Is wireless charging overrated, or needed?

[Sajo]

I was reading an article last night in my Google News feed from a well know tech site, titled "Wireless Charging Is So Overrated". It was an interesting read and made me think, so I wanted to ask some questions here. The author is basically saying that wireless charging is like a shiny new toy, we think we need it and think we want it. But then after time it becomes boring.

Would you buy a phone without wireless charging? Or is it a necessity you have to have in a new phone?

How often do you actually use wireless charging vs wired charging?

What are the true benefits of wireless charging? You still have to pick your phone up to deal with new notifications, send messages, etc. Then you have to get it back on the charger aligned correctly to continue charging. Isn't easier to just use the wired cord that came with the phone?

Share your thoughts.

 

[PereDroid]

Are you serious right now? Isn't it easier... to use the cord? You can't be serious. /looks over at BKDodger "Is he serious?"

Let's start at the top: then it becomes... boring? Ok, wireless charging isn't 'sexy' by any means but it wasn't ever 'sexy'. Never the shiny new toy. Just a convenient thing to have.
I doubt I would buy a phone without it.
How often do I use it? Every night. Every. Single. Night. How often do I use a cable? Once or twice a week if I need a top off. Sometimes in the car. So that's at least 12 times I do NOT have to jam a piece of metal into my phone. Have you ever had a charging port break? I haven't either, but I know people that have! )) I did have one that was developing some play but I got rid of it before it died.
I don't have to pick up my phone to deal with stuff... because I am sleeping. But if i did, being able to just grab the phone is a lot quicker then needing 2 hands to grab and unplug. And.. oh crap, I dropped the cable on the floor. Chop Chop for the flashlight so I can find that damn cable. Nope, not me. Just look for my little dock light and set the phone back down. I am on my second wireless charger and it's even better then the last. It's not at all hard to align.
Isn't over night charging what 95% of wireless charging people use it for?
And how cool would it be to have in your car? Get in and set it down. No additional wear and tear on your phone.
Let me have a word with the doofus that wrote this article. hehehe

(Can you tell I'm a fan?)

 

[Sajo]

I'm a fan of the functionality also. I just wanted to have a discussion here. I will admit that I don't use it near as often as I used to, I had some issues with my Z Force and the wife's Z Play with wireless charging so we switched back to the stock cords. I think the issue has been resolved, but I just haven't used wireless chargers in a while.

Again, I am not against wireless charging. Just wanted to see the responses and have a fun discussion. [emoji106]

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

 

[radon222]

Wireless charging is without question the biggest thing I miss with the Pixel2. Am I doing fine without it? Sure! So I wouldn't call it a necessity, its just a very nice convenience that I enjoyed using with my Turbo. At least until it started messing up the battery calibration.

 

[PereDroid]

Just wanted to see the responses and have a fun discussion. [emoji106]

Of course, my brother.

 

[me just sayin]

I have had wireless charging for years. could not live without it. don't have to put up with wires. before wireless charging I would lay my phone down and forget to plug it in. Now I have a wireless charger where I have been laying the phone down so it makes it simple. No need to worry about messing up the port by pulling the wire when half a asleep. It is a must have...

 

[LoudRam]

I never used it but I'm happy with plugging the cord in. It's so routine I don't even think about it. Maybe one day I'll try it.

 

[Miklb58]

Got my first wireless charger as the bonus when I bought this Note 8.
I thought that I'd use it all the time, but I only need to charge once a day (at night), and I didn't want the charging pad on my counter, so I just use the cord.
I plugged the charging pad in at my nightstand, and a few times when I wanted the phone there overnight, I used it there.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

 

[CaptainSS]

Whew .... what have we come to!
"Honey, can you help me?" "sure. what" " Can you..... plug my phone in for me, I'm exhausted. The thought of reaching over there and actually plugging that phone in AGAIN, I might just end it all"
"ummm the cord is like 3 inches from your hand..."

I know but.......

(jk. I have no idea. I never wirelessly charged anything. maybe it's better than sex. I dunno)

 

[Sajo]

Excellent responses so far. I do agree that having a dedicated Qi charging pad in a vehicle would be nice. Drop the phone in the wireless charging area and off you go. I would probably use that.

For those that use it extensively, you haven't seen any battery calibration issues?

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

 

[PereDroid]

Whew .... what have we come to!
"Honey, can you help me?" "sure. what" " Can you..... plug my phone in for me, I'm exhausted. The thought of reaching over there and actually plugging that phone in AGAIN, I might just end it all"
"ummm the cord is like 3 inches from your hand..."

I know but.......

(jk. I have no idea. I never wirelessly charged anything. maybe it's better than sex. I dunno)

I know your (mostly) joking but you've never had your charging cable fall behind the night stand? And a charging station is a helluva lot easier to find in the dark with that led on it.
@Sajo: no idea. What symptoms would battery calibration issues give off?

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

 

[bkdodger]

I'm definitely a wireless fan... not having to look in the dark for the cord... Just sit it down... We have a few here at work..everyone is using it.. We share it all day... Only negative I have to say about my Pixel... I'd buy a phone without it but it should be a standard thing nowadays...

Pixel 2 XL

 

[radon222]

I know your (mostly) joking but you've never had your charging cable fall behind the night stand? And a charging station is a helluva lot easier to find in the dark with that led on it.
@Sajo: no idea. What symptoms would battery calibration issues give off?

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

In my case with the Turbo, the would suddenly and prematurely drop to 0%-5% and shut down immediately. It wouldn't power at all until you plugged in a charger cable and then it immediately jump to ~50% battery. If you unplugged again, battery would tank immediately. When that happened I had to do the press & hold power hold button to complete reboot and reset the battery cal. Then leave the phone plugged in over night.

The real pita with the Turbo and battery re-cal is that it would also wipe out all my BT pairings...so I had to go through that rigamarol every time it happened too.

 

[Sajo]

Yep, what @radon222 wrote. General weird & strange battery level reporting, and overall strange battery behavior. I used to alternate between wireless & wired charging with my Turbo 2 and never experienced any out of calibration symptoms; but have seen many posts related to it on the Moto forum and other places. I'm not sure if wireless charging was always the culprit or not?

And yes, I have personally seen three charging ports go bad. One on my kids Moto X 2014 and both of the Turbo 2 phones we had. They just flat out failed over time and wireless charging was the only option until they both just died completely.

Since my company paid work phone is now a Turbo 2 (yes, I finally convinced them that the old Samsung had to go away) I charge it every night on my wireless charger, to help keep the wired charging port from wearing out. I thought I really "needed" wireless charging with my Z Force so I bought a wireless charging Style Shell. I used it extensively for a while. Now I find that it's just as simple to plug in the wired USB-C charger every night before I go to sleep and unplug it in the morning. I agree with some of the other comments, for me personally wireless charging is a "nice to have" feature but not a "must have" feature. I would still buy a Moto Z3 even if it doesn't support it.

 

[kodiak799]

Eliminating the cord is nice for several reasons. And it's just more convenient.

Combine a few strategically placed pads with fast charging and your phone is almost always fully charged with no effort or thought.