Is there any advantage to charging an AW flat? Every charging solution that I've seen, that looks even remotely functional, has the AW being charged at a right angle or at 15-30 degrees. It would seem awkward to charge an AW on a flat mat and it loses any of the utility of the screen. Place anywhere charging is a solved problem. Incorporating the AW charging only seems to add complexity with no tangible benefit. To me this seems more like an exercise that answers the question of "Why?" with "because we can".
The advantage isn’t in charging the AW in a horizontal position. The advantage is that I can have one place to put my AW, iPhone and AirPods every night when I go to bed. If this product sees the light of day that place will be on my nightstand, directly next to my bed.
Currently I have an iPhone dock next to my bed and my Apple Watch charger on my dresser. I use the dock to charge my AirPods when it it’s free of charging my phone. The AW charger (or a Lightning cable without a dock) is constantly slipping off of whatever surface I place it on so I have to find something to put the cable under to keep it in place. All of that is a little bit of pain. My wife found some little clip thing that attaches to her nightstand and can keep 3 Lightning cables in place but it’s kinda ugly, inelegant and still looks messy with cables everywhere.
Having one mat that uses one cable but charges 3 devices would be a welcome change. I imagine the mat would be heavy enough not to slide around from the weight of the cable attached to it. Another plus is that I would have 1 thing to pack when I travel.
You may be unaware, but you've been able to have all three devices charged via 1 cable for quite some time. Nomad's Base Station AW edition does just that. You can wirelessly charge 2 devices + the AW. It does it with one cable, leaves the AW in a useful position, and has the ability to wired charge two additional devices via USB-C and USB-A ports. https://nomadgoods.com/products/base-station-apple-watch The use case you described has been solved.
Is there any advantage to charging an AW flat? Every charging solution that I've seen, that looks even remotely functional, has the AW being charged at a right angle or at 15-30 degrees. It would seem awkward to charge an AW on a flat mat and it loses any of the utility of the screen. Place anywhere charging is a solved problem. Incorporating the AW charging only seems to add complexity with no tangible benefit. To me this seems more like an exercise that answers the question of "Why?" with "because we can".
Not at all. Placing the watch flat allows for one charging mat to charge all three devices without the need for another charging cable or weird arm/dock jutting out. For a travel solution this is ideal — one cable, one mat, next to no space. So far no product does this. Day 1 buy.
As I stated to ihatescreennames, the issue you describe has been solved. Most notably by Nomad's solution. There's nothing weird about an arm or mounting surface for an AW. It arguably adds functionality to the AW while charging. Laying flat on a mat - if the watch can even do so without awkward band manipulation - the watch would lose the utility of the screen. An argument could be made by some that "well, I don't need the screen utility while it's charging. I just want it to charge". The mere presence of the utility of using the watch face while charging doesn't mean one has to use it. It would be there for those who'd want to take advantage. Others could ignore it. Not having the the ability to use it would be a detriment imo. A flat pad would represent that detriment.
What is it so complicated that you need such a powerful (and presumably expensive?) CPU?
If only there were an article somewhere that one could read, and that could help explain these questions...
Yeah, but the AI article regarding it makes zero sense and doesn't go into any actual detail.
If you cannot make sense of "Using the A11," he continues, "this new prototype has the ability to route power to specific coil regions and can dynamically wait for temperatures to drop before applying more power - preventing it from overheating." while at the same time feeling that this explanation is lacking in detail, then this article is both too technical and too basic at the same time.
„To manage power supplied to the individual coils depending upon temperature“ seems like a pretty useful description to me.
Yup. It makes zero sense to me for it to need a CPU to do this, let alone an A11. Heck, it makes no sense that it would catch on fire. It will get hot, but catch on fire, no.
Something like this can catch on fire due to shoddy workmanship (this is virtually always the case for circuits catching on fire of their own volition), like not properly securing circuits, not controlling the flow of power properly combined with components that can't handle 18 to 30 Watts or amateurish defective design of the circuits themselves, but presumably Apple has really great workmanship per their usual standards.
If something gets too hot, all you need is a temperature sensor and circuit to limit the power flow based on data from the temperature sensors. I don't think you need a CPU for that. If they need one to be "smart", that's an el cheapo super dumb CPU, like what is inside Lightning cables.
