Hands on with the Powermat

by Chris on February 11, 2010 · 9 comments

by Chris on February 11, 2010 · 9 comments

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After reviewing the Powermat from a logical standpoint I went back and read some responses that users had on various websites. The biggest response was that the cool factor of having the Powermat outweighed the practicality of it. I decided to see if my initial reaction was wrong and it is cool enough to own. Boy has my mind been made up.97ACPVDA6ED3

The Big Hurt

I went out to Best Buy and picked up a Powermat. Not every device has a nice adapter to utilize the Powermat. For those devices you will have to use a Powercube and a tip that can plug into your device. Here is what you will have to shell out if you decide to get a Powermat and a charger for an iPhone. $140, OUCH!

cash

Packaging and Contents

The Powermat is packed very nicely in its box. The contents of the box are the Powermat, the power cord, the Powercube and tips to go with it. At first glance I thought there were two Powercubes but upon further inspection the second white box was just a holder for the tips. A BOO!

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For my setup I also needed the adapter for my iPod Touch. Nothing special here, really just a case that goes around it. The only downside here is I already had a case the I liked as it had a stand that was perfect to prop the iPod up in portrait or landscape move on an airplane tray. If your familiar with the Mophie Juice pack then sliding into this case will be simple. One idea for Powermat is to talk to Mophie about using their technology as the Mophie Juice Pack is a staple for most iPhone and iPod Touch road warriors.

Ipod Case

Now since the Powermat does not come with a nice adapter for my Tilt2, I have to use the Powercube. You simply need to plug the cable from the Powercube into the phone and place it on the mat.

Power cube and Phone

The Setup

Now that the iPod is ready, time to setup the charger. Pretty easy step here just plug the power cord into the Powermat and the wall. There is also a USB port to charge most things using a USB charger and two buttons on the left to control the audible alert on the mat and the brightness of the charge lights.

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Time to Charge

Now that everything is setup I put both devices on the charger. They both started charging as advertised. The iPod was completely dead but my Tilt2 had a half battery.

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After 40 minutes the iPod was just a little over half way charged. Which is a little slower than my wall charger but not bad.IMG_7309

The next morning everything was completely charged.

Thoughts

After being hands on with the Powermat my opinion has NOT changed. In fact, I think less of it now then I did initially. Here are a few points that I discovered

  • The mat is a little picky on placement of the device. I had to move it around to get it charging.
  • It only charges three devices. I have at least 6 devices that need regular charging.
  • The charge light on the iPod did not go off although the meter said it was fully charged
  • The power cube activated charging when placed on the mat even though my phone was not connected to it.
  • No adapter for my Zune HD.

Some of these are minor but others are a bit tougher to deal with.

My Two biggest Problems

1. The biggest draw back bar none is the price of everything makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

Option 1

$200 2 x Powermat $100

+$80 2 x iPod Touch Adapter $40

+ $00 Wife’s HTC Fuze adapter (Free with Second Powermat)

+ $00  Adapter for HTC Tilt 2 Included with Powermat

$30 Adapter for Cingular 8125

+$00 Zune HD (Currently No adapter Available)

$310

This is the most expensive option and allows all devices to be charged at a single time. This configuration gives me the charging capabilities I have today.

Option 2

$100 Powermat $100

+ $80 2 x iPod Touch Adapter $40

+ $30 Wife’s HTC Fuze adapter

+ $00 HTC Tilt 2 $0 Adapter Included

+ $30 Cingular 8125 $30

+ $00 Zune HD (Currently No adapter Available)

$240

This option is more on the budget. It limits me to charging three devices at a time meaning I may fall back to wall charges if push comes to shove. The price could be reduced if I wanted to remove 1 of the iPod adapters ($40) or remove a mobile phone charger ($30) assuming only 2 could charge at a time.

