How embarrassing: Xiaomi and Motorola show up to high school prom both wearing remote-charging tech
- Reference: 1611943451
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/01/29/how_embarrassing_motorola_and_xiaomi/
- Source link:
Xiaomi's tech – [1]called Mi Air Charge – purportedly offers charging speeds of 5W, and works within a radius of "several meters", which is as vague a metric as any. It consists of two parts: a base station that looks a bit like a shrunken air conditioning unit, and a receiver embedded within a smartphone.
[2]
The base station tracks the device with five phase-interference antennas, which energy is shot out via a phase-control array, which consists of 144 antennas. On the mobile front, you've got a beacon antenna which helps the base station pinpoint the device, as well as a receiving array, which consists of 14 antennas that convert the millimetre wave signal into electrical energy through a rectifier circuit.
In practice, Xiaomi's Mi Air Charge opens up the possibility of charging your phone as you move about a room, and the Chinese mobile gadget has expressed an interest to bring it to wearable devices, as well as other static IoT kit.
[3]
"In the near future, Xiaomi's self-developed space isolation charging technology will also be able to work with smart watches, bracelets and other wearable devices. Soon our living room devices, including speakers, desk lamps and other small smart home products, will all be built upon a wireless power supply design, completely free of wires, making our living rooms truly wireless," the company's presser reads.
Xiaomi obviously wants people to take this very seriously, based on the weird not-quite-haiku it used to conclude the announcement, which we'll copy below verbatim because it's rather strange.
This is a revolutionary innovation of wireless charging.
This is also a bold attempt to turn the whole house wireless.
It's not science fiction, it's technology.
This is Xiaomi's self-developed remote charging technology.*
Still, there's no word on when we can expect it to enter commercial availability, or whether it will be exclusively available on Xiaomi-made kit, or released as a standard vendors can choose to adopt.
Given Xiaomi's increased emphasis on lifestyle and IoT kit, it makes sense to keep Mi Air Charge in the family to lock punters into the Xiaomi ecosystem. As [4]we've pointed out previously , Xiaomi doesn't just sell phones. It makes backpacks, toothbrushes, vacuums, security cameras, and more. At this point, it's not strictly speaking true to call it a "phone manufacturer".
OK, so let's move on to Motorola. Their tech is a little different, if not for the fact that we know more about how it works. Rather than plonk a phone directly onto a wireless charging mat, a phone (in this case, a Motorola Edge) is placed within the charger's direct line of sight. Any obstacle placed between the charger and the phone immediately halts charging, as [5]demonstrated by a video posted by Lenovo general manager Chen Jin to Weibo.
Again, there's no word on any eventual availability, or on the charging speeds, but the fact that two companies have confirmed they're exploring this tech on the same day suggests a heightened commercial interest from vendors.
But we can't help recalling that quote from Jurassic Park: "Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn't stop to think if they should." As we know, conventional wireless charging is [6]massively more inefficient than standard cable-based charging, with heaps of energy wasted as heat. We have no idea whether this free-floating permutation is even worse. ®
[7]
* "This is not just any trifle. It's a Marks & Spencers trifle." Anyone?
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[1] https://blog.mi.com/en/2021/01/29/forget-about-cables-and-charging-stands-with-revolutionary-mi-air-charge-technology/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_personal_tech/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YBSThpW2cmtBENzmKFAh7wAAAII&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_personal_tech/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YBSThpW2cmtBENzmKFAh7wAAAII&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2020/03/31/xiaomi_2019/
[5] https://m.weibo.cn/detail/4598614850802322
[6] https://debugger.medium.com/wireless-charging-is-a-disaster-waiting-to-happen-48afdde70ed9
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_personal_tech/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YBSThpW2cmtBENzmKFAh7wAAAII&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Waste and saftey
It's not microwaves - it's more like AM radio
Re: Waste and saftey
It can be both.
'Microwaves' implies a particular range of frequencies, 'AM' is a type of modulation. If you mean 'medium wave' (the frequency range used for AM broadcasting) then beamforming at those frequencies requires large aerials spread over a large area.
Horribly inefficient barely begins to describe it, I'd think, also quite likely horribly illegal at the moment, at any frequency.
M.
Re: Waste and saftey
I meant they use frequencies closer to AM radio bands. A magnetic field at a few 100Khz isn't going to deposit very much energy into you compared to a microwave.
On the downside a regular tinfoil hat isn't going to shield you from such long wavelengths.
Back in my days of trying to make super sensitive particle detectors in a world full of badly built CRT flyback transformers radiating like mad, I can suggest that the only effective shielding is something like the magazine armour on a battleship.
Re: Waste and saftey
You sure they use KHz frequencies? Those can't be aimed very well. Higher frequencies can, which makes them much more desireable from a beamforming and efficiency standpoint.
Apple had been working on this for a few years with an acquisition in that field a while back, but apparently gave up a year or two ago - the return of MagSafe seems to be their final surrender on that front. I wonder if these guys figured out something Apple couldn't or if Apple gave it up because of unsolvable problems that will be present in these (assuming one or the other actually reaches the market someday)
Re: Waste and safety and usability
Besides the waste and the safety of the radiation, I can't help but wonder what it's going to do to my wifi and 4g/5g reception. I have 6 foot cords for my phone and tablet chargers so I can charge them during the day while I'm sitting and using them.
Why?
I can see why people would want fast charging and even why they would want wireless charging.... but what the fudge you need remote charging for in an smartphone?
Yo jusyu know people will just end moving the device as close as possible so it charges faster.
Waste and saftey
Not only is wireless charging very wasteful, but what about the safety? No matter how good the beam forming, to get 5W charging at several meters away, how much total microwave energy is emitted, and how much are the occupants of the room going to be subjected to?