They don't even need a big CPU if they decided to only use 3 coils (for 3 devices) inside the mat, but mounted the coils on a motorized system to move the coils under the placed devices for optimum induction charging. Anything motorized obviously will be more prone to failure though.
Is there any advantage to charging an AW flat? Every charging solution that I've seen, that looks even remotely functional, has the AW being charged at a right angle or at 15-30 degrees. It would seem awkward to charge an AW on a flat mat and it loses any of the utility of the screen. Place anywhere chaging is a solved problem. Incorporating the AW charging only seems to add complexity with no tangible benefit. To me this seems more like an exercise that answers the question of "Why?" with "because we can".
The advantage isn’t in charging the AW in a horizontal position. The advantage is that I can have one place to put my AW, iPhone and AirPods every night when I go to bed. If this product sees the light of day that place will be on my nightstand, directly next to my bed.
Currently I have an iPhone dock next to my bed and my Apple Watch charger on my dresser. I use the dock to charge my AirPods when it it’s free of charging my phone. The AW charger (or a Lightning cable without a dock) is constantly slipping off of whatever surface I place it on so I have to find something to put the cable under to keep it in place. All of that is a little bit of pain. My wife found some little clip thing that attaches to her nightstand and can keep 3 Lightning cables in place but it’s kinda ugly, inelegant and still looks messy with cables everywhere.
Having one mat that uses one cable but charges 3 devices would be a welcome change. I imagine the mat would be heavy enough not to slide around from the weight of the cable attached to it. Another plus is that I would have 1 thing to pack when I travel.
You may be unaware, but you've been able to have all three devices charged via 1 cable for quite some time. Nomad's Base Station AW edition does just that. You can wirelessly charge 2 devices + the AW. It does it with one cable, leaves the AW in a useful position, and has the ability to wired charge two additional devices via USB-C and USB-A ports. https://nomadgoods.com/products/base-station-apple-watch The use case you described has been solved.
Is there any advantage to charging an AW flat? Every charging solution that I've seen, that looks even remotely functional, has the AW being charged at a right angle or at 15-30 degrees. It would seem awkward to charge an AW on a flat mat and it loses any of the utility of the screen. Place anywhere charging is a solved problem. Incorporating the AW charging only seems to add complexity with no tangible benefit. To me this seems more like an exercise that answers the question of "Why?" with "because we can".
Not at all. Placing the watch flat allows for one charging mat to charge all three devices without the need for another charging cable or weird arm/dock jutting out. For a travel solution this is ideal — one cable, one mat, next to no space. So far no product does this. Day 1 buy.
As I stated to ihatescreennames, the issue you describe has been solved. Most notably by Nomad's solution. There's nothing weird about an arm or mounting surface for an AW. It arguably adds functionality to the AW while charging. Laying flat on a mat - if the watch can even do so without awkward band manipulation - the watch would lose the utility of the screen. An argument could be made by some that "well, I don't need the screen utility while it's charging. I just want it to charge". The mere presence of the utility of using the watch face while charging doesn't mean one has to use it. It would be there for those who'd want to take advantage. Others could ignore it. Not having the the ability to use it would be a detriment imo. A flat pad would represent that detriment.
No, what you’ve stated is a work-around. One that you care about. Not one that I care about. My use case is dropping all devices onto a slim mat and is easy to travel with, ideally and hopefully itself powered by a removable lightning cable. My use case is not concerned with holding the Watch up to use it as a clock. No shits given. My current Watch charger is mounted on the side of my bed frame, I never, ever use it as a bedside table clock.
And the Nomad only has 3 coils, you have to align your phone correctly, and apparently you cannot charge two phones at the same time either. From reviews:
“because the Apple Watch charger is permanently attached to the station, you can not charge two iPhones at the same time. It also takes a while to find the sweet spot in charging the phone vertically.”
Is there any advantage to charging an AW flat? Every charging solution that I've seen, that looks even remotely functional, has the AW being charged at a right angle or at 15-30 degrees. It would seem awkward to charge an AW on a flat mat and it loses any of the utility of the screen. Place anywhere chaging is a solved problem. Incorporating the AW charging only seems to add complexity with no tangible benefit. To me this seems more like an exercise that answers the question of "Why?" with "because we can".
The advantage isn’t in charging the AW in a horizontal position. The advantage is that I can have one place to put my AW, iPhone and AirPods every night when I go to bed. If this product sees the light of day that place will be on my nightstand, directly next to my bed.
