THE FUTURE IS HERE, but is it all that great?
The brand that’s famous for confusing you by adding more pieces just to mess with you, IKEA, has decided to team up with Wireless Power Consortium for their new range of furniture that will charge your devices. YES. YES. YES. Smartphones. Yes. Tablets. Yes. Other Qi-enabled devices (pronounced ‘chee’ by the way). Uh, yeah I guess so.
“Our belief is that mobile phones are vital parts to people’s lives at home and their desire to stay connected, and Qi addresses an unmet need to keep devices powered,” said Bjorn Block, Range Manager for Lighting and Wireless Charging, at IKEA.
Released in their PR statement on March 1st, the range will include bedside tables, lamps and desks! A lamp?! Hell yeah. Of course they went with the traditional pirate style ‘X marks the spot’, which you simply place your device on the X and it starts charging. Yes, that sounds great but what if I want to sit on the couch with my device? Or in bed by the magical Lamp? If you take the phone or device off the X, how far does the wireless charging go? Also on a desk, say I have a glass of water…accidents happen.. How durable is the wireless X? “Having devices that only charge on certain surfaces could limit peoples’ choice, and defeat the purpose.” says Wall Street Journal.
On that note; if we are -without knowing it- over charging our devices, this will actually ruin our lithium-ion batteries. Making the battery life of your device constantly running short. Wireless charging also generates too much heat for the device and in turn also takes a toll on the battery.