Regardless of the setup, we are talking a large amount of money for wireless charging that actually has wires. I think the concept is cool but the Powermat is a tough sell for me. What would be very interesting is something more along the lines of a proximity charger. The Power mat has such limited space you almost need something that charges when a device is near or in range. I know wishful thinking.

2. The very act of using the Powercube is the exact same motion I have to do today. I grab a cable and I plug it into my phone. How is this any cooler because it sits on a mat?

I suspect if I had devices that just natively supported the Powermat technology I would be more interested in this offering. If anyone gets one of these and has to buy adapters for all their devices you must have more money then brains. Do the math and get serious. For me, I am keeping the cash where it belongs, in my pocket!

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Tagged as: Expensive, Hands with Powermat, Hardware Review, Money, Powercube, Powermat, Powermat worth the money, PPC, Windows Mobile, Zune HD

  • Chase

    I believe things like this are always doomed to fail as long as it only supports x number of devices. The fact is everyone does not have the same mobile devices, the only way to make a product like this successful is to make enough batteries/case attachments to fit such a wide variety of devices that you only miss out on possible the bottom half of the devices. Also I was linked here from @zune on twitter to your Zunehd article. I’ve been a zune fan since it came out and got a zune hd for my 18th a few days ago. I believe the zune team has finally gotten serious about taking a share of the MP3 player market. One of my fav devices yet.

    • http://www.simplemobilereview.com Chris

      Glad to see you here Chase. This is one of the big things I say on our Podcast episodes. If someone wants to be dominant they have to create things for all the top devices not just 2 out of 3. The fact the Powermat doesn’t have an adapter for the Zune HD at all was a big deal breaker for me. What do you think about a Zune Phone?

      • Chase

        Well I’m a retired staff member from Zuneboards.com , so I have been hearing quite a bit about the Zune phone AKA Project pink. I find it misleading calling it a “zune phone” Because the first thing I think of is a zune HD with the capabilities of a phone. It’s more along the lines of a regular phone designed by Microsoft to be heavily integrated into the zune market place. Atlleast this is how i understand it. The first thing that jumps to my mind is app support, will the apps be cross platform (zune HD support for all project pink apps) if so that would do a lot of good for the zune HD. I can’t judge much about project pink until they announce more about it. Which may be as soon as next week with Steve Ballmer hosting an event at Mobile World Congress. Either way I am very excited for the possibility that project pink brings to the zune world as a whole.

      • Chase

        Also I looked in the Zune market place and don’t see your podcast you guys should add it to Zune marketplace if you can. I know I’d subscribe. :)

        • http://www.simplemobilereview.com Chris

          Well now you have touched on a touchy subject for us. We have been submitting it for a little under a month and can seem to get it up there. It hurts because we love the Zune HD but we are not getting any love back. But we haven’t given up we try every week so sooner or later they are gonna have to let us in. I love what you said about the Zune Hd with Phone!! What phone do have now?

          • Chase

            LG VU I got it free with my plan. To poor mostly to afford anything nice right now. I really want to try out a Droid or a Google nexus phone, but by time I upgrade they will not be the newest, coolest phones out there. I’ll send some tweets to the zune team saying you guys would be perfect for the Zune market place. :)

  • http://www.simplemobilereview.com Chris

    I feel you on that. It is probably for the best since Mobile 7 is due in the fall.

    Thanks for the tweet too. We really want our show on the Marketplace.

  • Eric

    This whole issue would be solved if the industry would do as I say and come up with ONE standard charger for all devices. One tip for all mobile devices (Media Players, Cameras, Phones, etc.) and one standard for all laptops. OK maybe they could change the standard every x number of years. It’s crazy the number of freakin’ cords I have, that I have no idea what they go to anymore. Not to mention the complete waste they lead to as you change/upgrade devices.

    Is there any reason, why a standard can’t be developed (other than selling craploads of cords and products like this one)?

  • Chase

    This would work for plugs, But not power mats. you have to have a battery aND custom back plate or a custom case that plugs into the charging port. having a standard plug does not help in this situation. (However it is still a good idea)