Currently I have an iPhone dock next to my bed and my Apple Watch charger on my dresser. I use the dock to charge my AirPods when it it’s free of charging my phone. The AW charger (or a Lightning cable without a dock) is constantly slipping off of whatever surface I place it on so I have to find something to put the cable under to keep it in place. All of that is a little bit of pain. My wife found some little clip thing that attaches to her nightstand and can keep 3 Lightning cables in place but it’s kinda ugly, inelegant and still looks messy with cables everywhere.
Having one mat that uses one cable but charges 3 devices would be a welcome change. I imagine the mat would be heavy enough not to slide around from the weight of the cable attached to it. Another plus is that I would have 1 thing to pack when I travel.
You may be unaware, but you've been able to have all three devices charged via 1 cable for quite some time. Nomad's Base Station AW edition does just that. You can wirelessly charge 2 devices + the AW. It does it with one cable, leaves the AW in a useful position, and has the ability to wired charge two additional devices via USB-C and USB-A ports. https://nomadgoods.com/products/base-station-apple-watch The use case you described has been solved.
Is there any advantage to charging an AW flat? Every charging solution that I've seen, that looks even remotely functional, has the AW being charged at a right angle or at 15-30 degrees. It would seem awkward to charge an AW on a flat mat and it loses any of the utility of the screen. Place anywhere charging is a solved problem. Incorporating the AW charging only seems to add complexity with no tangible benefit. To me this seems more like an exercise that answers the question of "Why?" with "because we can".
Not at all. Placing the watch flat allows for one charging mat to charge all three devices without the need for another charging cable or weird arm/dock jutting out. For a travel solution this is ideal — one cable, one mat, next to no space. So far no product does this. Day 1 buy.
As I stated to ihatescreennames, the issue you describe has been solved. Most notably by Nomad's solution. There's nothing weird about an arm or mounting surface for an AW. It arguably adds functionality to the AW while charging. Laying flat on a mat - if the watch can even do so without awkward band manipulation - the watch would lose the utility of the screen. An argument could be made by some that "well, I don't need the screen utility while it's charging. I just want it to charge". The mere presence of the utility of using the watch face while charging doesn't mean one has to use it. It would be there for those who'd want to take advantage. Others could ignore it. Not having the the ability to use it would be a detriment imo. A flat pad would represent that detriment.
No, what you’ve stated is a work-around. One that you care about. Not one that I care about. My use case is dropping all devices onto a slim mat and is easy to travel with... My use case is not concerned with holding the Watch up to use it as a clock... and apparently you cannot charge two phones at the same time either. ...glad it works for you, but it’s a different set of use cases than what the AP promised.
Wouldn't a charger large enough that two phones plus your watch could all lay flat on it be a bit of a space hog, needing to be at least twice the size of the Nomad? I can't imagine Apple would make its charger that big as it likely results in an un-Apple-y design, neither thin nor compact and larger than an iPad Mini.
Is there any advantage to charging an AW flat? Every charging solution that I've seen, that looks even remotely functional, has the AW being charged at a right angle or at 15-30 degrees. It would seem awkward to charge an AW on a flat mat and it loses any of the utility of the screen. Place anywhere chaging is a solved problem. Incorporating the AW charging only seems to add complexity with no tangible benefit. To me this seems more like an exercise that answers the question of "Why?" with "because we can".
The advantage isn’t in charging the AW in a horizontal position. The advantage is that I can have one place to put my AW, iPhone and AirPods every night when I go to bed. If this product sees the light of day that place will be on my nightstand, directly next to my bed.
Currently I have an iPhone dock next to my bed and my Apple Watch charger on my dresser. I use the dock to charge my AirPods when it it’s free of charging my phone. The AW charger (or a Lightning cable without a dock) is constantly slipping off of whatever surface I place it on so I have to find something to put the cable under to keep it in place. All of that is a little bit of pain. My wife found some little clip thing that attaches to her nightstand and can keep 3 Lightning cables in place but it’s kinda ugly, inelegant and still looks messy with cables everywhere.
Having one mat that uses one cable but charges 3 devices would be a welcome change. I imagine the mat would be heavy enough not to slide around from the weight of the cable attached to it. Another plus is that I would have 1 thing to pack when I travel.
