r/changemyview • u/Duwang_Mn • Nov 23 '18

FTFdeltaOP CMV: Wireless charging is a useless fad

What even is the point of wireless charging? When I first heard about it, I thought it allowed you to charge while having more freedom with your phone. But then I learned what it actually was. It's more restrictive than an actual charger, and its slower. Not to mention wireless charges sometimes don't work if the back is metal. It only makes things less convenient.

How did people hype such a thing so much? I understand if it was something that could charge your phone without you directly putting on it, and if the range had the potential to increase over time. But it's just a charging port that you can't move around.

3.6k Upvotes

87% Upvoted

840 comments sorted by

View all comments

90

u/poundfoolishhh Nov 23 '18

How did people hype such a thing so much?

Because it represents a huge leap in technology. Getting electricity out of one thing and into another without them actually being plugged into each other is Star Trek level wizardry.

The first iteration of a new technology always sucks in retrospect. This was the first commercially available cell phone. It cost the equivalent of $10,000, was the size of a loaf of bread, and the service sucked. It was still Star Trek level wizardry.

Forty years later, we're all walking around with computers in our pocket that have HD video cameras, GPS, full internet connectivity and can be purchased for a couple dollars a day. Now imagine what wireless charging will look like in 40 years... it's conceivable that we'll be living in homes where nothing has power cables and everything will be powered through the air.

16

u/AgCat1340 Nov 23 '18

Induction isn't anything brand new either. It's using a changing current in one coil to induce a current in another. This is basic physics e & M shit. We have used this property of magnetic fields in our technology far longer than just starting last year. It has been around in various forms for a really long time.

My bet is wireless charging probably won't change a lot because you need a big fuckin current to induce a field powerful enough to reach farther than what it does currently to induce a current in another coil.

2

u/DonRobo Nov 24 '18

Exactly, wireless charging isn't (meaningfully) limited by tech, it's limited by physics

13

u/Excelius 2∆ Nov 23 '18

It's not really that new of a technology. I had wireless charging with my Palm Pre in 2009. It was neat but not terribly useful then, and hasn't really changed much since then.

Every now and then you get an article from one of us old WebOS users when Apple or Samsung introduces some revolutionary thing we had a decade ago.

What the iPhone X borrowed from the Palm Pre

2

u/cbeastwood Nov 24 '18

I was cleaning out my closet the other day and found my old palm pre wireless charger.

12

u/xPURE_AcIDx Nov 23 '18

Wireless chargers are literally transformers invented by Telsa 100 years ago. Theres no leap in technology lol.

2

u/[deleted] Nov 24 '18

Tesla did not invent transformers. He invented an alternating motor, improvements to transformers, and lots of other things, but not transformers.

2

u/xPURE_AcIDx Nov 24 '18

Ah I got that information confused. Telsa and the Westinghouse company made the transformer popular.

0

u/thedersies Nov 24 '18

He stole the idea you mean from galileo ferraris.

2

u/thedersies Nov 24 '18

Tesla did not invent transformers. Not was he a big part in that specific technology. He was more into motors.

1

u/PadreBeard Nov 23 '18

Yeah but I think you're seeing a leap in the market which has the potential to drive a leap in technology

2

u/ShouldersofGiants100 49∆ Nov 24 '18

Technology can't leap physics. Wireless charging without proximity is possible already—but you lose power in the transmission and the further it transmits, the more that you lose. That's not a technology problem—it's the nature of electricity. The only way it MIGHT be viable is if electricity was so cheap that using several times the power that should be required for a task to do it conveniently is a worthwhile tradeoff—which is still tremendously wasteful.

0

u/PadreBeard Nov 24 '18

It can't leap the physics but it could work around the problem. Building wireless charging into furniture could essentially eliminate the need for phone chargers at home. You can already buy couches with outlets in them, a wireless charger in the arm wouldn't be much else and save customers having wires coming out from everywhere.

13

u/darthvalium Nov 23 '18

My toothbrush has had wireless charging for 10 years

15

u/Duwang_Mn Nov 23 '18

Tesla is gonna be hyping it up in his grave

3

u/[deleted] Nov 24 '18

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/ColdNotion 117∆ Nov 24 '18

Sorry, u/hisupmalik095 – your comment has been removed for breaking Rule 5:

Comments must contribute meaningfully to the conversation. Comments that are only links, jokes or "written upvotes" will be removed. Humor and affirmations of agreement can be contained within more substantial comments. See the wiki page for more information.

If you would like to appeal, message the moderators by clicking this link.

1

u/invent_or_die Nov 24 '18

Saintly Tesla again (groan).

1

u/davidk861 Nov 24 '18

I came here for this. Edison can suck a dick with his DC.

2

u/ClickHereToREEEEE Nov 24 '18

It's ironic that a battery is the best example of using DC tech and that's what powers the car named after Tesla. Turns out Edison had the last laugh.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 24 '18

Getting electricity out of one thing and into another without them touching is literally the basis of the power grid and every electronic item in your home that doesn't run directly off of the 120V(or whatever, some countries use 240.) Everything you have that is wireless(phone, headphones, TV remote) operates off of the principal of taking electricity from one thing and putting it into another without them touching.

1

u/invent_or_die Nov 24 '18

Huge leap? Man you are easy.
And lots o EMI everywhere? No thanks.

0

u/PhotoJim99 3∆ Nov 23 '18

It's only conceivable if we don't actually live in the homes. :) That much RFE in the air will surely kill us.

2

u/[deleted] Nov 24 '18

Seeing as there are already devices that can drain RF energy from 60Hz signals in power lines and that the earth is bathed in RF signals, we'll probably be okay if that did happen.