The launch of the HTC 10 was pretty predictable, thanks to a mixture of leakers and HTC itself spilling the beans about every element of this new phone.
One thing I’d hoped was wrong was the lack of wireless charging, but sadly that didn’t come to pass. I’ve always assumed that HTC never puts the non-corded powering method on its phones as it makes its handsets out of mostly metal.
But in my HTC briefing, I was told by Darren Sng, head of global product marketing for HTC that this wasn’t the case:
“[The issues with] metal can be overcome, but that’s not the reason we haven’t done it [on the HTC 10]. Wireless charging is convenient, but we believe faster charging is better.”
Need for speed
Qualcomm has offered some proof of concept ideas in the past that could overcome the issue of metal blocking the wireless charging signal, so it seems that HTC could bring wireless charging to its phone should it want to.
Sng went on to say that the technology hasn’t realized the speeds that HTC would like, but when it manages to get to that point then ‘we’ll move on that’ – so basically, when wireless charging is fast enough then it’ll bring it to the market.
You could argue that this decision should be placed in the hands of the consumer, but adding in wireless charging to the HTC 10 would likely have seen it become even thicker, which would be an unnecessary design compromise.
That said, Samsung has offered both wireless charging standards in its Galaxy S phones for the last two years, and claims to have managed wireless speeds that are faster than some company’s walled charger methods – so perhaps it’s high time HTC joined the party too.
Watch our HTC 10 hands on video:
Source: techradar.com
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Understood. I feel basically the same way about fast charging. I rarely need to charge fast and at work I just toss my phone onto the charger rather than sitting in my pocket and I can pick it up to take a call or anything else. But at home, at night, having the ability to grab the phone off the valet and hit snooze w/o the wire knocking things or having an extra foot curled up and exposed is a huge help. It is just cleaner and I'd love to get a non-samsung phone w/ wireless charging.
I use it all the time and do not want to move to a phone without it. I can charge wirelessly at night or in the office and it significantly simplifies wire management since I can pick my phone up off the charger at night without unplugging it and without worrying about the cable knocking something over.
I miss having a HTC, they were great devices but recently they always seem to be lagging behind with the killer features. My Note for example has both fast charging and wireless charging. Why does one have to limit the other?!
Damn straight! I know even I brag I know things, but HTC has proven to know how to make the smart decision.
Thank you for that example and your time! I am an extremely tech savvy guy, yet I don't find wireless charging a must have or want have at all. I don't find it useful other than on my toothbrush. Something fishy about my hand touching the surface that has contact with battery….anyway, I don't think I would ever use it. When I put my phone to charge, I do just that and move on. The speed at which it charges is most important. So really, it's useless to have that feature take up space and bring costs up.
Take it from a high qualified electrical engineer, its not dangerous. Nick nailed the rest, one great application I have found is I have put a wireless charging pad under my centre console in the car, now I just chuck it in there and it charges and at home by the side of the bed I have a standard wired fast charger. Also it means USB ports on phones actually last the life of the phone too now since you don't have to pull/push it every single day.
You only need one or two of the wireless chargers. One by your bed, one at your desk. You just toss it on and don't have to try and manage the cords. This allows the charger to be integrated into a desk and means you can charge the phone easily whenever needed and does not remove the ability to bring a single wired charger with you on trips because no one is discussing getting rid of the ability to charge via wires.
Oh you totally got me with the night charging! Didn't visualize that lol! It's true! I recently bought an led lit micro USB cable that lights up at the end so I can figure how to plug it into the phone while all the lights are off. Yea! That is useful! And at night, I don't care if it's quick or regular charge anyway cuz I'm sleeping for 6-8 hrs so that's plenty to charge any phone. I just trust HTC for making the calls for me with features, as they've never let me down there was never anything that I've missed on an HTC that another phone had, maybe now this is the one feature, thanks to you lol. I am gonna miss the HTC awesome Gallery app, as it's apparently not included in 10. I absolutely HATE google pictures, as I have no clue what the hell it does with my pix, by default, it wants to make my private pix available to the entire world, so google can suck my HTC! Hopefully we can still ⬇ SD the gallery app via app store. Cheers to you my friend! Happy HighTechComputering!
I don't think wireless charging is useful at all, it's a gimmicks and it's unsafe. What fking surface do I put the phone onto then? How many y of those charging surfaces do I need around the house to make it make sense? Or do I have to drag it with me just to have the phone not plugged in, lame! I'd rather have everytuing HTC 10 offers than a lousy wireless charging. It's bull!
I'm managing with one. I usually leave it on my desk at my office and take it home for the weekends.
I thought it was a useless gimmick, but I wouldn't buy a phone without wireless charging now.
Why not have both? Samsung do
Very excellent points and example in the car. I think I was choosing to dismiss it because HTC has omitted it. That's very unintelligent of me, it really wouldn't hurt. I don't want to discredit my other points by not admitting this!!!
I agree with Darren. I would rather have fast charging than wireless charging. I don't really understand the appeal of wireless charging.
Agreed. I'd not use wireless charging if it was slower than plugged in charging. That's much more crucial.
Does the phone have a notification LED? If so, are the available colors just amber and green, or are other colors available too? Thanks!