You may be unaware, but you've been able to have all three devices charged via 1 cable for quite some time. Nomad's Base Station AW edition does just that. You can wirelessly charge 2 devices + the AW. It does it with one cable, leaves the AW in a useful position, and has the ability to wired charge two additional devices via USB-C and USB-A ports. https://nomadgoods.com/products/base-station-apple-watch The use case you described has been solved.
Is there any advantage to charging an AW flat? Every charging solution that I've seen, that looks even remotely functional, has the AW being charged at a right angle or at 15-30 degrees. It would seem awkward to charge an AW on a flat mat and it loses any of the utility of the screen. Place anywhere charging is a solved problem. Incorporating the AW charging only seems to add complexity with no tangible benefit. To me this seems more like an exercise that answers the question of "Why?" with "because we can".
Not at all. Placing the watch flat allows for one charging mat to charge all three devices without the need for another charging cable or weird arm/dock jutting out. For a travel solution this is ideal — one cable, one mat, next to no space. So far no product does this. Day 1 buy.
As I stated to ihatescreennames, the issue you describe has been solved. Most notably by Nomad's solution. There's nothing weird about an arm or mounting surface for an AW. It arguably adds functionality to the AW while charging. Laying flat on a mat - if the watch can even do so without awkward band manipulation - the watch would lose the utility of the screen. An argument could be made by some that "well, I don't need the screen utility while it's charging. I just want it to charge". The mere presence of the utility of using the watch face while charging doesn't mean one has to use it. It would be there for those who'd want to take advantage. Others could ignore it. Not having the the ability to use it would be a detriment imo. A flat pad would represent that detriment.
No, what you’ve stated is a work-around. One that you care about. Not one that I care about. My use case is dropping all devices onto a slim mat and is easy to travel with, ideally and hopefully itself powered by a removable lightning cable. My use case is not concerned with holding the Watch up to use it as a clock. No shits given. My current Watch charger is mounted on the side of my bed frame, I never, ever use it as a bedside table clock.
And the Nomad only has 3 coils, you have to align your phone correctly, and apparently you cannot charge two phones at the same time either. From reviews:
“because the Apple Watch charger is permanently attached to the station, you can not charge two iPhones at the same time. It also takes a while to find the sweet spot in charging the phone vertically.”
...glad it works for you, but it’s a different set of use cases than what the AP promised.
What you seem to be doing is missing the point (or simply not caring) that I'm speaking from a general standpoint. You're discussing your personal use case and seem to be getting more personally invested with every comment. Happy to hear you give no shits. Generally speaking Nomad's solution solves the issue brought up by you and ihatescreennames: Charging all 3 devices (AW, iPhone, and AirPods) at one time with one cable. Placing 2 phones and/or place anywhere were issues broached by neither of you. My response directly address the points that were presented. The argument that was presented by ihatescreennames is represented by the picture below. It also solves your issue 'cept the desire to lay your watch flat. Practically speaking, what's pictured below is a more functional approach imo. We obviously disagree and that's perfectly fine.
Is there a reason leaked images are always so blurry? It’s really hard to take a blurry photo with a smartphone these days. You have to shake the device pretty aggressively whilst pressing the shutter button.
Umm that’s gonna be an expensive charging pad. Although ones from Belkin and Nomad are pretty steep too.
It’s Apple so it will sell. They can polish a turd, slap their logo on it, and BOOM!!...sold for $299.99.
Oh, the “But Apple is all just marketing!” troll trope. Been a while. Sorry, but no...you’re full of so much “nonsense”. If you think Apple products are turds why are you here whining about them every day? Talk about neurosis.
So this means we’re now relying on software to stop it bursting into flames?
Mmmm.
All lithium chargers have some sort of computer circuit to regulate charging, if it isn’t built into the device, so that things won’t overheat and explode.
Most high power variants have chips at every stage: charger, device, battery and also the cabling in between. It is wise in these cases to only use the cable that came with the charging pack to make sure you get the maximum and best charge possible. Especially as we now have 40W wireless charging on the market. I would expect this Apple solution to have chips at every stage too. A plus would be TüV Rheinland certification.
Umm that’s gonna be an expensive charging pad. Although ones from Belkin and Nomad are pretty steep too.
It’s Apple so it will sell. They can polish a turd, slap their logo on it, and BOOM!!...sold for $299.99.
