Wireless charging has been limited to a lot of smartphones like the Nexus 5, HTC X8 and Nokia Lumia 920. The technology is still in it’s growing phase. Current wireless charging technology is limited to a proximity which still requires the receiver and charging pad to be in contact. This could rapidly change with the progress of technology. There are multiple wireless charging standards battling it out to become the universal one. In the recently launched Samsung Galaxy S6 there is support for the two major wireless charging standards. This is the Qi Wireless Charging iPhone Case review after few months of trying the technology.
iPhone does not support native support for wireless charging so If you were to put the phone on a charging pad, nothing would happen then. It requires a wireless charging iPhone case which acts as the receiver. I got a Qi wireless charging case from Mobile Solar Chargers to review including a Qi wireless charging pad.
I used the wireless charging case when I was using my iPhone at home. I don’t usually use a case on the iPhone but while charging I did not mind putting on the case. The Qi wireless charging iPhone case is very light on the bulk because it does not have a battery pack and only uses itself as a receiver from the charging pad. Thin construction of the case allows the case to be put on or removed quickly. I’ve had some really tough iPhone cases which would be impossible to remove the iPhone out once it’s in place. The ability to be able to be put the case on and off in a jiffy impressed me a lot. That could probably be one of the reasons I kept coming back to using the case for wireless charging.
The case also doubles as the microUSB power input which means if you’re having any Android phone chargers lying around you can use it without having to carry the lightning cable. This addition is really great because there are some days when you forget to take your charger and the phone is probably dying and everyone else has a micro USB charger. It has saved my day couple of times.
Most of the 3.5mm headphone can be plugged in within the cut-out provided by the case, like the Earpods fit in but, the Bose QC 20 headphone jack wouldn’t go in. Speaker grills have been put in so that the sound does not get muted which interestingly adds a great value because sometimes without the case, while using the iPhone in landscape mode the sound could easily get blocked out. After putting on the case this didn’t seem to happen because the sound was dispersed.
The charging case loses some points for not being minimal or designer because the case only says “qi” which is the name of the proprietary wireless charging technology. This seems like a cry from the Qi charging technology over it’s competition. The case could totally use a fresh coat of paint but it’s highly unlikely and there are no other color options.
Qi Wireless Charging Pad that I received was almost designed for just one device to be charged at one time. This was very evident when I tried different positions I could place on the charging pad and I noticed it only charged when it placed at the center. The charging pad is pretty standard which is powered using a microUSB port so it can clearly be powered easily. It has a indicator to show if the charging pad is switched on and if the device placed is charging. Outer casing of the charging pad is made out of cheap plastic and gets scratched and discolored over the use.
Overall using the iPhone wireless charging case was pretty neat, all I had to do was to place the iPhone on the case and it charges. Well, the speed of the charging was slow. I could have rather put the charging case with micro USB. It really works if you’re in a work environment where you’re constantly taking calls and placing it back on the charging case. I didn’t see any changes with the battery health when charged in this manner.
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