[Altocumulus]

It is an overhype according to me for 2 simple reasons.

1. Not all phones have wireless charging as standard. So to use this feature I have to change my phone just for this, that too in all probabilities an expensive one even when your existing phone is running absolutely fine.

2. Unless you have wireless Apple Car Play and Android Auto this feature has no purpose at all. None of the mass market cars have wireless ACP and AA. To use navigation and listen to music, I anyways have to connect my phone via USB cable and the phone anyways will get charged with the same. This makes wireless charging redundant.

[Kosfactor]

Convenient? Yes.

Now those who are used to a phone charging up in 15 minutes may find this a bit slower, but many phones are capable of really fast wireless charging as long as the charger plays along.

My wife uses a wireless charger auto-hold phone Mount, it costs INR 800 , it charges the Mi10 fast and does not heat up the phone either. It is powered by a Mi cigarette lighter charger which has fast charging. She needs navigation regularly and it's convenient without wires.

The OEM chargers should take into account phone being used for Android auto and Apple car play, so the heavy lifting may need some cooling while being charged. In our case only navigation and music is running so perhaps not much load.

[roamer012]

Choice - Wireless charging with one condition, carplay and android auto should also be wireless otherwise it is as useless as they get.

Below arguments are considering that you are using your phone either via bluetooth or wireless android auto / carplay

Why I prefer Wireless Charging in a vehicle:

1. If your battery is charged, you do not need to constantly keep your device plugged in to enjoy wireless connectivity with head unit.

2. Less Clutter. Not all cars have proper place for usb port and place holder for your mobile phone, in some cars this means the wire has to crisscross the gear shift area. This results in unnecessary safety hazard while shifting gear.

3. In continuation with above mentioned points, some cars do allow you to park your device along with the usb port inside a glove box or arm rest. Thus invariably you end up charging a device in closed spaces (Another hazard) and secondly while leaving the vehicle you might leave your device inside just like many complaint with push button start stop vehicles.

4. Wear and tear of charging port on device and the cable. While going wireless, one or rather two less things to worry about.

Also someone pointed about charging speed between wired and wireless setup, In this matter my only submission is - Now it is a known fact that the faster charging speeds are detrimental to battery health, so unless you are in a hurry, slow wireless charging is the way to go.

The above specially holds true if you migrate your work and home setup to wire less charging and then you are golden. I have two wireless chargers at home, one in common living area and second one in my bedroom, both wireless chargers allow for two phones to be charged simultaneously and similarly in car, your USB ports remain free to charge passengers' devices.

Personally I feel, wireless is the future. Just like I used to be wary of streaming services and used to carry my library offline, but slowly and surely I transitioned to streaming services. Similarly I used to feel that wireless charging is nothing but a convenience nobody asked for, however after using the technology, I enjoy the clutter free conveniences that the wireless charging brings to the table.

[SourPai]

I do not think it is overhyped. I think it is the future. Earlier we accept this, better will be the transition.

Internet online forums 10 years back had the same question. Is LAN better or should you have WiFi. And there are many posts talking about how LAN is the thing and how Wifi speeds suck and has many disadvantages. But look at where we are now!! LAN is probably still better now, but usability if Wifi is so much more

Many people talk about charging speeds. Agree it is slow. But is this a deal breaker? Not at all. Why do we expect the phone to juice up 60-70% in half hr drive? Or is it because we always enter the car with <30% charge?

We need to think of Wireless charing as top up charging. It allows us to do more topups during the day (due to convenience) than one single charge on wired connection, thereby eliminating the need to do one single 10 to 90% charge

I think this is one feature every manufacturer should offer in every car. And it is just a matter of time before this happens!

[Akshay6988]

Though my car has this wireless charging pad, there's no phone which has this feature in my family so it is not used much. I often place my wireless key fob (with cover) on this pad, house key and my phone too. Is it ok to place these things on the wireless charging pad ?
Fast charging USB ports are enough for me. Charges as fast as a conventional charger, so voted for the same.

[Axe77]

Originally Posted by GTO

Attachment 2143831

IMHO, wireless charging is seriously overhyped.
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Reasons:

• It’s faster! Like MUCH faster. Especially with the high powered USB ports seen in some new cars.

• Wireless charging makes the phone hot! Not the case with wired charging (at least not as much).

• Wired is cheaper.

• Wired charging = Wired Android Auto, which I have found to be quicker & more responsive than wireless Android Auto.

• Wireless charging isn’t compatible with all phones & hard cases.

• Try hard cornering with the phone lying flat. In some cars, my phone flew off and ended up in the driver / passenger footwell!

• I can use the phone even while its charging.

• Precautions such as not placing the smartkey or coins on the wireless charging pad.

Any other BHPians feel the same?

Completely agree with all the points above. I also use google maps a lot and prefer to have my phone securely on a phone mount to see this (of course with apple car play etc in cars this may work in conjunction with wireless, but still. G Maps also drains battery faster so I would always prefer the faster real time wired charging route.

Originally Posted by Mr.Boss

PS:
All my cars have 3 cable sets (Micro USB, C-type, lightening) and only one of the phone has wireless charging function.

