charge

Good news, wire haters: the Samsung Galaxy S4 will support wireless charging.

The bad news? The feature will cost you upward of $100.

We're hearing that adding wireless charging to the S4 will require a new back cover ($39.99), as well as a dedicated wireless charger ($59.99). The charger is said to hit stores in April, but the back cover may not see the light of day until June.

We can't yet confirm if the charger supports the existing Qi standard (as Engadget reports), which would make it compatible with third-party chargers like the Energizer Dual Inductive Charger. … Read more

iPad owners may one day be able to wirelessly charge their tablets without the need for a separate charging station.

Published today by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Apple's patent application called "Integrated Inductive Charging In Protective Cover" describes a method of using the iPad's Smart Cover itself as the wireless charger.

The cover would be built with inductive power coils and possibly a battery, both of which could provide juice to the iPad. Charging the tablet this way would be a simple matter of closing the cover, which would then power the iPad … Read more

Owners of the iPhone 5S or Galaxy S4 will be able to charge their phones wirelessly, claim the folks at DigiTimes.

Based on "industry sources," Taiwan-based DigiTimes said today that the next-generation iPhone will use wireless charging technology developed by Apple. But the sources couldn't say whether the phone would be built with the wireless charging feature or rely on an attached accessory.

Samsung's Galaxy S4 is expected to support the Qi wireless charging technology, which already is used by Nokia and other mobile vendors. The S4 may not include the capability itself but instead require … Read more

Have you noticed that your new smartphone charges up quicker than your old one? You might want to thank Qualcomm and the Quick Charge 1.0 technology, which Qualcomm today announced is in more than 70 Snapdragon-based smartphones and tablets.

The rapid-charging technology can charge your phone up to 40 percent faster than previous generations, Qualcomm claims.

Where other models might take up to 4 hours to charge, a Quick Charge could accomplish the job in under 3 hours. As of today, there are more than 70 devices with support for Quick Charge 1.0, with more on the way.… Read more

At CES last month I encountered Digital Innovations' ChargeDr, a small USB dongle that promised to do the seemingly impossible: boost the power output of a typical USB port, thus allowing it to charge an iPad (or other tablet).

I got it home, tested it, and discovered that, hey, it actually works! Technically speaking, there's no actual power boosting going on, but who am I to argue with this weird science? Without the dongle, my iPad says "not charging." With it: "charging."

And my tests bear out the claim. My iPad 3 went from 30 percent to 75 percent in about 2.5 hours. Not bad for a lowly USB port.… Read more

Tesla's CEO Elon Musk has become incensed over a news article critical of the all-electric car that was published in The New York Times last week.

"I do not think this is a he said, she said situation," Musk told Bloomberg West in an interview today. "It is really black and white. The facts are the facts."

The tussle got started after New York Times reporter John Broder wrote an article about taking the Tesla Model S out on a test drive in the East Coast's freezing weather. He claimed that the car couldn'… Read more

Months after Google began selling the LG-made Nexus 4 Android 4.2 smartphone, it (finally) has a wireless charger to offer as well.

The charging accessory, available in the Google Play store, resembles a sheared-off Nexus Q and costs $59.99.

Google's wireless charger, like most, relies on the Qi protocol of inductive charging. The upshot is that the charger will be able to power other smartphones using the same standard.

I personally think this is a hefty sticker price for an add-on that's long been underscored as part of the Nexus 4's key selling points. Even … Read more

Whether you think it's just a trendy party trick or the next feature we should all come to expect from high-end handsets, wireless charging is catching on and has been featured in a number of top-tier devices.

And while the future of its popularity still hangs in the air, we rounded up the best phones (in no particular order) that are available now and feature the technology. All these handsets, save for one Lumia, feature the capability natively and don't require a special phone case.

In addition, if you're looking at this list with envy while holding … Read more

Although wireless charging is creeping into the market (and already evolving), the technology is still absent in some of the most popular phones, including the Samsung Galaxy S3.

Initially, Samsung did mention a wireless charging kit that would be released following the launch of its flagship phone. But promises, promises -- Samsung's aftermarket kit never came to fruition.

Alas, the Internet has moved on, tech blogs are abuzz with rumors of wireless charging coming for the much-anticipated Galaxy S4.

Well, if you have an S3, and you're tired of waiting for the unicorn charging kit, there is a … Read more