Monday, November 2, 2015

New Ikea Phone Chargers

Taylor Fioravanti
Blog Post #3

            With the amount of times I have replaced my phone charger, I could have probably used that money to buy a whole new phone.  Phone chargers are constantly breaking, whether it just stops working completely or you have to play around with the cord until you finally hear a “bing” noise notifying you that your phone is now charging.  Regardless of the case, phone chargers that stop working are a huge inconvenience to all mobile phone users.  However, now, Ikea has come up with a new technology that may reform the phone charging game. 
            Ikea’s wireless phone chargers come built into different furniture, such as lamps and nightstands.  They also offers charging pads that can be placed on top of a surface or installed into any piece of furniture.  This may seem like a dream come true when it comes to faulty phone chargers, but recent reviews may tend to disagree.  In order to charge your phone, you must have one equipped with Qi technology.  These are mostly found in the new Android phones, which, on a side note, may help with competition against Apple iPhones.   If you want to use the new Ikea furniture to charge your phone and you don’t have the Qi capabilities, there is a special phone case, also by Ikea, on the market that you can purchase.  However, this type of phone case is bulky and not that attractive to consumers.  Also with this case, “if you do want to plug it in with a traditional wire charger while using the case, you need a Micro USB connection” which can actually add more wires instead of fewer (Bloomberg).  Another problem with this technology is that your phone has to be placed on the furniture very precisely in order for your phone charge.  Another issue with this type of charger is that you cannot touch your phone whatsoever when using it.  With just this, someone can argue that wall chargers are better than this type of new wireless technology, Even if you’re tethered to a wall charger, at least you can tweet without interrupting your charge” (Bloomberg).  Wireless charging like this can also add excess heat that could damage your phone.    
            Even though there are some critics to this new way of your charging your phone, some people think that it is a great idea.  One person found the new way to charge to be “magical” and “simple”.  He also noted that “despite the many warnings about wireless charging generating excess heat” and potentially damaging the battery life, he did not notice his phone getting hot at all.  Also arguing against the claim that you cannot use the phone while it’s charging, he said that it was easy enough to pick up the phone mid-charge, answer a text, and then place it back down to continue charging. 

            In the end, I believe this is a neat new way to charge your phone.  The “bulky” case issue can be solved if you just use the case while your phone is charging.  Whether or not this type of charging actually damages your phone will be proved in the upcoming months when this product gets more popular.  If it is true, I believe newer models will be built to fix this problem.  In my opinion, this type of technology is a step towards the future and soon enough most smartphones will be charged this way. 

http://reviews.gizmodo.com/ikeas-wireless-charging-is-almost-like-having-magic-fur-1714971282
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-26/ikea-s-wireless-charging-furniture-can-t-fix-what-s-wrong-with-your-phone

5 comments:

  1. First of all I will have to respectfully disagree with your concluding statement that Ikea has made the charger of the future. This might seem as a bright idea for Android but if Apple were worried that this would make money they would be all over it. There are way too many complications between the case and the furniture for it to be successful. Being aesthetic and looking good is very important to a consumer and the case does not posses those qualities. Also, the fact that the charger will produce excess heat possibly breaking the consumers phone is not good. Any indication that a consumer might have to spend more money will hinder the product. On the contrary, this is a useful example of information technology. The only way to expand is to get this technology in enough houses so you can use it wherever you go. Popularity is key to the success of this. Fortunately, using technology to make everyday life easier is a step in the right direction. As far as economically I do not believe that this product will be successful.

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  2. This seems like a first step, more than a giant leap into the future. Unfortunately, there are still many areas in the country, like my home of Buffalo, NY, that has no Ikea. Still, Apple iPhone chargers have had a bad history of kinking, either making it so your charger needs to be in a very specific position to charge, assuming you can get that "ding" at all. To eliminate wires from the charging process does seem almost "magical," and for those who share in horrible Apple charger nightmares, I'd go as far as to call it a gift fro Heaven. Nevertheless, there are still a few issues that need to be worked out before this becomes a real money maker. First off, many smart phones have had a bad history of overheating as it is. To add an external heat source to your phone is a bad idea that, depending on the temperature generated by the charting furniture, could be dangerous. I do not see the case as a major hindrance, but it will likely dissuade some people from purchasing it if they have already purchased an expensive case or if they simply want a slimmer phone. While I also believe it could be good for people to put their phones down for a little while, the fact you cannot use it while it is charging in the biggest hindrance I see. Still, if Ikea can work some of these problems out, sky's the limit in my opinion.

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  3. After reading this, I think Ikea has a good idea, but I don not think it was executed properly. For example, you wrote how the phones must be equipped with Qi technology, that the phone has to be placed on the furniture very precisely in order for your phone to charge, and that you cannot touch your phone whatsoever when it is charging. To me, this does not sound ideal at all. If my phone has to charge, I expect to be able to use it while it is plugged in. I agree with you when you said it is a good way to charge your phone, however Ikea must make vast improvements should they want to sell these new types of furniture, which I'm sure they do.

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  4. I think that this charger from Ikea was not a great idea, because it seems that there are a lot of issues. I would rather just buy a new charger than have to go through all of the trouble with the Ikea charger. I am not going to change from my iPhone to the Android for the new phone charger because then I am spending money on switching my phone and the Ikea charger, when I could just buy a new charger. Also if I can't charge my phone and use it at the same time what is the point of this new charger. I charge my phone to use it not to just wait for it to fully charge. Also there are portable chargers made that you can charge your phone will you are not near an outlet that work a lot better than this wireless charger form Ikea. I do not think that this Ikea charger is the future because of all of the issues and costs. I think wireless chargers would be great, but companies have to come up with better ideas for consumers to buy it.

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  5. I think that this charger from Ikea was not a great idea, because it seems that there are a lot of issues. I would rather just buy a new charger than have to go through all of the trouble with the Ikea charger. I am not going to change from my iPhone to the Android for the new phone charger because then I am spending money on switching my phone and the Ikea charger, when I could just buy a new charger. Also if I can't charge my phone and use it at the same time what is the point of this new charger. I charge my phone to use it not to just wait for it to fully charge. Also there are portable chargers made that you can charge your phone will you are not near an outlet that work a lot better than this wireless charger form Ikea. I do not think that this Ikea charger is the future because of all of the issues and costs. I think wireless chargers would be great, but companies have to come up with better ideas for consumers to buy it.

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