
IKEA introduces wireless charging furniture [pdf] - danso
http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_US/pressroom/press_materials/USA_PR_Wireless_charging.pdf
======
ctdonath
Recurring question I've not heard answered: any issues between these wireless
charging pads vs pacemakers? It's a subject rather close to my heart...

~~~
simcop2387
Because they're usually inductively coupled rather than RF coupled they
shouldn't cause a problem I would think. They also have to detect a resonant
coil near the primary before they'll output significant current because
otherwise they'll heat up and burn out the primary coil. So while I wouldn't
put the pace maker on top of one, I would think it wouldn't cause problems
directly. The standard disclaimer here applies: I am not a doctor, I am not a
lawyer, I am not an electrical engineer, This advice should not be taken by
those with neck injuries, pregnant women, small children, the elderly, the
living challenged, or immortal beings.

~~~
castratikron
"Inductively coupled rather than RF coupled"? What's the difference?

~~~
jacquesm
He means coupled using a magnetic field (like a transformer) rather than using
an electric field (like a transmitter).

They're related, to make things more complicated, see Maxwell.

[http://galileoandeinstein.physics.virginia.edu/more_stuff/Ma...](http://galileoandeinstein.physics.virginia.edu/more_stuff/Maxwell_Eq.html)

~~~
dogma1138
pacemakers act up near high voltage power lines and transformers.

Most modern PM's are actually much more resistant to RF induction than one
from strong magnetic fields mainly due to the saturation of the RF spectrum
over the past 2 or so decades coupled with a decline in high voltage power in
populated areas (they are underground as well as farther from residential
areas these days).

That said I have no idea if the field those things generate is strong enough
to create any issue with PM's or similar devices (like the "jump start"
internal defibrillator some people are getting these days).

I would think that these devices are quite safe, especially considering that
you see wireless charging station in courtesy area's in lobbies and other
public places without any warning signs.

~~~
aramas
Actually, the health risks of wireless charging is still unknown without
longitudinal studies. Are you sure you want this kind of devices at home where
your kids can access it easily?

~~~
dogma1138
I wasn't talking about long term health risks like cellphones give you brain
cancer and WiFi makes you blind.

But there are guidelines for certifying consumer electronics compatibility
with medical devices is on that list.

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shifty3
I was in Ikea yesterday and we bought two nightstand lamps with integrated
chargers. Did not even realize that yesterday was the first day they were on
sale... (in Germany).

Unfortunately, they do not work reliably with my Nexus 4. After putting the
phone on the charger it does start charging, but cuts off after a couple of
seconds and the charger starts flashing its LED (which is supposed to indicate
an error). The phone did not charge at all last night on the charger. I don't
know if this is an issue with my Nexus 4, which is already bit beat up, or if
there is some kind of incompatibility...

Anybody have any experience with these kind of wireless chargers? Are there
compatibility issues?

~~~
pbnjay
I don't know if you're aware or not, but the charging location on the Nexus 4
is a little off-center, so if you centered it, that might be causing issues.

> Nexus 4: One inch (25mm) below the center of the phone

[https://support.google.com/nexus/answer/6073618?hl=en](https://support.google.com/nexus/answer/6073618?hl=en)

~~~
shifty3
Thanks for tip! Did not help, unfortunately. It seems to connect only for a
couple of seconds and then stops charging. After moving the phone a bit it
will "reconnect", but again only for a short time. Alas, I do not have access
to another phone with wireless charging capability to check where the problem
is.

------
DigitalSea
I don't know why, but I find this exciting. It makes me happy to know in the
future that for smartphones we will not need to worry about building bigger
and environment damaging batteries for our phones. Instead, you can go out and
know that there'll most likely be a charger wherever you go.

The likes of Starbucks are already offering wireless charging, McDonald's is
slowly rolling out wireless charging (currently only in the UK). Eventually
almost everywhere you go there will be a charger. I think wireless charging is
one of the more exciting things to happen in a while (even though the tech has
been around for a long time).

~~~
DSMan195276
I'm no expert on batteries, but won't constantly charging the phone battery
after small discharges (While you go between places with chargers) cause it to
die sooner?

~~~
shurcooL
Assuming modern battery charging technology and Li-* batteries, no, they would
not last less than otherwise.

See [https://www.apple.com/batteries/why-lithium-
ion/](https://www.apple.com/batteries/why-lithium-ion/) for example.

------
Animats
The three leading wireless charging standards are Qi, Powermat, and A4WP.

IKEA is using Qi. Starbucks is using Powermat. Uh oh.

