Qi Charging and Samsung's GREED!

[Chapstickman]

Idk, this may be the wrong place for this but im' feeling hosed tommy! I was all excited on picking up a Note 3 for apparently the wrong reasons. I bought my gf a Nexus 5 when they released (nice guy i know) and was super jealous of the wireless charging. She picked up some super cheap ebay charging pad, mind you we have more nightstand than cable length so i was a bit jelly when fumbling around for my connection. The time for me to move on from iOS came and I humbly decided on the Note 3...I even waited for the S5 to launch just to be sure. So, i get my Note in the mail and go to toss it on my ladies charger.....and nothing. Read into it a bit (should have done first) and find its compatible with Qi, just not out of the box. So another forty bucks and i'll get a fancy new Note 3 Wireless Charging Cover. It's not necessarily a deal breaker at all, but the amount of effort Samsung went through so they could sell extra accessories reminds me of and almost solidifies all the hate for the company. So publically! Screw you Samsung! Its a seven hundred dollar phone and you can't add in this simple technologies. Like hey! Our phone is Bluetooth compatible...but you'll have to pay extra to make it work....FU SAMSUNG.....FU

 

[vshah]

sooo you didn't read the specs and now you're mad?

next time read the specs of what you are buying before you buy it.

 

[dawheat]

Considering the vast majority of phones don't either, it sounds pretty whiny. I'd be surprised if you'd need to really charge the battery more than once a day on a regular basis. This isn't the Nexus 5 battery life

 

[Chapstickman]

sooo you didn't read the specs and now you're mad?

next time read the specs of what you are buying before you buy it.

OooOOh:thumbsup:. Of course i read the specs man! How did i know it was possible!? The thing is i was under the assumption this would work out of the box. If you look at samsung site it makes no mention of the tech outside of the accessories page. GSM and phone arena also make no mention of it (don't hold it against them). But yea...its my fault and dawheat, it sure is whiny. Also i have no issues with the battery like my lady's N5 lol. Love the idea and the simplicity for charging.

Also, i think my point is Samsung's obvious greed. I mean really how much more would the device cost to ship with the door?

 

[Zaap]

Seriously, I get being disappointed by some things.... but this? I'm pretty sure Samsung has never advertised out of box wireless charging.

But they do give you the ability to add it..... those greedy bastards!!

 

[Zaap]

Also, i think my point is Samsung's obvious greed. I mean really how much more would the device cost to ship with the door?

In volume, an absolute s-load. Plus carriers ship the phone with their own logo branded door.

And this is nothing new. I'm not aware of any other Samsung Galaxy phone that came with wireless charging. Galaxy 1-4 or.Notes 1-2? Nope. So why are they suddenly greedy for not handing you that with the Note 3?

 

[Kelvrick]

You need a $40 one? I thought most people bought a $4 version off ebay.

 

[QueBert]

seems like a cash grab to me, but theres nothing wrong with that as Samsung's in business to make $$$. Though I somehow believe if this was Apple doing it for the iPhone 5s they'd get a shitstorm of hate for making wireless charging an extra accessories when they clearly could have built it into the phone. And it's not like it's expensive to implement in one, I mean my Nexus 4 came with the ability and it cost me all of like $250 new. I rather like how if you buy this charging case, you still have to buy the wireless charging pad (sold separately of course)

 

[thedosbox]

Ithe amount of effort Samsung went through so they could sell extra accessories

So why didn't you return the Note3 instead of succumbing to their tactics? By paying the extra 40 bucks, you've clearly indicated this is a good idea for them.

 

[Ravynmagi]

Seems weird Samsung still isn't support Qi on it's new phones. Nexus phones have had this feature for 2 years. What's the hold up Samsung? If Samsung is making these Qi back covers, they apparently know it's popular enough feature that they need to make an accessory for it. With all the stupid gimmicks Samsung puts in their phones, it'd be nice to put in a few that's actually useful.

 

[Dari]

Samsung is a morally and ethically questionable company but this is SOP for wireless charging. I was looking into purchasing a wireless charger recently as well but balked at the fact that I have to buy a cover, which may make my current back cover redundant. And I didn't want to pay extra. I may come back to it but not right now.

 

[Zaap]

Though I somehow believe if this was Apple doing it for the iPhone 5s...

Doing WHAT exactly? Not giving you all the iPhone accessories for free? Newsflash: they don't.

Man can people find some strange things to faux-outrage over.

 

[Bateluer]

http://thebrotherhoodofevilgeeks.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/comic-book-guy-worst-post-ever.jpg

 

[code65536]

/me wonders how much the Galaxies having removable back covers complicates integrating Qi.

 

[Zaap]

Samsung is a morally and ethically questionable company but this is SOP for wireless charging. I was looking into purchasing a wireless charger recently as well but balked at the fact that I have to buy a cover, which may make my current back cover redundant. And I didn't want to pay extra. I may come back to it but not right now.

