Wireless charging is great, but it can also be a fickle thing. Since each phone has a different wireless sweet spot, figuring out just how to position it on a charger can be tricky. And, of course, you also need to keep in mind which type of wireless charging your phone uses. Ventev is aiming to solve this problem with products like its Wireless Charge Stand and the recent Wirelesspro dock. Scott Franklin, the company’s director of marketing, sat down with Digital Trends at CES to talk about these products, as well as the future of wireless charging.
With the adjustable charging pad on the Wireless Charge Stand, which supports multiple charging platforms, you can easily match the stand to the sweet spot on your phone. This also allows you to charge your phone in landscape mode if that’s what you prefer. This latest model also bumps up the wattage from five volts to 15 volts, shaving a few hours off of your charge time.
“Historically, wireless charging has been five watts, which was great, but it was really, really slow, particularly in a car,” Franklin said. “If you wanted to use your apps, [or were] listening to music, you were really just buying yourself time. You were not able to put enough power back into the phone to really use the phone the way you want to. With these new chargers with 15 watts, you’re now able to charge your phone and use your phone while traveling.”
The industry is looking much further down the path toward a future where you’ll never have to plug your phone in. Franklin says the handset makers aren’t there yet, and neither are the chipsets, but as technology improves, this is becoming a realistic expectation for the future.
For now, Ventev is working on improving its own technology to work from further and further away. The Wireless Charge Stand will charge your phone even if you’ve got it covered in a heavy case, something that just wasn’t possible in the early days of wireless charging. It’s not quite charging the phone while it’s still in your pocket, but Franklin says that the distance between you and your wireless charger will continue to grow.
Ventev’s Wireless Charge Stand is available now.
Two new highly requested iCloud plugins just got added to ChatGPT, giving people who rely on Apple’s Mail and Calendar services a way to search emails, check appointments, and manage their schedules directly through the chatbot.
The integration is rolling out to all ChatGPT plans, including the free tier. You can access it on the web, desktop, and iOS.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.
Samsung’s scandal over its Game Optimizing Service, or GOS, has returned with a bill attached. South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission has tentatively fined the company 20.1 billion won, or about $15.1 million, over gaming claims made for the Galaxy S21, Galaxy S22, and Tab S8.
The regulator says Samsung promoted the devices as gaming powerhouses without disclosing that GOS placed preset CPU and GPU limits on certain demanding games. Samsung disputes that conclusion, calling GOS a legitimate way to manage heat.