We're headed for a Blu-Ray/HD-DVD problem.

~~~
maxsilver
This problem's already solved. Qi _is_ the standard.

Duracell Powermat is effectively just Qi with proprietary advertisement and
tracking codes (light DRM) added on to it. As far as I can tell, it only
exists because Duracell keeps throwing money at it.

This isn't a Blu-Ray/HD-DVD problem. It's more like a CD vs MiniDisc fight. Or
a USB vs Lightning fight.

~~~
wahsd
What? Isn't that the same issue, they're incompatible with each other? So does
Qi work with Powermat and vice versa?

~~~
ianburrell
They are incompatible. Up until recently, only Qi charging was available for
phone. PMA was mostly supported by places like Starbucks offering wireless
charging because it can track individual users. Samsung Galaxy S6 is the first
phone to work with both Qi and PMA.

------
sunseb
Cableless computing is one of the most exciting things going on in the
computer world, IMHO.

Just look this Intel demo :

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reDkEesnTpE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reDkEesnTpE)

~~~
pcurve
2 inches of material, and enough power to charge a laptop? That is seriously
impressive. And this guy is really good at presenting.

------
Someone1234
That PDF is misleading. On Page 2 there is a women clearly holding an iPhone,
without a cover, but if you go to Page 28 you get to see massive clunky covers
which add wireless charging support to the iPhone. There are other examples in
the PDF, but that is the most obvious, and easy to grasp.

Essentially most of this furniture won't work with the vast majority of
phones, only the small handful that support wireless charging, and those are
typically flagships.

~~~
bhauer
True. They probably should have used some Lumias and Android phones since
there are plenty of those that look sufficiently glamorous for these photo
shoots and won't leave observant technical audiences feeling misled.

That said, wireless charging doesn't _feel_ to me like a "flagships only"
feature. I've been using Qi with my Lumia 920 for 2 years now; this doesn't
seem like a flagship phone, but perhaps it was when I got it?

~~~
KeytarHero
> True. They probably should have used some Lumias and Android phones since
> there are plenty of those that look sufficiently glamorous for these photo
> shoots and won't leave observant technical audiences feeling misled.

You obviously didn't even open the link - the very first thing you see on page
1 is a Samsung (Galaxy S4, I think?).

~~~
nitrogen
It is often necessary to read the entire context of a comment within its
thread, as that may change the meaning entirely. Misinterpreting the meaning
of a comment and responding to something the poster didn't say can, as you
discovered, lead to downvotes.

~~~
KeytarHero
I don't see how this is an issue of context. Yes, it's a little misleading for
them to show an iPhone. But the comment I replied to said "they should have
used some Lumias and Android phones" \- which is exactly what they did.

------
bri3d
Their $30 "JYSSEN" charger-for-a-hole product (found on page 25 of the PDF)
looks excellent.

I've built a Nokia Qi charger into my desk (now used with my Galaxy S5) but
the oblong form-factor of the coil and charger circuit did not lend itself to
easy installation.

The round product looks perfect for retrofitting existing work desks, plus the
price (as usual with Ikea) is quite competitive.

~~~
dingaling
> plus the price (as usual with Ikea) is quite competitive.

Subjectively I've never found IKEA prices to be particularly compelling once
you look past the cheap and flimsy chipboard stuff they put near the doors to
wow visitors.

Durability has a price no matter who sells it.

For example a solid-wood bedframe is $1000

[http://m.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/spr/49028229/](http://m.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/spr/49028229/)

------
znpy
I love how Ikea embraces new technologies to make life actually easier,
without bulls __t.

------
jader201
When will phone makers start building these into phones so that I don't have
to have attached to my phone a proprietary case -- or some special case to
support a proprietary charging pad -- that always occupies my data port?

Genuine question. Does anybody know if any makers are doing this/thinking
about doing this?

~~~
stevecalifornia
What modern phone doesn't have wireless charging built-in?

~~~
bhauer
Ha! I _know_ that iPhones don't come with wireless charging, and I assume you
do too. But I too was tempted to reply sarcastically with precisely the
sentence you wrote here (especially when GP seems to be feigning ignorance of
the many phones that _do_ come with built-in wireless charging, so why not
mirror that feigned ignorance). Because it's surprising that the iPhone would
still require fussing with wires. It's further ironic when it's made by Apple,
the company that changes connectors every 2 years. You'd think the idea of
doing away with connectors entirely would be appealing to them.

And to repeat the tired meme, once Apple releases an iPhone that does have
wireless charging, it will be heralded as the dawn of wireless charging.

~~~
traek
> It's further ironic when it's made by Apple, the company that changes
> connectors every 2 years.

