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CES 2009: Wireless Charging Video Demo

One of the neat aspects to Palm's Pre announcement is that it works with a wireless charger called the Touchstone. Palm wasn't the only vendor offering conductive charging technology. Watch this demonstration of how it all works.

Here's a quick explanation of how conductive charging works. Your phone or other device has a chip inside it that is RF-based and communicates with the phone's power management software. When it comes near a charging coil, the chip tells the coil what its current charge level is and how much energy it needs to reach maximum power. The charging coil then provides the proper amount of power.

Both vendors I spoke with, eCoupled and PowerMat, said that the charging coils are broken into two categories. One is lower power for devices that require less than 100 watts (cell phones, MP3 players, etc.), and the other is for higher-power devices that require more than 100 watts (laptops).

If you place a smaller device on the higher-power charger, it won't work, because the system is smart enough to recognize that it would damage the device.

The charging coils are mostly built into mats, on which the electronic devices are placed. It also can be built into other surfaces, such as desks, tabletops, or countertops. This would allow you to charge devices by simply placing them on your desk.
This video below shows how it all works:

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