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Almost Magical: Wireless Charging to Get New App in Wearables
Wearable Tech World Feature Article
September 10, 2014
Almost Magical: Wireless Charging to Get New App in Wearables
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By Steve Anderson
Contributing TMCnet Writer

While many common devices have boasted a certain amount of wireless functionality for some time now, most devices aren't truly wireless. Indeed, one wire has remained an important part of the operation: the wire leading to an electrical outlet or similar plug to recharge the device in question. Wireless charging systems, meanwhile, have led to truly wireless devices, and though we're only just starting to see such technology, it's making rapid gains, as is evident from the iNPOFi wireless power technology from Kirk H&J Corporation, about to get an exhibition of its own soon.


With an iNPOFi wireless charging system, the user can “drop & charge” a device, just dropping a device onto a charging station and allowing it to recharge from there. By connecting such a system to a wearable device, it improves the overall convenience of the product by allowing users to simply remove the item in question and set it on a charging station.

That by itself is a noteworthy advance, but the company plans to introduce a couple of products along with this new development: the EZ Drop & Charge Omni PowerSkn, and the EZ Drop & Charge Omni PowerPack. With the PowerSkn, the drop and charge technology becomes available to most any USB-capable phone, allowing users to simply cover the device with the PowerSkn, and place the device out for recharging. The PowerPack, meanwhile, will allow a device to recharge by both wireless and wired connections, so that whatever is needed is immediately on hand.

The iNPOFi product line, at last report, both offers zero radiation and a low heat feature, helping to ensure the overall safety of the wireless charging system. Kirk H&J Corporation's CEO, Tao Jing, offered up some commentary around the release, saying “We are pleased to be adding EZ 'Drop & Charge' line successfully to extend our award-winning wireless charging product family. Furthermore, we are proud of the application of iNPOFi wireless power technology into smart portable devices -- 'wearable', thanks to iNPOFi's highly integrated, small, lightweight and high-efficient IC to make this implementation possible.”

For wearable technology, a wireless charging system is a terrific fit. Being able to simply take off the device of choice and lay it on a charger — or in the case of larger garments, being able to hang it up near a wireless charger — is a terrific alternative to having to plug the device directly into a socket by means of some kind of cable. Wireless charging is much less cumbersome, though it comes with some risks. Unless it's a low-heat sort of system, it's putting an unusual amount of heat near fabric, and most every kind of fabric is flammable to at least some degree. No one wants to hang a valuable shirt with added connectivity features, for example, next to a heat source, only to have it scorch or potentially burn outright; that kind of thing means the loss of a valuable investment, and potentially more. Still, a solution like Drop & Charge should go a long way toward fixing something like that, and with the other wireless chargers around, it's likely to have some serious competition before too much longer.

It's all too likely, given the rise of wearable tech, that we'll all have to consider just how to recharge these devices before too much longer. But with tools like iNPOFi around, we may have a useful new way to do the job, and that's a welcome development in its own right.


 

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