That's definitely not accurate, the 30-pin connector was introduced in 2003
and wasn't replaced until 2012.

~~~
fragmede
You forgot thunderbolt, mini-display port, hdmi, micro-dvi, dvi, adc (their
own spin on dvi), the two different flavors of magsafe, multiple flavors of
firewire, usb-a, and now usb-c.

They did skip DisplayPort though.

~~~
jkestner
Apple's not a company that thinks about the past much.

------
SippinLean
Huh, about 2 years ago I gutted a "Lack" shelf from IKEA in order to put my
wireless charger inside. I left the top intact so at a glance you can't even
tell the charger is there. Looks like I was on to something...

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akilism
this is cool. my desk at work / home and my night stand I all hacked to fit
these low profile qi chargers from amazon, they work great with my nexus 5 and
nexus 7.

[http://www.amazon.com/Ultra-Slim-Wireless-Charging-
Samsung-Q...](http://www.amazon.com/Ultra-Slim-Wireless-Charging-Samsung-Qi-
Enabled/dp/B00HIZ3ZI4/)

another charging hack was putting a 5 port usb hub in the middle of my couch
cushions and running the power behind them to have usb ports for charging when
i wanna zone out and play xbox for half the day.

------
natch
Nice. They are partially getting it here.

The modular aspect is good; the ones that are not modular, and not of a style
you like, meh.

But more importantly there's so much more that could be done. Let's home they
take this much farther. Networking, sensing, energy management, displays,
ergonomics, use of vertical space...

Seems like furniture is hugely ripe for disruption, and this will at least
open some eyes to the possibilities.

------
hristov
Those plastic targets are really tacky. I will wait until the alliance for
wireless power comes up with their devices.

The latter is a little more advanced. It uses magnetic resonance, so the
target device can be at a small distance from the charger coil. This means
that you can put the charger under a wooden board, and the device being
charged on top of the board. Thus, a charging enabled table will look exactly
like any other table and will not have an ugly plastic target on it.

Furthermore, the device being charged does not have to be exactly aligned, so
no tacky plus signs. You can also charge several devices at one time.

What we have here is an interim half-way solution that will mostly give
wireless charging a bad name for a while.

------
andrewchoi
My main issue with them is the small target area. Is there a significant
practical challenge to make a Qi charging area that's maybe 5 times what the
small chargers are? Alignment, perhaps, or power waste?

------
davidiach
The place where a wireless charger would be really useful is the car.

~~~
JTon
Only if you don't mount your phone as a GPS (or other in-car application)

~~~
Someone1234
Why is mounting a phone as a GPS still so terrible? I have one of those
suction cup stick on ones that falls off when the outside Vs. inside
temperature changes too rapidly (so often).

They either need to allow the phone's video output to be displayed on the in-
car LCD (and for touch actions on the LCD to be relayed to the phone), or my
preferred option just add a damn screw hole to every dashboard, so we can just
screw in a GPS holder (or other accessories) and it will never ever fall off.

~~~
JTon
Have you frequently moved the suction cup since first installation? The one I
bought came with a sticky coating on the suction cup, and it's a beast (never
falls, difficult to remove). But I can see potential issues if the sticky
coating were to wear thin

~~~
Someone1234
No, and I've owned two different ones with different designs. They just fall
off a lot.

But around here the temp' falls to well below freezing in the winter to
sometimes one hundred degrees (F) in the summer.

I just don't think suction cuffs are the best idea for this application in
general. Phones are relatively heavy, cars shake from side to side, and
temperature weakens the suction.

For a $1 screw thread in a hole which the manufacturer of cars could add
trivially in seconds, it just seems like this should be a solved problem by
now.

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radley
Sad truth is that it'll be a big deal when Apple releases their (proprietary?)
version of wireless iPhone charging and everyone will think it's another
revolution.

I'm an Android developer who just bought the new iPhone 6 and can't believe
I'll have to plug it in _every time_ to charge it.

------
stephengoodwin
Are these wireless charging pads affected by water on the surface?

I, like most people, use coffee tables, side tables, etc. to hold drinks which
occasionally get condensation or spill. Would this cause any electrical
hazard?

