By Gregg Stebben, Men’s Health
WASHINGTON — Battery power is where the next big breakthroughs in consumer technology are showing up.
Nobody likes waiting for a phone to recharge, but there’s a new charger that can give you 6 to 8 hours of talk time on a 15-minute charge.
Sorry, iPhone owners; this one is not for you. It works with one of HTC’s select Android phones or a new Motorola Turbo or are planning to get the new Nexus 6 phone from Google and Motorola.
For anyone who has sat in the car or at a Starbucks for an hour simply waiting to get a decent charge on their phone, this is a huge breakthrough.
If your phone or tablet doesn’t have this rapid-charging capability built in, you can also find portable batteries that offer similar speeds.
Here’s one example.
Before buying one of these portable rapid-charging batteries, make sure you read online reviews carefully to make sure the product you have chosen really lives up to the promise.
Wireless charging mats for phones
Many phones can charge by simply setting them on a charger mat, with no need to plug anything into the phone.
This technology has been around for awhile, and I’m not sure why it hasn’t caught on. The benefits are clear: Instead of fumbling to get a tiny awkward plug into a tiny awkward slot on your phone, you simply throw your Qi-enabled phone onto a Qi-enabled mat or stand, and that’s all it takes to start charging.
I have been using one of these stands for quite a while on my desk, and in addition to having a phone that is always charged, the stand has also trained me to put the phone on the stand instead of just tossing it on my desk.
Previously, my phone would often get buried under a mess of papers and gadgets and cables. (Yeah, I know — cleaning my desk would be another solution to this problem, but it’s not a solution I enthusiastically embrace.)
Many Android phones come Qi-enabled right from the factory. For other phones, including many iPhones, you can buy a Qi-enabled case. Again, read online reviews carefully.
Home appliances that will also charge your phone — from across the room
Yes, your refrigerator will soon charge your phone, even while your phone is sitting on the kitchen counter.
Crazy, right? Charging your phone even when the charger is all the way across the room? But it’s true, and it’s coming to a refrigerator or other home appliance near you soon.
This technology is exciting in workplaces. Once properly installed, it could eliminate dead or dying batteries for an entire office staff.
The downside, of course, is that it will be much harder to dodge that call from your boss with the old “My phone went dead” excuse.
If you want to know more about this new form of charging, ComputerWorld does a great job of explaining.
Wireless speakers that can go anywhere, and also charge your phone
This seems like old news today, but a few years ago it was a remarkable idea. Presumably, battery-powered TVs will follow.
By now, battery-powered wireless speakers from companies such as Nye, Wren and ECOXGEAR that connect to your phone via Bluetooth and/or NFC seem like old news.
The beauty of these speakers, of course, is that with battery power you can literally take them anywhere — in the yard, on the boat, out camping.
Meanwhile, one of the most exciting features of these battery-powered wireless speakers is often hidden in the back: It’s a USB port that let’s you plug in a cable and charge your phone while wirelessly playing tunes, no matter how far out in the woods you may be.
More home appliances with rechargeable batteries
Half the time you spend vacuuming is spent finding a new place to plug in the vacuum — a battery- powered vac fixes that problem.
From personal experience, I can tell you that once you can concentrate of vacuuming the floor instead of worrying about the cord, vacuuming gets done a whole faster.
Battery-powered vehicles
Lots has already been written about the Prius, the Tesla and other electric and hybrid cars, but what about other vehicles that benefit from breakthroughs in battery technology?
Recently I have taken electric bikes, such as the Alva from a2b, and scooters, such as the M3 from EcoReco, on extended test drives, and both are impressive, with ranges between 20 and 40 miles.
While EcoReco brags that their scooters will go 500 miles on $1 worth of electricity, an electric bike will also let you pedal, thus increasing your battery range and also letting you get a workout by just turning off the electric motor or pedaling while also using the motor.
With top speeds of around 24 mph for each, these are affordable and portable electric vehicles that are commute-worthy for many who live in an urban environment; this includes my wife, Jody, who frequently gets to work on a scooter.
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