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Imagine never again having that frantic feeling that your smartphone battery is about to die.
Amazingly, charging your phone may soon be a thing of the past:
Technology companies are developing a way for your gadgets to power up
while they're sitting in your pocket.
By converting radio waves into
battery-replenishing power, smartphones equipped with special receivers
can literally pull energy right out of the air.
It's not far-off in the future stuff -- the technology is making its way to the real world in a matter of months.
Companies like Energous (WATT),
Nikola Labs and a small handful of others
have different ways to accomplish that, but their technology essentially works like this: Special antennas focus cellular and Wi-Fi signals into a pocket of low-powered energy around the back of your phone. A receiver on your phone then converts that radio energy into DC power that can charge the battery.
have different ways to accomplish that, but their technology essentially works like this: Special antennas focus cellular and Wi-Fi signals into a pocket of low-powered energy around the back of your phone. A receiver on your phone then converts that radio energy into DC power that can charge the battery.
Wireless charging technology has existed for years in
the form of power mats, pads and even Ikea furniture. But you need to
keep your phone on the pad in order to charge it, making it only
slightly more convenient and aesthetically pleasing than plugging it
into the wall.
Long-distance wireless charging was long thought
to be too dangerous. Walk between your phone and the charger, and you
were likely to get zapped.
But by harnessing the energy that is
already being sent to and from your phone -- radio signals -- you can
charge your phone at a distance without worrying about being fried in
the process.
Energous plans on releasing wireless chargers and phone cases in late
2016 that will let you charge your phone at a distance of up to 20 feet.
The company demonstrated the technology at this year's Consumer
Electronics Show in Las Vegas, winning two "Best in Show" awards and
three other honors.
At a distance of up to five feet, the
company's transmitters charge phones at the same speed as a wall
charger. Up to 10 feet, the speed is reduced to USB-charging levels. And
up to 15 feet, your battery will charge at a "trickle."
But
what makes Energous particularly compelling is that it claims to have
signed a commitment with a "top tier" tech company that will build the
wireless receivers right into the gadgets themselves (no case needed).
Energous says that its nondisclosure agreement prevents it from naming
the company
