This twisty power tower charges your smartphone from 17 feet away
Death to cables at long, long last
Twisted cables, tripping over wires and cat-mangled chargers could soon become a thing of the past, thanks to a company called Technovator and its new XE wireless charger.
While wireless charging pads are fairly well established, your phone still needs to rest on a designated pad or spot for it to work. This new system however, not only gets rid of cables, but your handset doesn’t even have to rest on a specific location to juice up. In fact, you can leave it in your pocket or your bag, and it can still guzzle down electricity wirelessly, from up to 17 feet away. Magic eh?
Nikola Tesla actually invented wireless electricity years ago, and even drew up plans to coat the entire planet in a blanket of free, wireless energy for the masses, though it never quite took off. Still, the principle here is the same. It’s based on resonant electromagnetic fields which are wirelessly transmitted between two resonating coils – one in the XE tower itself, and another in an accompanying case, attached to your existing smartphone.
Of course, there are caveats. The further your device is from the charger, the longer it’ll take to charge. An average phone located 5-6 feet from the charger will recharge in four hours, which is noticeably slower than existing options.
You can also expect it to use up a lot more power than standard wireless chargers, and thick walls to degrade the charging time too.
The XE can however charge up to four devices at the same time without a loss of speed, and if similar stations are installed across coffee shops, buses, trains and more, then you could theoretically be topping up your power throughout the day without having to lift a single finger.
It’s all rather futuristic, and sounds a little too good to be true, but if Technovator can pull it off, we could be in for a very exciting, plug-free future, especially if manufacturers decide to build the coils directly into their handsets.
There’s no price or release date information as of yet, but there will be a Kickstarter in November, so keep an eye on the company’s website for more info.
[Source:Digitaltrends]
Erna Mahyuni
Contributor 
