We just checked our calendar to make sure that Duracell’s latest smartphone accessory isn’t an April Fool’s joke. But it seems that was two weeks ago, so it can’t be.
The Wireless Charging ring is a product designed to bestow wireless charging powers on devices that lack that ability. Sounds good, right?
Unfortunately not.
The whole point of wireless charging is to eliminate the need to plug anything into your phone’s charging port. You’re simply meant to place your device on a wireless charging pad, and leave it there. Boom – simple.
Duracell’s ‘solution’ involves plugging a giant clunky ring into the microUSB charging port on your phone, then placing the phone on the supplied wireless charging pad. See the problem? But wait, it gets better.
This design means that the phone won’t actually sit level with the charging pad itself. To combat this, Duracell supplies you with another stand for your phone to sit on, in order to keep it level. Genius!
One minor consolation is the fact that the pad uses the PMA (rather than Qi) standard, so it’ll work with Duracell’s other Powermat products. Although that rules out the abundance of existing Qi pads that are already out there.
If you’re keen to get take advantage of wireless charging, and don’t have access to a compatible case, then this could be seen as a good idea. But as far as we’re concerned the fact that you’re still plugging something into your phone means it’s not worth the $54 (R650) asking price.
Sorry Duracell, but come on. You must know we’re right.
Source: Android Police
