Fancy being able to charge your Nokia phone by just popping it on a pad on your desk, no cables required? That time may be nearer than you realise: Nokia is cribbing from Palm’s notes, and has just joined the Wireless Power Consortium to make it happen. Is a Nokia Touchstone on the way?
Nokia’s been looking in to wireless charging for some time, but unlike background micro charging, the case for wireless contact charging has already been proven with gizmos like the Palm Touchstone. Nokia has now joined the Wireless Power Consortium, which pushes a universal standard for over the air charging, called Qi. Think something as common as microUSB charging, but without the cables and you’ll get the idea of what it’s pushing for.
Nokia primes background wireless charging
Consumer leccy players like Olympus, Philips, Samsung and Sanyo are already signed on to the Wireless Power Consortium, but Nokia’s announcement is even more influential. Nokia is the world’s biggest mobile phone manufacturer by a country mile, so with its weight behind it, we could soon see a common platform for charging phones, where almost any mobile will start storing up the juice simply by being dropped on a charging mat.
Nokia’s not given any timeframe for actually stumping up with the goods, but rest assured this official announcement means it’s cracking on at a clip with its plans.
Out TBC | £TBC | Nokia and Wireless Power Consortium (Photo via Viskas)
