I have been hearing about the Powermat quite a bit here lately. It is basically a charging station for three devices that charges the devices through inductance. That in itself is cool. The problem that I have is that everyone is propagating thier marketing slogan of “wireless” charging. Firstly, there is the power adapter for the mat itself that must plug in between the mat and the outlet. Okay, so you have POTENTIALLY gone down from three wires to one. That’s GREAT! Seriously, I’m not even being sarcastic here. A device management system that reduces the spaghetti piles around my house might be worth it. But it doesn’t eliminate cables. Hell, the AC adapter for it has to go all the way to where the device must be set down.

That brings me to point two: they make it sound as if it makes charging it so much more convenient. Look, if I could use my iPod while it charged and not be bothered by a tethered cord, this thing would be worth its weight in gold. But I can’t. If anything, this device would inconvenience me MORE. Right now I am typing this rant on my iPod while in bed next to my sleeping wife. It’s damned convenient, I would say. If my battery were to get low, I plug in my bedside AC adapter and continue on my merry way. I couldn’t do that with the Powermat. Well, I could if I wanted to hunch over the bedside table. I could also listen to music. But the point is that it would be an inconvenience when I do most of my charging. And another inconvenience is that additional case or adapter I would need to use it.

And now we come to the final point: the adapter necessary for the Powermat to work. Devices are not yet built with inductance coils already in place to charge them (with the notable exception of a pricey Dell laptop). You are getting rid of three long cables for a kit of inductance coil dongles. I understand that these come in a nifty case, though. That’s good, because I didn’t want to have anything bulky in the way or small enough to lose. Now I have both and that nulls each other out, right? Alternatively, you could pay them MORE money for special cases for COMMON devices so you don’t have to keep up with the dongles (at least not the ones they offer a case for).

Oddly enough, these are only issues I have with how it is being sold. I actually DO want one as it WOULD reduce some cable issues for cell phones and cameras. I wouldn’t want it as an iPhone or iPod accessory, but that is because I use my iPod heavily. Those who put theirs down for the night to charge could consider it, though.

Well, I feel so much better to have shared this little frustration with you.

Have fun!
-Mike