And what does it say about someone like you, who takes the energy register and continually post on a forum that, in your own words, is dedicated to a company that has achieved it success and reputation by "polishing turds"?
You fucking worthless troll.
And forum handle “sjworld” no less. Actually quite comical.
What you seem to be doing is missing the point (or simply not caring) that I'm speaking from a general standpoint. You're discussing your personal use case and seem to be getting more personally invested with every comment. Happy to hear you give no shits. Generally speaking Nomad's solution solves the issue brought up by you and ihatescreennames: Charging all 3 devices (AW, iPhone, and AirPods) at one time with one cable. Placing 2 phones and/or place anywhere were issues broached by neither of you. My response directly address the points that were presented. The argument that was presented by ihatescreennames is represented by the picture below. It also solves your issue 'cept the desire to lay your watch flat. Practically speaking, what's pictured below is a more functional approach imo. We obviously disagree and that's perfectly fine
If it solves his issue ‘cept his desire to lay his watch flat then it hasn’t really solved his issue. The issue isn’t really how the watch is sitting, it’s the watch charging module sticking out of the mat which means that you can’t put the watch anywhere. That’s the problem Apple is trying to solve.
You're happy with your solution, and that's fine, but from Apple's perspective it might look like simply 'making do', and that's not really Apple, is it?
So this means we’re now relying on software to stop it bursting into flames?
Mmmm.
Yes just like almost every other charger on the planet.
Yeah, I know.
My problem is that I've been a little concerned with Apple's software development of late, probably since they decided to release IOS13 when they knew they'd have to drop a bug fix almost immediately. That's not a good position to be in, especially from an outfit that managed to change a file system on millions of phones without anyone noticing.
But there is software and there is software, and as others have highlighted here and elsewhere, Apple has a long history of smart cables and chargers that have been extremely reliable.
And the most important thing that I forgot, was that this (if true) will be Apple's second attempt at the AirPower mat, the first one they canned after they announced it because they weren't happy with the thermals, so at the very least, we know that heat problems is something they're very focussed on.
And I am assuming that Apple writes the control software for its chargers/cables.
Is there any advantage to charging an AW flat? Every charging solution that I've seen, that looks even remotely functional, has the AW being charged at a right angle or at 15-30 degrees. It would seem awkward to charge an AW on a flat mat and it loses any of the utility of the screen. Place anywhere chaging is a solved problem. Incorporating the AW charging only seems to add complexity with no tangible benefit. To me this seems more like an exercise that answers the question of "Why?" with "because we can".
The advantage isn’t in charging the AW in a horizontal position. The advantage is that I can have one place to put my AW, iPhone and AirPods every night when I go to bed. If this product sees the light of day that place will be on my nightstand, directly next to my bed.
Currently I have an iPhone dock next to my bed and my Apple Watch charger on my dresser. I use the dock to charge my AirPods when it it’s free of charging my phone. The AW charger (or a Lightning cable without a dock) is constantly slipping off of whatever surface I place it on so I have to find something to put the cable under to keep it in place. All of that is a little bit of pain. My wife found some little clip thing that attaches to her nightstand and can keep 3 Lightning cables in place but it’s kinda ugly, inelegant and still looks messy with cables everywhere.
Having one mat that uses one cable but charges 3 devices would be a welcome change. I imagine the mat would be heavy enough not to slide around from the weight of the cable attached to it. Another plus is that I would have 1 thing to pack when I travel.
You may be unaware, but you've been able to have all three devices charged via 1 cable for quite some time. Nomad's Base Station AW edition does just that. You can wirelessly charge 2 devices + the AW. It does it with one cable, leaves the AW in a useful position, and has the ability to wired charge two additional devices via USB-C and USB-A ports. https://nomadgoods.com/products/base-station-apple-watch The use case you described has been solved.
Is there any advantage to charging an AW flat? Every charging solution that I've seen, that looks even remotely functional, has the AW being charged at a right angle or at 15-30 degrees. It would seem awkward to charge an AW on a flat mat and it loses any of the utility of the screen. Place anywhere charging is a solved problem. Incorporating the AW charging only seems to add complexity with no tangible benefit. To me this seems more like an exercise that answers the question of "Why?" with "because we can".
