> predicting high power draw and lots of heat, what is rumoured to have been the problem)

Or, if you're an induction cooktop manufacturer, a feature.

I'm highly amused that we've gone from large / heavy coil based transformer AC adaptors, affectionately known as wall-warts, to highly efficient tiny switch-mode electronics, just to jam a poorly wound and poorly aligned coil pair back in the circuit.

My phone has 15 watt Qi charging, how novel.

I'll stick to cables.

I don't understand why Apple won't make a charging mat that charge directly through the electrical contacts on MagSafe instead of relying on the induction method.

My guess would be that driving that much power through direct connectors would clash with their goal to make everything phone-related increasingly waterproof.

With the purely induction-based method, you can, say, have connectors poolside (assuming you've got long and suitably grounded cables) with no concern from errant splashes.

The phones are already waterproof with electrodes on the outside of the device. Charging ports are still the outside from a poolside perspective.

Magnetic Qu charging is already a standard, they can build off it. It supports plenty of existing chargers. They released it before MagSafe. MagSafe just makes it more efficient in a way that doesn’t require more power.

Waterproof charge electrodes are thing for a long time. I think Apple loves glass on phone back so they can't adopt it.

I work in metal fabrication, rarely took my last MacBook to work, but the micro fine metal follows me home and ultimately resulted in destruction of that laptop due to the magnets in the charge connector.

Apple's phones are too fragile for my liking too, after having ruined a few in this environment.

I liked using Apple's gear, but it's all too precious-jewelry like for me in this industry.

If Apple did a rugged phone with a 13500 mAh battery like my current daily driver I'd switch right back.

What phone do you use that is immune to metal filing dust?

Seems like anything with a speaker would succumb, and its more of a problem with the case you chose than the device.

Or anything with a magnet in it like hard drives or fans. I think working in a metallic dust environment is the problem

Desktop PCs don't seem to have many issues in this environment, but they're stuck at our work stations, phones tend to get carried in to the dustier parts of the workshop.

Ulefone Power Armor 13, one year in no issues. Occasional blow with low pressure high purity nitrogen out of a cryo tank we have at work for the laser cutter.

I couldn't agree more, but my main use-case for wireless charging is my desktop cradle. I keep my phone sitting in it during the day and it maintains 100% charge until I leave for the day.

I wouldn't try to do a deep charge from like 50% of something wirelessly... I've got better things to do!

Keeping the battery fully charged when you don't need to likely wears it out faster. 50% charged would be ideal for longevity, it seems.

Longevity? Pssh, these are Apple products! The hardware may last years, but Planned obsolescence is baked into the OS

Yeah, the only platform with 8+ years support definitely has planned obsolescence.

Isn’t phone 100% less than the actual 100% of the battery and has been for a long time? And is it really worse than doing more discharge cycles?

> My phone has 15 watt Qi charging, how novel.

Presumably an android phone (without magsafe)? My bedside charger is magsafe - it works very well and is one of those small things that works well and improves the experience.

There's a lot of stuff in the apple experience like this, that android users seem to scoff at - and then they try it and get hooked. I'm really glad Google is building their own phones and trying to push them as first class devices - iOS and iPhones desperately need strong competition.

The problem is when you're and Android user like me—my only criterion is that the phone can have its bootloader unlocked and has good custom ROM support. This prevents e-waste in the long run (past custom ROM or official OS support) since I'd be able to always find some use for the phone—be it desktop Linux or whatever (for phones like the OnePlus 6, this is why the device is so incredibly compelling to me).

Unfortunately iOS devices are totally uncompetitive in this important space.

iOS devices generally receive os support for 5 years past their last retail shelf date (longer than when you bought the phone!). There's a lot to criticize apple w/r/t locked down devices, but their support lifespan is pretty good!

> There's a lot to criticize apple w/r/t locked down devices, but their support lifespan is pretty good!

Compared to most smartphones, it's pretty good, but compared to PCs it's pretty bad.

Overall, it's a sad state of affairs imo. Why do phones become obsolete so quickly when other computers can be perfectly usable for well over 10 years?

> Why do phones become obsolete so quickly when other computers can be perfectly usable for well over 10 years?

