Our EXCLUSIVE VID of MIRACLE TECH: Charge your phone in 16 SECONDS – WIRELESSLY

At the CES gadget show, the news wizards of the BBC managed somehow to obtain "an exclusive look"* at a miraculous new technology which promises to allow an ordinary Samsung smartphone to be fully charged up** in "less time than it takes to boil a kettle". "I've just been witness to what feels like a modern-day technological …

[Destroy All Monsters]

BZZZZT!

Energy density of a low-end battery: 360 kJ/kg

Mass of a battery 100g => 36kJ in that battery

Charging time: 60s => 600W go through the wireless interface?

[Message From A Self-Destructing Turnip]

Re: BZZZZT!

You raise an interesting point though have missed a couple of details. The BBC exclusive tech is not wireless, though the El-Reg battery swap method is. Also the energy density of the new battery tech is less than standard batteries, the demo device is only 900mAh and charges at 40 amps via some hefty contacts on the back of the phone. Larger capacity batteries will take longer to charge Asuming a standard 4.2V battery voltage power is 180W, wireless tech could never hope to deliver this amount of power, which is what rang alarm bells for me.

[apraetor]

Re: BZZZZT!

Nah! My microwave oven can deliver 1500 Watts, that should charge it plenty fast!

[monkeyfish]

Re: BZZZZT!

Are you sure? It might use 1500W, but I doubt it's delivering it.

[Anonymous Coward]

C'mon El Reg, play fair.

As an ex-Auntie staffer I'm more than happy to stick the boot in, but the actual article seems fair if a bit dumbed down as is normal for mass media.

"The BBC is the first to have been shown the new kit, apart from tech industry executives who had to sign non-disclosure agreements.

It's not something that can be retrofitted to existing devices, since most phones would be fried by the 40 amps of electricity the current version of the charger supplies.

It also involves using a completely new type of battery, which contains specially synthesised organic molecules.

"We have reactions in the battery that are non-traditional reactions that allow us to charge very fast, moving ions from an anode to a cathode at a speed that was not possible before we had these materials," explains Doron Myersdorf, the company's chief executive."

[apraetor]

Re: C'mon El Reg, play fair.

And you think the reason for all the secrecy ISN'T because they want to sell their hushed-up technology for a fat payday before the cellphone maker who wins the auction realizes the tech is a bunch of nonsense?

[Don The Elder]

Maybe not a battery

A lot of the early Christmas-toy helicopters used capacitors instead of batteries. You charge quickly at a high voltage, discharge at a low voltage for longer flight. Haven't checked on them for donkeys' years.

[John Brown (no body)]

Re: Maybe not a battery

"A lot of the early Christmas-toy helicopters used capacitors instead of batteries. "

Anyone remember Corgi Electro Rockets or Hot Wheels Sizzlers? Fast charge electric cars for use on your Corgi or Hot Wheels tracks. That would have been in the 70's when they charged in 60 seconds from a battery operated charging station. I suspect they used capacitors rather than actual NiCd.

[itzman]

Re: Maybe not a battery

You can if you dont mind being unkind charge a NicD fully in 5-10 minutes

You can discharge on in under a minute

[Richard 12]

Re: Maybe not a battery

You can discharge a NiCad in mere seconds.

You don't get to use it again, but by Jove it's exciting!

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Maybe not a battery

Early lithium batteries could be discharged pretty quickly too. I remember being told of how, in a company that was working on them, a draughtsman walked into an engineering office, and then brought out a caliper to measure the length of a C cell. Someone shouted to him to stop, and all the engineers dived under tables.

[Timbo]

Great vid...

I've been doing this for about 3 years - I got a Sammy S2, that came with a battery and I got a 2nd battery, that is easily recharged via a Yiboyuan wall-wart that has a cut-out on the front side for the battery to physically connect to (and it has a USB outlet on the top too). So, a battery in the phone and the 2nd one in my pocket, if the 1st gets low....saved me lots of pain when I've had to use wifi and/or bluetooth and drained the battery and couldn't find a charging point ;)

[Charles 9]

Re: Great vid...

These days, I use external USB battery packs. They're not constrained by the size of the phone (meaning you now have bricks in the neighborhood of 20Ah) and, best of all, don't require the phone to be turned off to use.

[cambsukguy]

Re: Great vid...