Not at all. Placing the watch flat allows for one charging mat to charge all three devices without the need for another charging cable or weird arm/dock jutting out. For a travel solution this is ideal — one cable, one mat, next to no space. So far no product does this. Day 1 buy.
As I stated to ihatescreennames, the issue you describe has been solved. Most notably by Nomad's solution. There's nothing weird about an arm or mounting surface for an AW. It arguably adds functionality to the AW while charging. Laying flat on a mat - if the watch can even do so without awkward band manipulation - the watch would lose the utility of the screen. An argument could be made by some that "well, I don't need the screen utility while it's charging. I just want it to charge". The mere presence of the utility of using the watch face while charging doesn't mean one has to use it. It would be there for those who'd want to take advantage. Others could ignore it. Not having the the ability to use it would be a detriment imo. A flat pad would represent that detriment.
No, what you’ve stated is a work-around. One that you care about. Not one that I care about. My use case is dropping all devices onto a slim mat and is easy to travel with, ideally and hopefully itself powered by a removable lightning cable. My use case is not concerned with holding the Watch up to use it as a clock. No shits given. My current Watch charger is mounted on the side of my bed frame, I never, ever use it as a bedside table clock.
And the Nomad only has 3 coils, you have to align your phone correctly, and apparently you cannot charge two phones at the same time either. From reviews:
“because the Apple Watch charger is permanently attached to the station, you can not charge two iPhones at the same time. It also takes a while to find the sweet spot in charging the phone vertically.”
...glad it works for you, but it’s a different set of use cases than what the AP promised.
What you seem to be doing is missing the point (or simply not caring) that I'm speaking from a general standpoint. You're discussing your personal use case and seem to be getting more personally invested with every comment. Happy to hear you give no shits. Generally speaking Nomad's solution solves the issue brought up by you and ihatescreennames: Charging all 3 devices (AW, iPhone, and AirPods) at one time with one cable. Placing 2 phones and/or place anywhere were issues broached by neither of you. My response directly address the points that were presented. The argument that was presented by ihatescreennames is represented by the picture below. It also solves your issue 'cept the desire to lay your watch flat. Practically speaking, what's pictured below is a more functional approach imo. We obviously disagree and that's perfectly fine.
As others have stated, if the Nomad “mat” works for you, great. But what is pictured isn’t really a mat, it’s a mat plus a thing sticking out to charge an AW.
Place anywhere is something I want. You said I didn’t broach that topic. Right. This article is about a mat with place anywhere capability. My mentioning it would be redundant. I did fail to mention that it isn’t uncommon for me to have to be fiddling with finding my watch charger and putting my iPhone onto its dock in the dark while my SO is asleep. In a general sense I know where the puck is on my dresser but I still tend to bump things with the watch band while trying to place it. I can see the dock in the dark but it’s still not always easy to place the phone properly on the first try and again it can make little annoying noises.
Having one mat, an actual mat, next to my bed that I don’t have to screw with and just place my items down would be great.
Yes, this is my personal use case. I don’t see how stating what I would like is any different than you saying, “Practically speaking, what's pictured below is a more functional approach imo.” Aren’t you speaking of your personal use case there?
Is there any advantage to charging an AW flat? Every charging solution that I've seen, that looks even remotely functional, has the AW being charged at a right angle or at 15-30 degrees. It would seem awkward to charge an AW on a flat mat and it loses any of the utility of the screen. Place anywhere chaging is a solved problem. Incorporating the AW charging only seems to add complexity with no tangible benefit. To me this seems more like an exercise that answers the question of "Why?" with "because we can".
The advantage isn’t in charging the AW in a horizontal position. The advantage is that I can have one place to put my AW, iPhone and AirPods every night when I go to bed. If this product sees the light of day that place will be on my nightstand, directly next to my bed.
Currently I have an iPhone dock next to my bed and my Apple Watch charger on my dresser. I use the dock to charge my AirPods when it it’s free of charging my phone. The AW charger (or a Lightning cable without a dock) is constantly slipping off of whatever surface I place it on so I have to find something to put the cable under to keep it in place. All of that is a little bit of pain. My wife found some little clip thing that attaches to her nightstand and can keep 3 Lightning cables in place but it’s kinda ugly, inelegant and still looks messy with cables everywhere.
Having one mat that uses one cable but charges 3 devices would be a welcome change. I imagine the mat would be heavy enough not to slide around from the weight of the cable attached to it. Another plus is that I would have 1 thing to pack when I travel.
