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LG Wireless Charging Pad gives your phone a wireless battery boost

We've got a soft spot for wireless charging, because it's a properly futuristic technology, like lightsabres and hoverboards. That's why we're happy to see the LG Wireless Charging Pad.

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Richard Trenholm Former Movie and TV Senior Editor
Richard Trenholm was CNET's film and TV editor, covering the big screen, small screen and streaming. A member of the Film Critic's Circle, he's covered technology and culture from London's tech scene to Europe's refugee camps to the Sundance film festival.
Expertise Films, TV, Movies, Television, Technology
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Richard Trenholm
2 min read
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We've got a soft spot for wireless charging, because it's a properly futuristic technology, like lightsabres and hoverboards. That's why we're happy to see the freshly unveiled LG Wireless Charging Pad.

The Wireless Charging Pad allows you to simply dump your LG phone onto the mat, and it will start charging -- without plugging a cable into the handset. A light on the mat flashes green when charging and stays green when charging's finished, so you shouldn't waste electricity by continuing to charge a full device.

Pay attention -- here comes the science. Wireless charging involves inductive coupling, which transfers electricity through the air without the aid of wires. You simply drop your phone anywhere onto the charging mat, and it sucks up juice from the mat's electromagnetic field without needing to be physically connected. The advantage is that you can drop your phone on any mat, without needing to remember a charger or worry about having the correctly shaped connector on the end of the cable.

There are some problems, though. For a start, nobody owns a Wireless Charging Pad yet, so the dream of everybody plonking their phones onto one whenever they need a boost is some way off. Wireless charging is also slower than wired charging.

But the main problem has at least been addressed by LG. Existing wireless chargers suffer because the technology isn't built into your phone, so you usually need to put a case on your blower to complete the charging circuit. By building the juice-collecting part into the phone itself, LG handsets could be charged anywhere and you'd still have the freedom to choose your own case. If your housemates, significant others, or domestic staff all have LG phones. there'd never be any squabbling over cables ever again.