I'll answer as if this is a real question: the overall rate and pervasiveness of change for that class of device.

I wonder how well a nearly 10 year old smartphone would work with modern software? Has anyone tried something like a Note 3 with updated software? It might not be terrible, tbh.

I recently had to use backup phone and used OnePlus One. Updated Lineage OS and it was… fine? The biggest problem for me has been battery life. I even tried to buy new battery but its hard to find ones that are not a bad scam.

It makes sense. The Snapdragon 800 and 801 weren't particularly slow. While cameras have certainly improved, even those weren't bad back then.

I suspect that 2022/2023 flagships would hold up really well 10 years from now.

I mean, you are talking about a general purpose computer + quite great camera + multimedia device that fits in your pocket and is battery powered. The only ones we get close to 10 years of review were pretty much experimental phones, only recently did we reach a much more slower pace of development where a current gen phone is not that different from a 3 years older gen one. Current ones use much more durable materials (steel frames, glass which is contrary to “breaking easily” is one of the hardest materials, thus being very scratch resistant), and better, more performant hardware that won’t become multiple times better year-on-again, so besides replacing the battery every 3-5 years, they might very well have a longer lifespan.

After that support cycle ends, the phone will rapidly become less and less useful. I could've bought a OnePlus One 8 years ago and still have Android 11 or 12 from custom ROM support, or some Linux distribution.

You could've, but have you held on to a phone that long? I suspect very few people have made the bridge from "could" to "have".

Between the

- battery lifespan (a technology that has tradeoffs between lifespan and capacity, such that manufacturers target 3 year lifecycles

- driver updates and baseband security (famously out of date on older android phones, no matter what "rom" you're running)

- ports lifecycles (the charger port has a finite lifecycle of plug cycles, also often cheaped out on a bit)

- lifespan of custom ROMs (frequently losing contributors and thus updates)

Is that phone really going to last 8 years of daily active use?

I think the answer is no. Apple has made a huge effort with the iphone 14 (not pro), to re-engineer the device to make it easier to repair and recycle. We'll see if that pays off, but I don't think holding on to a phone for 8 years is feasible or practical for enough people.

Yeah. It's rather ironic that Google's phones have the best support for de-googling and comes close to it being a first-class experience. Samsung and Huawei iirc are the worse ones, which tries what it can to stop you from unlocking and cripple the phone if you do.

American Samsung phones don't even let you unlock the bootloader. My friends have had to import Exynos-based Samsung phones to the US to truly own the hardware we bought.

You’d just find the hardware isn’t capable of what you want it to do, because it wasn’t designed to do that, it was designed to be a phone.

Or in other words, it’s all fun and games until the flash dies because you used up the lifetime writes.

Are you serious? Iphone devices easily live for 8+ years as is, android is unfortunately the platform where your perfectly fine phone can easily be “canceled” 1-2 years down the line on purely software grounds, even Samsung promises only 3, recently 4 years of support!

Oh, and don’t forget the reality of those “open” bootloaders, besides pixels almost all of them come with the huge caveat of wiping proprietary firmware ASAP, bringing your fancy camera’s quality to the dirt for example. So, do your phones really get a new life?

I am serious! Like I mentioned, I only care about the phone having an unlocked bootloader so I can install whatever software I desire, which means I don't really care about the camera or any of its features. I like to live a simple life. I have a nice Canon mirrorless camera for when I need good quality photography. As long as the phone can make calls, browse the web, send text messages and have a few messaging apps on a custom ROM (which most support), I'm plenty happy.

How is the experienced improved? No inserting the cable? I never knew this was a problem...

I didn't say it was a problem :) I said it's an improvement in the experience - and small, as I mentioned. Just one of the many small things i notice with iphones that make it hard to go back to android - and I have a pixel 6a for a work phone, so I'm aware of what the user story is like on that.

It's a small thing, but basically what I have is a magsafe stand next to my bed. I can lean over, with one hand, and rest the phone on the dock, and it latches into place. When I want the phone, I can gently tug on it - with one hand.

I have one on my desk as well. Place the phone down - never have to worry about aligning it with the qi pad, pick it up and it's been charging for however long i've been sitting.