You may be unaware, but you've been able to have all three devices charged via 1 cable for quite some time. Nomad's Base Station AW edition does just that. You can wirelessly charge 2 devices + the AW. It does it with one cable, leaves the AW in a useful position, and has the ability to wired charge two additional devices via USB-C and USB-A ports. https://nomadgoods.com/products/base-station-apple-watch The use case you described has been solved.
Is there any advantage to charging an AW flat? Every charging solution that I've seen, that looks even remotely functional, has the AW being charged at a right angle or at 15-30 degrees. It would seem awkward to charge an AW on a flat mat and it loses any of the utility of the screen. Place anywhere charging is a solved problem. Incorporating the AW charging only seems to add complexity with no tangible benefit. To me this seems more like an exercise that answers the question of "Why?" with "because we can".
Not at all. Placing the watch flat allows for one charging mat to charge all three devices without the need for another charging cable or weird arm/dock jutting out. For a travel solution this is ideal — one cable, one mat, next to no space. So far no product does this. Day 1 buy.
As I stated to ihatescreennames, the issue you describe has been solved. Most notably by Nomad's solution. There's nothing weird about an arm or mounting surface for an AW. It arguably adds functionality to the AW while charging. Laying flat on a mat - if the watch can even do so without awkward band manipulation - the watch would lose the utility of the screen. An argument could be made by some that "well, I don't need the screen utility while it's charging. I just want it to charge". The mere presence of the utility of using the watch face while charging doesn't mean one has to use it. It would be there for those who'd want to take advantage. Others could ignore it. Not having the the ability to use it would be a detriment imo. A flat pad would represent that detriment.
No, what you’ve stated is a work-around. One that you care about. Not one that I care about. My use case is dropping all devices onto a slim mat and is easy to travel with, ideally and hopefully itself powered by a removable lightning cable. My use case is not concerned with holding the Watch up to use it as a clock. No shits given. My current Watch charger is mounted on the side of my bed frame, I never, ever use it as a bedside table clock.
And the Nomad only has 3 coils, you have to align your phone correctly, and apparently you cannot charge two phones at the same time either. From reviews:
“because the Apple Watch charger is permanently attached to the station, you can not charge two iPhones at the same time. It also takes a while to find the sweet spot in charging the phone vertically.”
...glad it works for you, but it’s a different set of use cases than what the AP promised.
What you seem to be doing is missing the point (or simply not caring) that I'm speaking from a general standpoint. You're discussing your personal use case and seem to be getting more personally invested with every comment. Happy to hear you give no shits. Generally speaking Nomad's solution solves the issue brought up by you and ihatescreennames: Charging all 3 devices (AW, iPhone, and AirPods) at one time with one cable. Placing 2 phones and/or place anywhere were issues broached by neither of you. My response directly address the points that were presented. The argument that was presented by ihatescreennames is represented by the picture below. It also solves your issue 'cept the desire to lay your watch flat. Practically speaking, what's pictured below is a more functional approach imo. We obviously disagree and that's perfectly fine.
As others have stated, if the Nomad “mat” works for you, great. But what is pictured isn’t really a mat, it’s a mat plus a thing sticking out to charge an AW.
Place anywhere is something I want. You said I didn’t broach that topic. Right. This article is about a mat with place anywhere capability. My mentioning it would be redundant. I did fail to mention that it isn’t uncommon for me to have to be fiddling with finding my watch charger and putting my iPhone onto its dock in the dark while my SO is asleep. In a general sense I know where the puck is on my dresser but I still tend to bump things with the watch band while trying to place it. I can see the dock in the dark but it’s still not always easy to place the phone properly on the first try and again it can make little annoying noises.
Having one mat, an actual mat, next to my bed that I don’t have to screw with and just place my items down would be great.
Yes, this is my personal use case. I don’t see how stating what I would like is any different than you saying, “Practically speaking, what's pictured below is a more functional approach imo.” Aren’t you speaking of your personal use case there?
