Mobile By Russell Holly Aug. 29, 2014 12:30 pm
As much as many of us would like wireless charging to be the default way all of our tech receives power, there are several significant obstacles between our current reality and that particular fantasy. Some of those obstacles are technical ones, others commercial and political. That hasn’t stopped the folks at fonesalesman from trying new things, and while their most recent Qi charging accessory isn’t a life changing experience it certainly straddles the intersection of useful and damned odd in a fun sort of way.
Meet the QiStone+. It’s a portable power brick with a 4,000mAh battery inside, and a single microUSB port to receive power and a regular USB port so you can use whatever power cable you want to charge any USB device you like. This aspect of the device is fairly standard, and works exactly the way it is supposed to. What makes this battery backup special is the combined ability to place it on an existing Qi charger to receive power wirelessly as well as set a smartphone or tablet on top of it to charge that device wirelessly. That’s right, this little battery backup can both send and receive electricity through Qi inductive charging.
The casing for this quirky little battery backup is rough and grippy, such that you can put just about anything on it and not have to worry about it sliding around. It’s also small enough to be pocketable, so in theory you could just bring this with you and set your phone on top whenever you were sitting still for a few minutes. The QiStone+ beeps to confirm you have made an inductive connection, and the four lights on the side of the device gives you a rough idea of how much juice you have left. While using the Qi charging feature, you can also connect something via USB and the QiStone+ will charge them both simultaneously.
If you are looking for a battery backup that offers you the most possible juice, you can do a lot better than the Qi Stone for the price. If, however, you are one of the folks out there who has seen the light and fully converted to Qi charging in your home, £45 (US$75) is a small price to pay for maintaining that lifestyle.
It’s hard to imagine there’s a huge demand for something like the QiStone+, but in the week I have been using it the experience has been great. The Qi Stone does exactly what it claims to do, and as long as you are a big fan of Qi this is a great accessory to have. Best of luck explaining to someone in the coffee shop why you are balancing your phone on a little rock in order to charge it, though.
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Meet the QiStone+. It’s a portable power brick with a 4,000mAh battery inside, and a single microUSB port to receive power and a regular USB port so you can use whatever power cable you want to charge any USB device you like. This aspect of the device is fairly standard, and works exactly the way it is supposed to. What makes this battery backup special is the combined ability to place it on an existing Qi charger to receive power wirelessly as well as set a smartphone or tablet on top of it to charge that device wirelessly. That’s right, this little battery backup can both send and receive electricity through Qi inductive charging.
The casing for this quirky little battery backup is rough and grippy, such that you can put just about anything on it and not have to worry about it sliding around. It’s also small enough to be pocketable, so in theory you could just bring this with you and set your phone on top whenever you were sitting still for a few minutes. The QiStone+ beeps to confirm you have made an inductive connection, and the four lights on the side of the device gives you a rough idea of how much juice you have left. While using the Qi charging feature, you can also connect something via USB and the QiStone+ will charge them both simultaneously.
If you are looking for a battery backup that offers you the most possible juice, you can do a lot better than the Qi Stone for the price. If, however, you are one of the folks out there who has seen the light and fully converted to Qi charging in your home, £45 (US$75) is a small price to pay for maintaining that lifestyle.
It’s hard to imagine there’s a huge demand for something like the QiStone+, but in the week I have been using it the experience has been great. The Qi Stone does exactly what it claims to do, and as long as you are a big fan of Qi this is a great accessory to have. Best of luck explaining to someone in the coffee shop why you are balancing your phone on a little rock in order to charge it, though.
More...
