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Review: Aircharge Qi wireless charging case for iPhone 6 (and 5/5s)

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As a founding member of the Wires Are Evil club, I’ve been waiting impatiently for wide-area wireless charging, where any device on a desk or within a certain area of a room is wirelessly charged. That still seems a way off yet.

A good halfway house would be inductive charging powerful enough to work through the thickness of a desk, so your charging pads sit out of sight on the underside of the desk and your devices charge as soon as you put them down on the right place on the desk. Sadly today’s wireless charging standards are too weedy to work through even the thinnest of desks.

If you want wireless charging today, then, you’re going to have to have a visible wire to a charging pad, and place your device on that. Apple has so far limited wireless charging to the Apple Watch, but if you want it for your iPhone, you can buy a wireless charging case that allows you to use any compatible wireless charging pad. We’ve reviewed a number of these over the years, and I thought it was about time to try one for the iPhone 6

Look & feel

The Aircharge Wireless Charging Case for the iPhone 6 (to give it its full, rather lengthy, name) looks like a relatively standard ABS plastic case. From the front of the phone, there’s nothing to suggest it’s in any way different from a hundred other plastic cases out there bar the fact that it has a little extra depth at the bottom.

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No one would describe it as having a premium look or feel, but neither does it feel especially cheap by plastic case standards. It’s solid and unobtrusive.

It does also add a little thickness to the phone, though nothing like as much as early incarnations of wireless charging cases did.

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In use

The case has two parts: the main which extends to just above the top of the iPhone screen, and a ‘cap’ that clips in to close the case. You slide the phone into the case, docking with the Lightning plug embedded in the bottom, than snap the top cap in place.

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That done, your iPhone can now be placed on any Qi-compatible wireless charging mat and it will automatically charge. There’s no app needed: as far as the iPhone is concerned, it has just been plugged into a standard Lightning cable.

I tested it with Aircharge’s own charging pad. Positioning isn’t crucial – so long as the case is somewhere on the pad, the phone charges. The pad displays a green LED when in standby, and turns blue when in use. All very simple.

The charge rate is slower than plugging directly into a Lightning cable, but in my testing it kept the phone topped up and did a full charge overnight.

There are a couple of usability issues. First, the edge of the casing is quite thick. Good for protection, not quite so good for operating the buttons. The power and volume buttons are just slightly awkward, while using the mute switch is really quite fiddly. I would say the buttons are no big deal, but you’d quickly find it annoying if you use the mute switch frequently.

Second, while putting the phone into the case is simple, removing it is just a touch fiddlier. You need to get a fingernail into the gap between the two pieces to pull them apart. That done, it slides apart easily.

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Conclusions

Wireless chargers aren’t, in my view, any neater than a wired dock. You’ve still got a visible wire, and you still have to put your phone in the right place.

But it is a little slicker. I think the real benefit is for someone who is office-based but spends a lot of time away from their desk. If you keep your phone on charge when you’re sitting at your desk, then there’s a minor hassle involved in plugging/unplugging each time; simply putting your phone down on the pad and picking it up again is a worthwhile improvement.

For those people, if you can live with the plastic case, I think Aircharge will remove some of those minor everyday hassles and justify the $80-ish all-in cost of case plus pad.

The Aircharge Wireless Charging Case for the iPhone 6 costs $37.49 – or $30.99 for the iPhone 5/5S version. The Aircharge Qi Travel Charging Pad costs $43.49. All are available from MobileFun. There are a wide range of compatible charging pads available on Amazon.

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Comments

  1. monty72 - 9 years ago

    Utterly pointless, unless cafes, bars, restaurants etc all start building them into tables. There’s probably a good reason why Apple hasn’t bothered with it.

  2. Andrew Messenger - 9 years ago

    after my experience with the iQi i’m all set. if Apple introduces some kind of wireless charging that will be the first time I bother with it.

  3. Rich Davis (@RichDavis9) - 9 years ago

    As much as I hate to be the bearer or bad news, you haven’t removed the wire, what’s that wire sticking from the charging device you put the iPhone on? A wire. You didn’t get rid of the wire. you just bought another device that instead of sticking the wire directly in the iPhone.