No I am not speaking of my personal use case. I don't own a smartwatch. Probably never will. They don't fill a need or want that would cause me to purchase one for myself. My youngest daughter does though. She has a simple watch stand. Others, like you, have simply assumed I'm advocating for a different solution because I use said solution. I was just opining on the effectiveness of laying the AW on a flat mat to charge. The efficacy of lay flat charging for the AW seems suspect to me since the AW doesn't lay flat. Neither her silicone or woven bands allow my daughter's watch to lay flat. There's a visible gap, which I assume is going to be an issue. I can't say for sure, but I think that gap is going to be there regardless of the band that's used because the connection point on the AW is angled slightly to make it more ergonomic on the wrist. Even if they make it work, I still think the watch face being visible is a better utility than having it flat. You and few other don't. To each his own.
I have no problem with Apple "wasting" a high performance SOC to perform what seems like a relatively straightforward task. First of all, coming up with a no-compromise inductive charging mat that can handle multiple combinations of devices placed at random is a non-trivial challenge. Try as you may, inductors, inductive charging, and dealing with all of the mutual interference issues and physical crudity of electromagnetic power transfer in general is like getting an F4 Phantom with its tiny little wings to fly - you have to apply gobs of power and a huge gas tank to solve the problem. Secondly, unless you're sitting in front of your computer 24x7 scanning the entire electromagnetic spectrum for alien broadcasts, or web hosting a free porn site, your computer is mostly sitting there all day wondering whether YOU are still alive. It's just a system component that has a lot of internal complexity. If you've played around with Raspberry Pi single board computers you'll quickly realize that many of the hobbyist applications, like an automatic pet feeder or private git server, is a matter of using a fairly complex and full-function computer to perform a fairly trivial task. Minimalism be damned, if you've got the power, use it.
As long as the processor/computer isn't complaining about being underutilized or not being able to live up to its personal career ambitions, who really cares? It's just a tool.
Comments
As I stated to ihatescreennames, the issue you describe has been solved. Most notably by Nomad's solution. There's nothing weird about an arm or mounting surface for an AW. It arguably adds functionality to the AW while charging. Laying flat on a mat - if the watch can even do so without awkward band manipulation - the watch would lose the utility of the screen. An argument could be made by some that "well, I don't need the screen utility while it's charging. I just want it to charge". The mere presence of the utility of using the watch face while charging doesn't mean one has to use it. It would be there for those who'd want to take advantage. Others could ignore it. Not having the the ability to use it would be a detriment imo. A flat pad would represent that detriment.
Something like this can catch on fire due to shoddy workmanship (this is virtually always the case for circuits catching on fire of their own volition), like not properly securing circuits, not controlling the flow of power properly combined with components that can't handle 18 to 30 Watts or amateurish defective design of the circuits themselves, but presumably Apple has really great workmanship per their usual standards.
If something gets too hot, all you need is a temperature sensor and circuit to limit the power flow based on data from the temperature sensors. I don't think you need a CPU for that. If they need one to be "smart", that's an el cheapo super dumb CPU, like what is inside Lightning cables.
They don't even need a big CPU if they decided to only use 3 coils (for 3 devices) inside the mat, but mounted the coils on a motorized system to move the coils under the placed devices for optimum induction charging. Anything motorized obviously will be more prone to failure though.
And the Nomad only has 3 coils, you have to align your phone correctly, and apparently you cannot charge two phones at the same time either. From reviews:
“because the Apple Watch charger is permanently attached to the station, you can not charge two iPhones at the same time. It also takes a while to find the sweet spot in charging the phone vertically.”
https://nomadgoods.com/products/base-station-apple-watch
...glad it works for you, but it’s a different set of use cases than what the AP promised.
You're happy with your solution, and that's fine, but from Apple's perspective it might look like simply 'making do', and that's not really Apple, is it?
Yeah, I know.
My problem is that I've been a little concerned with Apple's software development of late, probably since they decided to release IOS13 when they knew they'd have to drop a bug fix almost immediately. That's not a good position to be in, especially from an outfit that managed to change a file system on millions of phones without anyone noticing.
But there is software and there is software, and as others have highlighted here and elsewhere, Apple has a long history of smart cables and chargers that have been extremely reliable.
And the most important thing that I forgot, was that this (if true) will be Apple's second attempt at the AirPower mat, the first one they canned after they announced it because they weren't happy with the thermals, so at the very least, we know that heat problems is something they're very focussed on.
And I am assuming that Apple writes the control software for its chargers/cables.
As long as the processor/computer isn't complaining about being underutilized or not being able to live up to its personal career ambitions, who really cares? It's just a tool.