[dingaling]

One benefit of old-school wired charging is that I can still use the device in a normal orientation whilst it is charging, so long as the cable is long enough.

Do you find that wireless charging prevents that? I assume the fevice has to lie flat on the plate somewhere near a power outlet.

[freehunter]

Seriously, I hate everyone who bought an Android phone instead of a Palm Pre in 2009-2010, because if they did, we would still have the incredible things they came up with. Not only did they have C++/Javascript/HTML as their programming stack and not only did they provide directions on their site on how to root their devices and boot custom kernels over USB, they had wireless charging built in and had a great wireless charging stand that I used on my HP Touchpad for years until it finally gave out. You can have the tablet standing at any angle you want, working on it (boot into Ubuntu with a wireless keyboard, why not? It's a Palm) while it's wirelessly charging.

But no, Google was cool and Palm was old hat, so now they're gone and we are using Java to make apps and charging by laying our phones flat and plugging our tablets into the wall.

[ibrahima]

I have a Qi charger for my Nexus 5 and I run into this issue sometimes, because eg. I come home and my phone is almost dead but I still want to use it. The solution is pretty easy though, I just unplug the micro USB from my charging pad and plug it directly into my phone if I want to do that. At least when I'm at home I just leave it on the charger most of the time so I don't have to worry about charge.

[bhauer]

I have a couple flat charging plates and on my desk, I use the angled plate [1]. That said, I don't actually use my phone all that much while it's on a charging plate.

But as others have pointed out, when you have wireless charging plates at your home and office, you'll routinely just drop your phone on a plate just as peers will drop theirs on a their desk. You'll find your phone is more often at full charge. I've only fully-drained the battery a handful of times (much use while away from any charging, wires included) and observed it in battery-saver mode another handful.

I would say a wireless-charging device with ample charging plates (say, 3 or 4) gives you a blissful ignorance of battery life. It's analogous to the bliss I had when I drove an electric car—contrary to conventional wisdom I found that electric cars create range bliss rather than range anxiety. Every time you leave your home for the day, the car is at full capacity. You never have to plan a visit to a refilling station. With a wirelessly-charged phone, I scarcely look at my phone's battery indicator; it's just not an issue.

And just to be as clear as possible, you can still connect a traditional micro USB cord to charge these phones if that's all you have handy.

[1] http://www.microsoft.com/en/mobile/accessory/dt-910/

[math0ne]

It does prevent that but it also prevents my device from ever being dead because whenever I'm at my desk I just put it on the charger. With the wired chargers in the past it was a paint to plug and unplug so my phone was always low but with the wireless stuff my device is naturally juicy all the time.

[annnnd]

Have the batteries progressed enough that this kind of charging is no longer a problem? (I am talking about memory effect)

[ghshephard]

Memory effect was mostly folklore, and, regardless, was only specific to one very specific type of nickel-cadmium battery.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_effect

"True memory effect is specific to sintered-plate nickel-cadmium cells, and is exceedingly difficult to reproduce, especially in lower ampere-hour cells. In one particular test program designed to induce the effect, none was found after more than 700 precisely-controlled charge/discharge cycles"

[omgtehlion]

Almost all Li(Ion|Poly|FePO) batteries currently don't have “memory effect” when you charge them repeatedly. The only problem happens when you drain the battery below minimum voltage, then it will lose its capacity.

[ansible]

LiIon batteries do suffer from wear from normal usage. The more change/discharge cycles, the lower the capacity. If it is exposed to heat, that damages it. I'm told that leaving it fully charged a lot is also bad for it, because that allegedly puts more stress on the battery than when it is at 90% full.

There is a lot to be desired from current battery technology.

[chiph]

The charger I have props the phone up at an angle. You can interact with it in a limited sense, but of course if you pick it up you'll take it out of range of the charger. So good for things like swiping to see how many messages you have and so forth, but not for making calls, playing games, etc. But if you do, you just set it back down on the charger when you're done -- no need to fool with a cord, or stay within cord-length.

[boyaka]

Although battery swapping has obvious disadvantages such as requiring a power cycle and fumbling with the battery and a battery cover (as well as your external charger), it certainly beats wired/wireless charging in this aspect in that it provides immediate usage, not tethered to a wire or a charging plate.

[notwedtm]

I use the AirDock[0] as a wireless charger. It has a magnet in it that holds the phone at any orientation you desire.

[0]: http://theairdock.com/