And you can charge two devices at the same time from one block. A couple of these kept me from having to pay high prices to recharge from the mains for several weeks when I was very away - savings paid for the blocks almost.

Still have them and they make long days away or outside much less stressful especially if navigation is required, and it usually is.

Also useful if one of you shares their internet with the other because one of you is lacking a decent connection - a real battery sucker that, almost as bad as WhatsApp.

[Geoff Campbell]

Re: Great vid...

Wireless charging, here. Qi wireless charging pads are about £6 each, so I have one in any location I'm likely to be spending any significant time, including the guts of one stuck to the underside of the mobile phone tray in my car.

So, whenever I put my phone down for any length of time, it's charging. I can't remember the last time that battery life was an issue for me.

GJC

[Bloakey1]

Re: Great vid...

"These days, I use external USB battery packs. They're not constrained by the size of the phone (meaning you now have bricks in the neighborhood of 20Ah) and, best of all, don't require the phone to be turned off to use."

I do the same and given that I have lots of sun out here I also use solar panels to charge various battery doo dahs.

[Phrontis]

Always have a couple of spare batteries with me wrapped together in cling film. Would never ever consider a phone without an easily replaceable battery and as I have used Windows phones since Adam was a lad, it's a Samsung Ativ S for me.

[John Brown (no body)]

16 seconds is impressive...

...but how long is it before the phone is usable after the OEM logo appears?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: 16 seconds is impressive...

My thoughts exactly - at the 16 second mark the phone in El Reg's vid is no more useful than one with a flat battery.

[phil dude]

here in the USA...

Although there is a an enormous selection of "extra" external battery type devices (Mine is 22Wh) , you can buy actually AA-2-$Phone adapters. I have never seen them in the UK, but they sell them in Walgreens/CVS.

VERY useful for festivals where finding a wall plug is, well, not the point...;-)

P.

[JeffyPoooh]

Re: here in the USA...

Why bother with the 2x AA type when the Li-ion USB battery bricks (18650 cell based) are now showing up in the Dollarama Stores for $3 Cdn?

= About $2.50 US.

[Anonymous Coward]

Motorola startac

Just adding the piggyback battery took less time than that. Of course that doubled the size of the phone.

[Eponymous Cowherd]

Comments

The really odd thing about that article is the comments section. who'd have thought phone batteries could be so contraversial.

I suspect it was the Beeb comnentards attempting to comment on more newsworthy items. The BBC does tend to restrict commenting to only the more banal articles.

[Rhomboid]

This is probably the only device I've seen that could inspire a rush of bored housewives to start tinkering with electronics at hacker spaces. Their the only demographic that can flatten batteries as fast as blackberry users.

On a side note, i find it odd that i haven't seen any write ups on this snazzy bit of IOT tech: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJklHwoYgBQ

[ecofeco]

You've got it all wrong!

The whole point of modern retail electronics is to make everything MORE complicated and claim technological breakthroughs!

THAT'S how you skim the punters.

After all, going to 11 is obviously better than 10!

[Destroy All Monsters]

Charlie Commento, oh oh!

If suspect a few Reg-critical commentariat contributions as to the general tone of the Reg-issued article felt as being needlessly dismissive of the BBC contribution to general consumer device knowledge fell under the wrath of a passing moderator?

I am not sure how to feel about this?

[YetAnotherLocksmith]

Very witty.

Ah, a return to some of the snark and sarcasm of yesterday! :-)

[Anonymous Coward]

Replaceable battery

Android phones could use a good power-off reboot once or twice a day.

Troll -^ ;-)

[Alan Denman]

Just use Sanyo Nicads !

Yep, very old tech that take a fast charge hit too.

BTW Portable chargers in your pants are a real fire and health hazard. It is a dangerous solution to irresponsible non removable battery technology.

[Lord Elpuss]

Re: Just use Sanyo Nicads !

"Dangerous solution to irresponsible non removable battery technology"

Hyperbole much?

[Alan Denman]

And maybe Nicads too ?

"The company also showed off a 2,000mAh battery, which took three minutes to recharge, but the phone that housed it had been made 5mm (0.2in) thicker than normal to accommodate its girth."

Well it is sounding much like much of that old tech revamped.

I bet another 5mm would get you a 7500mah Zerolemon anyway.

[eJ2095]

Nokia 3210

when is used to say low batt and u usualy had a week to find your charger...

And i also made phone calls on it