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Nexus 4 wireless charging orb finally makes its way to the Play Store

by Roy Alugbue on Feb 11th 2013, 2:31pm

In case you weren’t familiar, the Nexus 4 smartphone arrived with full wireless charging capabilities— but unfortunately, there weren’t many options available to utilize and take advantage of the awesome feature… until now. Google has (finally) broken down and listed its wireless charging orb as available on the Play Store for a fairly modest $59.99 listing price. The neat thing is that the device is fairly small— coming in at a mere 130 grams, so the device is fairly small in size and won’t need to take up too much space.

Now only if only Google could solve those Nexus 4 shipping woes, we’d be in business.

source: Play Store

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Categorized as Android Accessories, Android Manufacturers, Android Phones

phor11

I’m pretty happy with the 1amp output.

Has anyone actually seen one of these in person? I’m still a little confused as to how the phone won’t slide off. Will the charger hold the phone in landscape as well?
- Justin Winker
  
  I know some Qi Chargers have a magnet to hold it in place. From the looks of this one, the rings are rubber, to help it stay in place (or, there’s a magnet under the surface).
  
  On a side note, I recall reading somewhere that Qi charging works through electromagnetic resonance, so I’m pretty sure it’s a magnet.
  - phor11
    
    I bought an LG WCP-700 and a charging backplate for my girlfriend’s phone. You can definitely feel the magnets in the charging pad helping you line up her phone. They’re fairly strong.
    But when I set my Nexus4 on the charger, it just slides around.
    Clearly the magnets in LG’s other wireless charging pad don’t hold the Nexus4.
    
    Maybe it’s just a matter of where the magnets are placed?
Kary

Other than being different, why is wireless charging an “awesome feature?” I could see how a pad that charges different devices would be nice, but this just seems to be an alternative to using a USB cable.
- phor11
  
  It saves wear and tear on physical ports.
  - Kary
    
    I could see that might be useful for a car dock, if you get in and out of your car a lot. But this orb won’t do that. I was actually a bit worried about port wear with my current phone, which is now over 2 years old.
    
    I’m just not seeing wireless charging being on the list of necessary features for buying my new phone. I wouldn’t avoid it, but I’m just not seeing it being a big deal.
    - phor11
      
      Just like a single drop can change your mind on how important a case is, it only takes one broken port for your opinion to completely change on how necessary wireless charging can be. ;D
      
      And why wouldn’t the orb work in your car? Along with the AC adapter, it also comes with a regular USB cable that you could connect to a charging port in your car or cigarette lighter charger. I guess it really just depends on how powerful the magnets are.
    - crdx
      
      Wireless charging is just the next, more convenient way to charge your phone. Right now it’s a novelty because it’s new technology, but when it becomes standard, you won’t be thinking “this isn’t necessary” because it will just be your new norm.