USB-C will be around for a long time, it’s a strong standard. Wireless inductive charging won’t take over for a long time because it’s limited in speed, and WiFi/Bluetooth are much slower for data transfer.
Wifi is generally faster though, at least from phones. They often have horrible data transfer with MTP, and use USB2.0, so maybe 20-30MB/s real-world.
Wifi is much faster, I usually get double that or more on my phone. Way more fun to transfer videos etc, and you don’t need to plug it to another device to push something to network storage.
KDE Connect, when set up properly(pretty much does it automatically) alongside a linux system, you can access the entirety of your phone’s internal storage over LAN as if it were a network drive mounted on your PC.
Is there any actual benefit for wireless charging? You still need to plug the charger somewhere and just feels like more expensive way that’s prone to more problems.
I am all for “research for the sake of research is enough and needs no further justification.” But I still feel like I am missing something here. Why are companies producing and selling it? Am I dumb?
Only scenario it seems useful is that you can replace your phone’s USB hardware with a small badUSB and rely on wireless charger while cops wonder why they can’t investigate your files on their device.
I guess from a consumer perspective, it can be more convenient (e.g. wireless charging in a car)
For me, I see it as a way to reduce wear on a charging port, or as an alternative if the port does fail.
I like it for the latter as I don’t like my devices to be inefficient but it makes me feel better that should the USB-C fail on my phone, it’s not game over for my phone.
It also is less energy efficient as running the juice directly through a cable of course is more efficient than creating a magnetic field that then induces juice on the other side to flow again.
It should be said that this is the principle of transformers, but they are built in an efficient way for it.
Same. In winter it doubles as a pocket heater. Summer is worse, I wish electronics could also feasibly convert waste heat to cooling, but physics be like “yea, nah”.
There’s the regular wireless charging where you need to put the phone on exactly the right position. That one is totally useless, since it’s even less flexible than cable charging. The only upside is that you don’t need to physically insert the cable. That’s pretty much worthless.
There’s another setup that allows you to charge over a larger area, e.g. a whole desk. That is expensive and/or much work, since it needs to be integrated into the whole area (e.g. desk) and it’s incredibly wasteful in terms of energy consumption that doesn’t actually end up charging the phone.
The only real upside I can see of wireless charging is that you can use it if your USB C port is worn out and doesn’t work any more.
USB-C will be around for a long time, it’s a strong standard. Wireless inductive charging won’t take over for a long time because it’s limited in speed, and WiFi/Bluetooth are much slower for data transfer.
USB-C is just the connector type, not a particular speed.
True, I appreciate the correction, the actual data transfer speed is determined by the USB version.
I will never forgive USB for the ridiculous naming
Agree, it’s a total trainwreck
480mbps is still faster than shitty cloud services
edit: yes I know about usb 1.0 and 1.1
Wifi is generally faster though, at least from phones. They often have horrible data transfer with MTP, and use USB2.0, so maybe 20-30MB/s real-world. Wifi is much faster, I usually get double that or more on my phone. Way more fun to transfer videos etc, and you don’t need to plug it to another device to push something to network storage.
How one would cut and paste videos from an android to a pc?
KDE Connect, when set up properly(pretty much does it automatically) alongside a linux system, you can access the entirety of your phone’s internal storage over LAN as if it were a network drive mounted on your PC.
Is there any actual benefit for wireless charging? You still need to plug the charger somewhere and just feels like more expensive way that’s prone to more problems.
I am all for “research for the sake of research is enough and needs no further justification.” But I still feel like I am missing something here. Why are companies producing and selling it? Am I dumb?
Only scenario it seems useful is that you can replace your phone’s USB hardware with a small badUSB and rely on wireless charger while cops wonder why they can’t investigate your files on their device.
I’ve had several phone where the USB socket stops working reliably. At that point it’s easier to use a wireless charger.
Yes, it’s usually pocket fluff in the socket and it can be picked out, but it takes some time and care to avoid damaging the socket.
My latest case (Otter) also has a cover that is awkward to open to plug in the lead, so there’s that too.
As a bonus the charger works with Apple and Android so very convenient as my kids are Macolytes.
I guess from a consumer perspective, it can be more convenient (e.g. wireless charging in a car)
For me, I see it as a way to reduce wear on a charging port, or as an alternative if the port does fail.
I like it for the latter as I don’t like my devices to be inefficient but it makes me feel better that should the USB-C fail on my phone, it’s not game over for my phone.
It also is less energy efficient as running the juice directly through a cable of course is more efficient than creating a magnetic field that then induces juice on the other side to flow again.
It should be said that this is the principle of transformers, but they are built in an efficient way for it.
Transformer without a core (which makes them about 90% efficient, while wireless at 70%, if perfectly aligned, rest is heat).
Convenience. Decor. It’s much easier to slap a phone on a charger. The chargers also look better than a cable laying around unplugged.
I have these battery packs that magnetically stick to the back of my phone and charge it. Just slap it on and forget about it.
It makes my phone hot and wastes a lot of power (I can also charge from the same battery packs using a cable, and I get noticeably more charge).
But it’s real convenient when you don’t want to worry about it. I use them at conventions or when I’m out hiking or skiing.
Same. In winter it doubles as a pocket heater. Summer is worse, I wish electronics could also feasibly convert waste heat to cooling, but physics be like “yea, nah”.
There’s the regular wireless charging where you need to put the phone on exactly the right position. That one is totally useless, since it’s even less flexible than cable charging. The only upside is that you don’t need to physically insert the cable. That’s pretty much worthless.
There’s another setup that allows you to charge over a larger area, e.g. a whole desk. That is expensive and/or much work, since it needs to be integrated into the whole area (e.g. desk) and it’s incredibly wasteful in terms of energy consumption that doesn’t actually end up charging the phone.
The only real upside I can see of wireless charging is that you can use it if your USB C port is worn out and doesn’t work any more.
Should we tell them about usb d?