>I can lean over, with one hand, and rest the phone on the dock, and it latches into place. When I want the phone, I can gently tug on it - with one hand.

I still don't get the hype. Like sure, its less effort, but the effort being discussed is such a trivial amount. It takes me as much effort to plug in my phone as it does to scratch my back or something. I don't even think about it. There's so many things I plug in over the course of modern life.

I move from home desk/bed, car, work and can charge my phone in a second.

As opposed to having to remember to bring a cable, reaching into my bag each time to get it, plugging it in on both ends etc.

That's closer to a minute each time.

You've already got a charging mat in those places, but didnt consider leaving a cable there?

> How is the experienced improved? No inserting the cable? I never knew this was a problem...

Try groggily inserting your cable into your phone at 2AM in the morning as you remember you need to charge it. Or you could just snap it to a magnetic charging surface and be done with it. MagSafe to lightning is what USB-C is to Micro USB: not necessary, but nicer.

I actually find it difficult sometimes to drag my iPhone 14 over my magsafe charger so it actually snaps to it in the dark. Easier for me to feel for the cable and lightning hole. Also you can use the phone while charging from a cable, but not very well while magsafe charging. Magsafe is fantastic for the car though.

I have a MagSafe stand charger, so it’s pretty easy. If it was flat, it wouldn’t work so well on my night stand.

I simply refuse to believe its hard to plug in a phone cable.

It isn't. It is just the difference between 5 seconds and 500 milliseconds.

I guess I don't lose sleep over that

I prefer MagSafe because the lightning sockets wear out after many years, and the cables fray, for a couple examples :)

News to me about the lightning sockets. I've been using them since the iphone 5 and just about every part of the phone other than the socket seems to break first. I solved cable fray by buying non apple lightning cables.

Cables wear out, I’ve yet to have a Qi pad die.

A tradeoff is that my cat walking on my nightstand can stop the phone from charging, but MagSafe would take care of that.

Funny that you mention this, because my first ever Qi pad (that I got as swag from a conference) died within days of use, possibly from overheating.

Anecdotal. My third party lightning cables last forever now that I no longer buy the apple branded ones with that crappy insulation that frays when you look at them wrong

Haven’t had insulation problems, it’s more that the pins on the lightning connector eventually wear and stop connecting consistently. For MFi cables I believe that part is supplied by Apple and will be the same across all brands. Most of mine have been Anker.

I’ve also had USB-C charging cables fail, and the springy charging pins on my Pebble weren’t great either. Lightning or USB ports on phones will also get gummed up with pocket lint. Not making a physical connection for charging just seems to work better long term.

Thats assuming the magsafe chargers also don't have their own issues crop up over time. The pin issue must be rare because I've never experienced it, or maybe I have enough chargers where my usage is distributed enough to never use them to that point. Plus it doesn't justify not having a port for other things that need a hardwired connection, like audio out. Bluetooth is not a replacement for 3.5mm.

On the nightstand, I have Pixel upright charger, it turns my phone into a clock (turns off-screen if it's dark). I can grab it and put back on effortlessly without looking for cable, plugging/unplugging, cleaning lint out of usb-c port.

On my office desk, I have another wireless charger, but this one is flat. Place my phone/headphone-case on it, and it's charging. If I need either - just pick it up and go. I don't have to think about plugging the cable and accidentally pulling it when I forget to unplug it.

That makes me charge my phone more often during the day (i.e. charge at 50% to 80%). During the night, it doesn't matter because the phone is slow charging to be at 100% around the time I wake rather than charge to a 100% and then sit at it the entire night.

If I do need a quick charge - I just unplug the wireless charger and charge it. Airport lounges have charging spots on tables - don't have to: a) trust their USB ports b) get cables and charger out of my bad. Cars have them.

Anyways, not going back to charging with wire anytime soon.

Maybe lint is a USB-C issue, I've never had to delint a lightning port and my pockets have a good deal of that stuff generally

I had the same issue on lightning port. Probably more often than on USB-C. Maybe it's just my pockets.

See my other comments here.

I'd definitely prefer to use Apple devices, but they don't work for me in my current circumstances.

* * *

The coils may not be perfectly aligned but they are still coupled efficiently with the near field.