Apparently, all you need is a wireless charging reciever that snaps in over the battery and fits right under the original back. They sell for around $12 on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/PThink-Ultra-t.../dp/B00GX00NE4

A minute's worth of research or hours worth of RAAAAAAGE!!!! I pick the later! Moar fun!

 

[Naer]

http://thebrotherhoodofevilgeeks.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/comic-book-guy-worst-post-ever.jpg

X2

 

[code65536]

Oh, and on a tangential note, how is that Qi charger that your gf got from eBay? I bought a couple of cheap eBay Qi chargers for my N5, but they're all of the lie-flat variety. This is the first I've seen a sloped one on eBay, so I'm curious about it...

How does it hold up the Nexus 5? Does it use magnets or something else? How easy is it to align the N5? Would you recommend it? Thanks.

 

[openwheel]

Oh my God, my brand new car does not include built in navigation system, how dare they make make pay extra for it.

 

[QueBert]

Oh my God, my brand new car does not include built in navigation system, how dare they make make pay extra for it.

Note 3 = BMW
Nexus 4/5 = Corolla

Buying a BMW I expect, I dunno, to have NAV built in. The Note 3's suppose to be this uber top of the line phone, yet it's lacking features found phones that cost less than half as much.

 

[Deeko]

It is crappy that manufacturers aren't including wireless charging built in, I agree...

 

[Zaap]

Note 3 = BMW
Nexus 4/5 = Corolla

Buying a BMW I expect, I dunno, to have NAV built in. The Note 3's suppose to be this uber top of the line phone, yet it's lacking features found phones that cost less than half as much.

The Note 3 does have NAV built in.

NAV is an option on most BMWs.

 

[Chocu1a]

Lets see, which flagships have wireless charging out of the box...
HTC One?- No
LG G2?- No (unless you are on Verizon, only one to have it out of box)
Samsung S5?- No
iPhone 5s?- No
Sony Z2?- No

So, how is Samsung the only greedy one??

 

[dawheat]

Just curious - what phones with removable backs come with wireless charging built in? Since I'd guess it needs to sit between the battery and outer shell, it's one thing for it to be built into a nonremovable back, but with Samsung phones, you'd need to add it between the battery and outer removable shell that is easy to remove without damaging anything.

So having it built into the removable back is the obvious way, but it adds noticable thickness to the phone. Now that may be a tradeoff some may accept, but others wouldn't like. I know the wireless enabled S-View case is substantially thicker than the stock phone.

 

[notposting]

Just curious - what phones with removable backs come with wireless charging built in? Since I'd guess it needs to sit between the battery and outer shell, it's one thing for it to be built into a nonremovable back, but with Samsung phones, you'd need to add it between the battery and outer removable shell that is easy to remove without damaging anything.

So having it built into the removable back is the obvious way, but it adds noticable thickness to the phone. Now that may be a tradeoff some may accept, but others wouldn't like. I know the wireless enabled S-View case is substantially thicker than the stock phone.

As for removable covers, I think the Lumia 822 does, and I don't believe it adds any thickness (not a flagship level or particularly thin phone though). But for thickness it doesn't really need to add anything. The Lumia 928 has it, and is thinner than the baseline 920. The 925 has the pogo pin style and is even thinner, but some users have successfully installed the charging coil with no ill effect. The AT&T version of the 1520 removed Qi charging in favor of PMA pins and didn't get any thinner (again, it has been successfully rigged up with internal Qi, though the bastards also cut the memory size).

Here in the US I think the carriers probably have a lot more say over whether it's included than the manufacturers do. Add in that it isn't decided what standard will win out in the end, and it's no surprise it hasn't been included in all phones yet.

(I love it, btw -- zee future is here! )

 

[dawheat]

As for removable covers, I think the Lumia 822 does, and I don't believe it adds any thickness (not a flagship level or particularly thin phone though). But for thickness it doesn't really need to add anything. The Lumia 928 has it, and is thinner than the baseline 920. The 925 has the pogo pin style and is even thinner, but some users have successfully installed the charging coil with no ill effect. The AT&T version of the 1520 removed Qi charging in favor of PMA pins and didn't get any thinner (again, it has been successfully rigged up with internal Qi, though the bastards also cut the memory size).

Here in the US I think the carriers probably have a lot more say over whether it's included than the manufacturers do. Add in that it isn't decided what standard will win out in the end, and it's no surprise it hasn't been included in all phones yet.

(I love it, btw -- zee future is here! )

I agree that it can be done in a thin phone with a non-removable back (see G2), but Nokia IMO isn't a great example.

The 928 is 10.1mm thick while the S4 is 7.9mm thick. The S4 with the wireless charging cover is 9.7mm thick. The 822 with the removable back is 11.2mm thick which IMO isn't really comparable (over 40% thicker than the S4).

So IMO my question still holds about thin phones with removable backs - Samsung for a while obviously worked hard to make their flagship phones at thin as possible - partially to offset their growing size. So clearly they could add wireless charging into the back cover, but at a cost of nearly 23% greater thickness.

Frankly I'd take my current Note 3 form factor over one 20% thicker to gain wireless charging, especially since I don't need to charge it more than overnight.