    What makes sense for ME, is getting the Magic Feet charging station and having that recharge an iPhone, Magic Mouse, Wireless Keyboard and the actually eliminates some wires as it only needs one wire to go to the wall and it has three locations to charge different induction charging devices.

    Has anyone tested this battery pack with the Mobee Magic Feet to see if it’ll work?

  4. jimgramze - 9 years ago

    I always look to see if the case covers the buttons, making them harder to push which my slightly arthritic hands don’t appreciate at all. Glad to see that is not the case here.

    For me the new iPhones charge so fast and the battery lasts so long that I don’t see this as an issue. And when the battery is getting low it charges super fast. Until wireless charging is as fast as plugging in, I can’t consider it.

    Still, thanks for keeping us up on what is out there. Things are a “no” until they are a “yes”.

  5. l think the Apple logo on the back will be the conduit for their proprietary system of “air charging” system…thats why its a separate piece of metal now…my 2 cents

  6. jerryfromcan - 9 years ago

    There was a project out there once where someone ripped apart their iPad 2 and spliced in a powermat charger. I also saw someone dismantle a night stand to put the powermat underneath the top and it would charge through the small amount of particle board left.

    People always quote Apple on wireless charging… “You still have to plug it in”. But I plugged my nightstand charger 2 or 3 years ago and haven’t touched it since. It would be nice to not need to fumble around in the dark when my wife is already asleep to just drop the iPhone onto it.

    I think we would still need a plug in power for travelling so I expect the real issue is space vs a want to do it.

  7. I’m all for wireless charging. I’ve gone down a slightly different route. I’ve got a normal “soft” case that has a bit of flex (a Spigen case). I’ve then got an iQi Mobile wireless lightning receiver. It has a tiny ribbon cable and tiny lightning adaptor, and doesn’t extend beyond the bottom of my case. It’s then wrapped around the back and the receiver sits under my case nicely, so no added bulk.
    I think it’s extremely handy – I have a Qi Charging pad on my desk at work, and one by my bed at home. I’m one for forgetting something is plugged in, yanking it from my hand when I pick it up.. not an issue any more. I just put my phone down like I always would, and it’s charging without me doing anything extra. I didn’t see the value of it before it, I was thinking “it’s just not necessary, just plug it in”… I’m a convert now.

  8. stargazehill - 9 years ago

    Thanks for the articles. I found these with built it charging pads (no visible wires) on the Ikea US website: 1. Wireless charging table. http://www.ikea.com//us/en/images/products/nordli-nightstand-with-wireless-charging-white__0323909_PE517548_S4.JPG 2. Wireless lamp. http://www.ikea.com/us/en/images/products/riggad-work-lamp-with-wireless-charging__0371022_PH124211_S4.JPG

  9. Richard Hood - 9 years ago

    I have purchased a generis device and all I can get is “This accessory might not be supported.” and it doesn’t charge. I guess you get what you pay for. :-(

  10. jxslepton - 9 years ago

    Should’ve made the bottom detachable not the top

  11. Alex Very - 8 years ago

    I looked for every possibilities for wireless charging my iphone6, and finally bought a FoneSalesMan QI card. It fit perfectly under my Apple Leather case without any bump, so i DON’T have a heavy and bulky iphone like the case you tested.

    I bought 2 QI chargers, one from FoneSalesMan (bamboo) and on from PNY, and both are working nice. One is at my office, the other one is at home.

    And so ? So, it changed my life !!! The most important thing is that i never have to charge my iphone. I mean, I put the iphone on the charger, at my office or at home, but i can get it and use it at any time, i don’t have to plug/unplug a wire to use it, and don’t have to bend or to stay in a specific area. No, the iPhone is available at any time, i just take it and use it without thinking, and i never complained about low battery for month, it is always between 75 and 100% !!!

    Wireless charging is a total revolution, and with my solution, i have the same iPhone that i had before, no bulky and ugly case but the slim and beautiful Apple Leather case

Author

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Ben Lovejoy

Ben Lovejoy is a British technology writer and EU Editor for 9to5Mac. He’s known for his op-eds and diary pieces, exploring his experience of Apple products over time, for a more rounded review. He also writes fiction, with two technothriller novels, a couple of SF shorts and a rom-com!


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