact, not larger than the phone. Obviously, they will only work in good light. And remember solar charging is much slower.
The other kind comes with a power bank of anything from 1,000 mAh to 10,000 mAh. It charges the bank when light is available and you can then charge your phone from the bank whenever you like. This kind tends to be bulkier and can cost between Rs 3,000 and Rs 5,000. I have seen Zero Lemon’s Solar Juice which doubles up as a torch. For hikers, there are also light weight models which use flexible solar panels and can be folded. Solar chargers are rated in watts. You need something between three and seven watts for reliable phone charging.