It’s not cheap, but the Nomadic Base Station Pro is the first free-site wireless charging pad to hit the market.
Announced in September 2017, Apple’s wireless charging mat for Airpower was continuously canceled last year. While some of these versions may release someday, the new $ 230 Nomad Base Station Pro could fill the void for those craving an advanced wireless charging pad. Incorporating the latest technology from the startup Eyra, the Staten Pro is billed as “3 devices, the first free charging surface on the market” and is now available for pre-order. It is expected to ship out next month.
To be clear, there are a lot of shipping mats on the market, as well as a lot of multi-specialty shipping mats. Until recently, all that was required of you was to reach the ‘perfect spot’ to properly charge Qi wireless devices. While checking the time in the middle of the night, skip or click in the middle and it will run on an empty battery from a cordless phone or headphones.
In contrast, free or on-site charging, as it is sometimes called, is the sacred comb for wireless charging. According to Nomad, Aira’s patented FreePower technology features an entire surface “corner-to-corner” charge, as opposed to requiring a traditional charger to get to that beautiful location. In other words, you can place a Qi-enabled device anywhere on the surface and the base can play it well to improve performance for some advanced software.
I used the Base Station Pro model early and it works mostly as advertised, although I did run into some issues after one phone slowly charged when the other was fully charged (mobile bugs will be fixed with upcoming firmware upgrades). The mattress is powered by a 30W power adapter via USB-C and is capable of providing up to 7.5W of wireless charging to three devices simultaneously. If a device, such as AirPods or AirPods Pro, is limited to 5W charging, it only sends 5W to that device.
Aira states Base Station Pro can charge as fast as a wireless board with a higher power rating. While iPhones currently charge up to 7.5 watts, select Android models are charged for 15 watts for wireless charging.
I can charge three phones at the same time, but it’s difficult, if not impossible, to put three big phones on a board, which is why marketed photos of charging two phones with AirPods cases show. In addition, the panel will not charge the Apple Watch, which has its own wireless charging technology. (AirPower, as an Apple product, is also advertised as being able to charge the watch.)
With a thin aluminum frame and a smooth leather surface (currently only available in black, Nomad may add other leather color options in the future), it is sure to have a premium look and good weight, so this table lives on. Or a table (I leave it in the kitchen for my family to use). But in the end, it’s just a charging pad and it has all the hi-tech shine that you just can’t see.
You can find very few charging pads for the other three devices, but as mentioned above, they are not “free site” platforms; You have to make sure each device is in the middle of a file or it won’t charge.
It should be noted that this base does not have an internal fan to distribute the heat. Aluminum absorbs some heat and Residents of Eyra tell me its FreePower technology is designed to protect the pad and device from getting very hot while charging (despite generating some heat). As mentioned earlier, Base Station Pro firmware is upgradeable, you connect the base to your computer for software updates and it should offer some performance improvements over time as it gets improved further.
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