Same with me. My car always has all three cables so I can charge a Jio dongle, my Apple phone as well as Android phone as needed. The USP port I use is itself a dual one so it can charge two devices at the same time.

My bike too has a phone mount with both cables and dual charging ports and I always carry my lightening as well as C type cables.

[haisaikat]

Wireless charging is inefficient and consumes more power overall to take the phone to the same chaging level to wired. However it is also easier on the battery thereby increasing its life. Another advantage of wireless charging is that power ports undergo less wear and tear as compared to wired and advantageous in cases of phones which share the power port with audio (eg: iPhone, although iPhones are built to last)

[anandhsub]

I neither have a phone which has wireless charging nor a car which supports it, but I would definitely like to have it, but ONLY if it comes with wireless Android auto as well, and is as reliable as the wired one.

The reason being, the only clutter at the front of my car right now is the charger and the cable as well as the dashboard mount.

I would love to get rid of all this and just place it on the pad.

[dipdawiz]

Since I got wireless charging in my car, I am hooked to it and use wireless charging for 90% of the time. Though use wired charging for Android Auto when I need constant gmap support. Else, my mobile's Bluetooth is on (for music) and placed either in cup holder or wireless charging place.

One of the important things I liked most about wireless charging is, it's clutter free. Now I do not like wires hanging around near dashboard or anywhere around drivers seat.

One thing that I really dislike is, wireless charging is not efficient charging option. But this is more of a mental-moral itch. Other points like slow charging or displaced while cornering or using phone while charging etc are non issue for me.

Two observations about the points you mentioned

Originally Posted by GTO

• It’s faster! Like MUCH faster. Especially with the high powered USB ports seen in some new cars.

Its not slow charging as such (at least in Seltos), it would be 10 watt charger and is sufficient to charge fast enough. And little slower charging rate extends your phone's battery life.

Originally Posted by GTO

• Wireless charging makes the phone hot! Not the case with wired charging (at least not as much).

Not true, I use a Samsung Galaxy S9 and it never heated when in wireless charging, even when kept for extended period of time. I was worried about the same, but used and observed for many times now and can say it does not heat up. Heating up of mobile could be an issue with battery or may happen due to misaligned charger and phone's charging coil (charging pad larger than phone). Indirectly a negative point for wireless charging though.

All in all, I am all in for wireless charging.

[Bhalla]

Wired USB chargers simply because of 2 reasons regarding my own experience.
1. Place where I live (Nova Scotia) is full of Valleys and Twisty roads. When driving around at the speeds of 40+ and phone is placed on wireless charger, it just fly away even on regular turns.
2. That wireless charger is not compatible with some of the covers/cases of phone. So you have to remove the cover/case of your phone before placing it on wireless charger if the cover you are using is not compatible with wireless charger.

[JoshMachine]

Does my car have the feature? No.
Do I have a phone which supports it? Yes.
Have I used/tried it in any other car? Yes.

Will I use it even if my car has the feature? Yes, maybe no.
Can I live without it today? Yes.

When will I start using it mainstream (given that the car also supports it, ofcourse)?
Only when I have the following:-

• Proper integration of charging dock with respect to the phone's head unit. No point in wireless charging, if one has to make extra effort/gets distracted for using android auto or Apple CarPlay via a separate mechanism

• Having a cradle to hold the phone while it is being charged

• The heating/thermal dissipation is taken care of properly (wireless charging is notorious for this)

Is it over-hyped as of today? Yes.

[Adam]

As of now none of my car have wireless charging though I have used it quite a few times on some cars.

I use wireless charging in my home and office. It feels more convenient for me as since I normally have large call volume in office hours , it is just convenient for me to keep the phone on a wireless charging mat rather than connecting and removing from cable frequently.

But In Car, its all about preference. I normally don't like wires or cable hanging out of my car ports, so in that sense I like wireless charging, But I totally agree that Wired Android Auto/ Apple car play is miles better than wireless, at-least in my personal experience. So as of now Wireless car charging is not a decision maker for my car purchases.

[jerrindanny]

I use a wired one as my daily method.

But if presented with wireless in the future would definitely prefer wireless with Wireless Android Auto present. But it is not a deal breaker when it comes to a new car but it would be a most welcome addition.

Reason, less crowd on my dashboard the better. I prefer less wires dangling out of the ports.

[INJAXN]

Voted Wireless charging.

Even if you do not use it today, you will be using it in the future for sure.
More and more smart phones are supporting wireless charging these days, it is very convenient also.

May be the tech is not as efficient today as it is with wire, but such technologies advance swiftly.

I saw in a famous tech reviewer's Youtube video where he was suggesting that like flagship smartphones do not come with charging brick, like there are no headphone jack in some phones now, there will be no port to plugin chargers also. Every thing will be wireless.

[kamilharis]

Voted for "Wired charging" considering the current scenario.

The primary reason being - My car or phone doesn't have that feature.

But speaking generally, wired chargers are leagues ahead of the wireless chargers as of now. Wireless charging technology has to improve at least 5x times to match the current wired technology.

Even though I don't have that feature in any of my devices, I have seen my close ones using it and they are not a big fan of that either.