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dayaz36
I don't think charging "pads" should be considered wireless. Yes, technically
they don't require a wire but when we speak about going "wireless" the idea is
to be liberated from the physical constraints of the wire and be able to move
around freely without restraints. These charging pads are actually LESS
liberating because it requires your device to be stuck to the pad otherwise it
wont charge whereas with a wire you can at least use it several feet away. I'm
not sure what value this adds over charging with wire in terms of
functionality. What Ubeam is working on is more exciting and revolutionary.
That's REAL wireless charging!

~~~
B-Con
> I'm not sure what value this adds over charging with wire in terms of
> functionality.

Not sure if it's adding functionality but rather convenience. I think the goal
of "charging furniture" is to pick up a collection of small charges over the
day that remove the need for dedicated "inconvenient" charging times. So
instead of tracking battery life and anticipating your future use and
eventually coming to a point where you say "OK, now is is a good combination
of low battery and convenient timing to plug my phone in and charge it" you
just put it down when you sit down and magically you have a phone that lasts
much longer before it needs a period of dedicated charging time.

When I got a wireless charging pad that was how I was hoping it would work.
Except it didn't because it's a small pad and the phone has to be placed
precisely on it and it makes an obnoxiously loud beep when charging begins.
Since using it requires a mental decision and never really flows seamlessly, I
really only find myself using it when I would use a charging cord anyway. But
maybe the implementation in furniture may change that.

Just make the charging area large enough that I can drop it on the spot
correctly on the first try reliably. (It takes me two tries on average with my
current pad.)

------
_pmf_
The furniture business sure would need some innovations. Perhaps Apple should
expand into furnituring (seriously).

------
Bat-fink
None of these solutions ever broach the issue that a lot of Andriod users have
to use oversized extended batteries. They'll never make a charging chase to
accomodate my large battery, and I'll never see a reason to give up the 7800
mAh battery i have...

~~~
KeytarHero
I certainly wouldn't say it's "a lot" of Android users. The only people I've
ever known who have used oversized batteries have also had rooted phones
running some alternative Android distro - hardly your "typical" user. Most
average Android users don't know oversized batteries exist.

And like it or not, most new Android phones don't even have replaceable
batteries, so the number of users with oversized batteries is getting smaller
and smaller.

~~~
fragmede
A the majority of frequent international travelers I know, both iPhone _and_
Android all have oversized batteries.

There's a whole section for them at Best Buy, they're hardly a niche product.

------
LargeCompanies
This is the best UI/UX I've seen for integrating wireless charging into our
daily lives! I imagine all future furniture makers will follow and there is a
great opportunity for a start-up to supply this type of technology to every
furniture maker.

------
iffycan
What is the game shown on page 23?

------
300zxkyle
So given the marketing material there will be no support for the iPhone 6+ ?

~~~
JshWright
I don't see how Ikea could have any impact on that (short of sneaking into
Apple's factories and secretly adding wireless charging hardware to their
phones...)

~~~
KeytarHero
...or releasing a case with inductive charging built in, like they're doing
for the other iPhones?

------
shakiba
"APRIL" 2015

------
grimmdude
I mean...there are still wires. Just not connected directly to your phone.

~~~
higherpurpose
Yup. The difference between plugging the phone and putting it in a special Qi
dock seems minimal.

Rezence's (now also Powermat's) technology I think makes more sense for
something like this.

~~~
chollida1
> The difference between plugging the phone and putting it in a special Qi
> dock seems minimal.

I agree in terms of effort, the change is minimal, but consider a family who
has 3 or 4 different devices and hence ports,. required to charge.

This means I don't need to hunt down the proper cord, we just have a couple of
these devices at the front door. To me, that's eliminates a large pain in the
ass.

At work no one needs to ask if someone has a black berry version 3 cord, or a
"new style" Samsung galaxy cord, or the latest iPhone charging cable, you just
put your phone down and walk away:)

it's a first world problem that is being solved here, but it's a big one that
doesn't appear to be going away. European posturing aside.

[http://www.cnet.com/news/eu-wants-all-companies-ahem-
apple-t...](http://www.cnet.com/news/eu-wants-all-companies-ahem-apple-to-use-
standard-charger/)

~~~
benkuykendall
I really thought that micro-usb everywhere would do the trick. Apple seems to
be holding out, but the rest of the devices my family uses have
interchangeable chargers (kindles, android phones from assorted manufacturers,
tablets). Obviously, standardization of charging methods is helpful, but
honestly, I don't see the advantage of choosing Qi as a standard instead of
micro-usb.

~~~
fragmede
> choosing Qi as a standard instead of micro-usb.

Well, if you've ever had a port or cable break on you, you should know why.

It doesn't have exposed wires or moving parts, which means it should be much
harder to break. Micro-usb is only rated for 10k insertions. If you plug your
phone in 10 times a day, that's 2.5 years, and Galaxy S3's are quickly coming
up on that old.

~~~
bostonpete
10 times a day seems like a pretty high average. I'd estimate I'm closer to 5.

