Powermat products due 30 October

Wireless charging for your gadgets

Powermat products due 30 October

23 October 2009 14:30 GMT / By Duncan Geere

So, you read about Powermat back in January, you've pored over the specs and pricing details, and you've pinned up a few of our photos of the device on your wall. The only thing left for you to do is buy the damn thing. And shortly you can, should you so desire.

Powermat has announced that its charging device will be available in the UK from 30 October, both in "Home & Office" and "Portable" editions. For those of you who haven't clicked on any of our previous coverage of the technology, the device uses magnetic induction to generate power wirelessly, but only over very short ranges.

Powermat receivers are currently available for the iPhone, iPods, BlackBerry and Nintendo DS Lite and DSi devices. There's also a "Powercube" that comes with additional tips for Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, and LG handsets, as well as the Sony PSP and a microUSB socket.

You'll need to buy a mat and then a charging unit - the mat costs £70 for the Home & Office version, and £80 for a portable variant that folds up. The Powercube with eight tips costs an additional £30, as does a backplate for the BlackBerry Bold, Curve and Pearl handsets, and the Nintendo DS and DSi. Apple variants cost £35 thanks to the additional cost of licensing from Apple.

Is this an awesome bit of tech, or a waste of £105 when you could just plug a cable in instead? Let us know what you think in the comments.
Full tags
Gadgets, Chargers, Wireless, Powermat
UK Shopping
Amazon.co.uk, play.com, pixmania.co.uk, Currys.co.uk, Dixons.co.uk, 7dayshop.com, ebay.co.uk
US Shopping
Amazon.com, bestbuy.com, ebay.com

share Subscribe to RSS feeds email story save story print story pdf

Comments

  • sorry to dampen the enthusiasm in this article - why anyone would wish to buy one of these is beyond me. What exactly do these offer that a normal charger that comes with the device doesn't? You still need to plug in an attachmente so really what's the point?
    The idea of charging your phone etc without cables is a very good one and a huge step forward but this won't catch on until it comes inbuilt into the device as standard.
    Until that happens it's just a gimmick.     Posted by Elsie, UK
  • I have to agree entirely with Elsie - until the receivers are either built into the handsets a la the Palm Pre or are available as after-market units that can be fitted into the battery compartment, it's a waste of time.

    But hopefully in a couple of years time, with wi-fi, bluetooth, wireless charging and even the Kleer wireless technology, we'll no longer need any ports or connectors on the sides of our phones and then we can possibly look at having more waterproofing on handsets.     Posted by Iain, Scotland

(Will not be published)

  (Next time sign in to bypass captcha)

Latest in Gadgets

Latest on Pocket-lint.com

About Pocket-lint

Pocket-lint is your one stop shop for gadgets, technology and consumer electronics, bringing you the low-down on the latest televisions, cameras, phones, GPS and much more. Whether it's learning about what's hot in the world of Apple, finding out about the latest home cinema kit from Samsung and Sony or merely seeing what not to buy, we have you covered. So check out our reviews, news, comment, hands-on photo galleries and videos. Enjoy.

Pocket-lint.com poll

Q. Do you still buy CDs?

Vote YES Vote NO

» LAST TIME
When asked Do you want the Droid by Motorola? 53% said yes and 47% said no

Top 10 Broadband

Compare 50+
broadband packages

Home Broadband »

Top products

tip us on news

Rss feed

Follow us on Twitter