Wireless Charging. Is it good?
This is interesting.
I'm not really sure why wireless charging even deserves this level of attention, but I have to agree with the author of the post. A few reasons are provided for not including Qi charging and all but the one which implies people are too stupid to plug-in older USB connectors are flawed.
Frankly, arguments around cost are better or arguments around acceptance. Any other argument is largely pointless.
People don't use wireless charging for speed. They use it for convenience, or possibly to extend the life of their device.
If I have a phone that, coupled with my daily usage, drains the battery rapidly and I don't have charging pads everywhere around me, then I'm going to favor a physical connector for the charging speed alone. The best charging the solution is the one that ensures my device always has enough charge to get me to the next time I can charge it again or failing the existence of such a charger the closest one to it. For a lot of people a Qi charging solution is just fine.
I don't think Qi charging is convenient because I'm too stupid to orient my USB cable correctly. The problem is that no matter how reversible or universal or easy, plugging a tiny connector into a phone will always take more time and effort to physically plug something in than it will be to drop it on a charging plate.
The next part is also relevant. No matter how good you are at aligning your connectors, physical connectors experience wear and tear. That and it only takes on accident to break a connectors and those are soldered to the motherboard so they are a pain to replace. If you plan on holding onto a phone for a long time, a wireless charger means fewer attempts that might break the connector and an alternate means of charging the phone even if it breaks.
In other words, wireless charging targets a completely different audience than those who want fast charging or reversible cables or even thinner phones.
The other problem is, there are other ways to enable wireless charging. Many phones can have the functionality added through cases. So, you don't need to rule it out entirely just to keep the base device price down. And most people put cases on their phones anyway negating any savings in thickness. I always love seeing iPhones in Otterboxes. But the phone inside the massive case is still thinner than yours!
I guess my point is, if the engineers believe this tripe, they are the idiots. There are a ton of reasons to skimp on wireless charging. While cost is a good one, I would say real world metrics are probably an even better one. Most people don't use it. Designing the phone so that functionality could be added by 3rd party case manufacturers should sufficiently shut most people up while not forcing the engineers to invent silly reasons for not adding it. They can then claim this allows them to pass the savings along, because not only would they need to add support for Qi on the device, they'd also need to supply a charging pad, otherwise no one will use it.
I'm not really sure why wireless charging even deserves this level of attention, but I have to agree with the author of the post. A few reasons are provided for not including Qi charging and all but the one which implies people are too stupid to plug-in older USB connectors are flawed.
Frankly, arguments around cost are better or arguments around acceptance. Any other argument is largely pointless.
People don't use wireless charging for speed. They use it for convenience, or possibly to extend the life of their device.
If I have a phone that, coupled with my daily usage, drains the battery rapidly and I don't have charging pads everywhere around me, then I'm going to favor a physical connector for the charging speed alone. The best charging the solution is the one that ensures my device always has enough charge to get me to the next time I can charge it again or failing the existence of such a charger the closest one to it. For a lot of people a Qi charging solution is just fine.
I don't think Qi charging is convenient because I'm too stupid to orient my USB cable correctly. The problem is that no matter how reversible or universal or easy, plugging a tiny connector into a phone will always take more time and effort to physically plug something in than it will be to drop it on a charging plate.
The next part is also relevant. No matter how good you are at aligning your connectors, physical connectors experience wear and tear. That and it only takes on accident to break a connectors and those are soldered to the motherboard so they are a pain to replace. If you plan on holding onto a phone for a long time, a wireless charger means fewer attempts that might break the connector and an alternate means of charging the phone even if it breaks.
In other words, wireless charging targets a completely different audience than those who want fast charging or reversible cables or even thinner phones.
The other problem is, there are other ways to enable wireless charging. Many phones can have the functionality added through cases. So, you don't need to rule it out entirely just to keep the base device price down. And most people put cases on their phones anyway negating any savings in thickness. I always love seeing iPhones in Otterboxes. But the phone inside the massive case is still thinner than yours!
I guess my point is, if the engineers believe this tripe, they are the idiots. There are a ton of reasons to skimp on wireless charging. While cost is a good one, I would say real world metrics are probably an even better one. Most people don't use it. Designing the phone so that functionality could be added by 3rd party case manufacturers should sufficiently shut most people up while not forcing the engineers to invent silly reasons for not adding it. They can then claim this allows them to pass the savings along, because not only would they need to add support for Qi on the device, they'd also need to supply a charging pad, otherwise no one will use it.
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