Wirelessly charge these Logitech mice with your mouse pad
The new Powerplay wireless charging system will cost $99.99 when it's available in August, while two new mice that work with it will cost $99.99 and $149.99, beginning in June.
The Logitech Powerplay mouse pad will wirelessly charge two new mice from the company, the G903 and G703.
What's the fastest way to charge your wireless mouse? Through a wireless charging mouse pad, of course.
At least, that's Logitech's theory. The company on Monday unveiled its new Logitech G Powerplay system that will wirelessly charge two new gaming mice, the Logitech G903 and G703 Lightspeed Wireless Gaming mice, while you're still using them.
The company said the products are the result of more than four years of R&D to "make the dream of high performance wireless gaming a reality." The devices use Logitech's proprietary Lightspeed charging technology, which it says has a signal strength of up to 16 times higher than the competition, as well as features that help with interference.
"Our experience is that batteries only die when you're right in the middle of a raid or something, and nobody wants to stop gaming to charge," Chris Pate, senior product manager of gaming at Logitech said in a blog post. "At Logitech G, if we can't find an existing technology that does what we want, we figure out how to make something that does."
The announcement comes the gaming industry and press have gathered in Los Angeles for the E3 conference. It's here that companies such as Microsoft and Sony show off their news devices and games. Logitech's news also comes as wireless charging becomes more popular. Devices like Samsung's new Galaxy S8 come with the technology. The lone holdout remains Apple, though there's hope wireless charging will be a feature of the upcoming iPhone 8.
Logitech created its own wireless charging technology because it found other offerings on the market weren't ideal for gaming, Pate said. The rivals require precise placement and can't deliver a charge when the device is moving. They also are often "kind of thick" at 1cm to 2cm in some cases, he said.
By comparison, the Powerplay charging pad is only 2mm thick. The pad creates an electromagnetic energy field over a large surface area so the mouse can be moved around. "It's designed to keep charging even through high-speed flick shots or lifting and repositioning," Pate said.
The G903 and G703 mice will ship at the end of June and will cost $149.99 and $99.99, respectively. Powerplay will ship in August and will cost $99.99.