Tag Archives: WirelessPowerConsortium

Qualcomm joins Power Matters Alliance, will help develop hybrid wireless charging standard

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Competition is really heating up in the wireless charging space. Last month, the Wireless Power Consortium (WPC) shared news that Qualcomm joined its board, and now the competing Power Matters Alliance (PMA) is making a similar announcement. Qualcomm has also signed on with the PMA, and will be taking on a "senior leadership role" at the organization. The chipset manufacturer is reportedly aiding in the development of a new specification that will enable PMA devices (such as Powermat) to receive wireless power using both low-frequency induction and high-frequency resonance. If that tech is implemented, certain smartphones and other gadgets will be compatible with a wider range of wireless charging devices. Meanwhile, the clock is ticking on product announcements from other members, such as AT&T, which previously committed to lighting up several devices with PMA charging by 2014.

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Qualcomm joins Wireless Power Consortium board, sparks hope for A4WP and Qi unification

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Qualcomm joins Wireless Power Consortium board, sparks hope to unify A4WP and Qi

Qualcomm, the founding member of Alliance for Wireless Power (or A4WP in short), made a surprise move today by joining the management board of the rival Wireless Power Consortium (or WPC), the group behind the already commercially available Qi standard. This is quite an interesting development considering how both alliances have been openly critical of each other, and yet now there's a chance of seeing just one standard getting the best of both worlds. That is, of course, dependent on Qualcomm's real intentions behind joining the WPC.

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Source: Wireless Power Consortium

LG VS870 surfaces at the FCC and WPC, may be an Escape for Verizon

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LG VS870 surfaces at the FCC and WPC, may be an Escape for Verizon

AT&T brought out the LG Escape late last summer as a low-cost Android option with a better-than-usual battery and solid performance. If recent testing is any indicator, a Verizon edition might be in the cards. An LG VS870 (the Escape is the P870) has appeared at the FCC wielding support for Verizon's CDMA and LTE networks. Lest we worry that it's just a simple network switch, there's clues that Verizon is planning a little more: the same phone has already appeared at the Wireless Power Consortium, hinting at Qi wireless charging. How else it might change from the 4.3-inch Escape, if it's indeed similar, isn't visible. There might only be a short wait before we find out, as the roughly equivalent Lucid is long enough in the tooth that a replacement would be very timely.

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Source: FCC, WPC

Fulton Innovation to demo tablet that doubles as wireless charging mat at CES

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Fulton Innovation introduces tablet that doubles as Qicompatible mat

Fulton Innovation comes to CES each year armed with the latest tricks in the field of wireless charging, and this year is no exception. Starting things out with a bang, the purveyor of all things Qi will be on-hand to demonstrate its newest feat: the ability to charge your Qi-compatible phone... on the back of a tablet. Indeed, your 7- to 10-inch slate may someday be able to double as its own wireless charging mat, allowing you to feed battery from your tablet to your smartphone just by holding the two devices back-to-back.

Additionally, Fulton promises to show off a multi-device charging platform capable of powering up two devices simultaneously. Even better, this surface can recognize and adapt to the needs of each particular product -- in other words, tablets and smartphones can charge together on the same pad, each device receiving the proper amount of juice. Check out the video and press release past the break to see a few ideas Fulton is bringing to the table this week, and fortunately we'll get to take a closer look at all of them soon.

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TI joins the Alliance for Wireless Power, tells the WPC it can still be friends

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Alliance for Wireless Power graphic

It's not quite a "Dear John" letter, but we're sure the Wireless Power Consortium is heartbroken all the same. One of its key members, TI, has just signed up for the Alliance for Wireless Power to build cable-free charging on what's effectively a competing standard. The chip designer doesn't view the move as abandoning a long-time partner, though -- it remains part of the WPC and plans to produce Qi-based wireless power chipsets alongside future A4WP components. Without any related chips to announce, there's a long wait left before we know how well TI can juggle the two charging formats without appearing to play favorites. We'd recommend that the WPC not grow too attached in the meantime.

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TI joins the Alliance for Wireless Power, tells the WPC it can still be friends

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Alliance for Wireless Power graphic

It's not quite a "Dear John" letter, but we're sure the Wireless Power Consortium is heartbroken all the same. One of its key members, TI, has just signed up for the Alliance for Wireless Power to build cable-free charging on what's effectively a competing standard. The chip designer doesn't view the move as abandoning a long-time partner, though -- it remains part of the WPC and plans to produce Qi-based wireless power chipsets alongside future A4WP components. Without any related chips to announce, there's a long wait left before we know how well TI can juggle the two charging formats without appearing to play favorites. We'd recommend that the WPC not grow too attached in the meantime.

Continue reading TI joins the Alliance for Wireless Power, tells the WPC it can still be friends

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TI joins the Alliance for Wireless Power, tells the WPC it can still be friends

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Alliance for Wireless Power graphic

It's not quite a "Dear John" letter, but we're sure the Wireless Power Consortium is heartbroken all the same. One of its key members, TI, has just signed up for the Alliance for Wireless Power to build cable-free charging on what's effectively a competing standard. The chip designer doesn't view the move as abandoning a long-time partner, though -- it remains part of the WPC and plans to produce Qi-based wireless power chipsets alongside future A4WP components. Without any related chips to announce, there's a long wait left before we know how well TI can juggle the two charging formats without appearing to play favorites. We'd recommend that the WPC not grow too attached in the meantime.

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TI details the wireless power chip in the Lumia 920, offers four times the charging area

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TI details the wireless power chip in the Lumia 920, offers four times the charging area

If you're one of the first on your block to have picked up a Nokia Lumia 920, you might wonder why it's so forgiving with where you set it down on the wireless charging pad. TI is more than willing to share. The 920, 820, Fatboy charging pillow and JBL PowerUp speaker all use a new TI bq500410A controller whose support for new transmitters gives it a charging area four times larger than we're used to. The 2.76 by 0.79 inches of coverage might not sound like much, but it's much wider than the previous 0.71 square inches while preserving a 70 percent efficiency and a safety cutoff if something gets in between. As a companion, there's a bq51050B chip launching at the same time that represents the first Qi receiver with its own built-in battery charger, which TI claims can charge more quickly and in less space than its rivals. Anyone embracing Nokia's vision of Windows Phone 8 can get their hands on devices using the wireless power chips today; we're only left hoping that TI's official news means other phone makers can tag along.

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TI details the wireless power chip in the Lumia 920, offers four times the charging area originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Nov 2012 15:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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