As construction users increasingly take up mobile devices, battery drain is becoming a drag. Fortunately, innovators are on it. Here are a few neat items that impress ENR as being particularly promising or useful right now, including one from Intel unveiled at the Consumer Electronic Show in January.
Mobile Devices Are Finding More Ways to Cut the Charging Cord
Magnetyze, a charging system from BuQu Tech, starts with tough, metallic cell-phone cases for Apple or Android phones that have a magnetic spot on the back to mate with a variety of devices for a charging connection. With the iPhone 5, the case nests into Apple's proprietary port and extends the contacts to a set of concentric rings on the back of the case. An array of charging tools have, on a tab, matching contacts that hug the spot on the case back whenever they meet. There is no struggle to orient connectors: Move the phone near, and the magnet does the rest. Charger options include a mini USB cable with a magnetic tab, a cable for 12-volt DC outlets, a flat plug for AC wall sockets and a desktop stand. It's a nicely engineered system that works well.
Photo By Tom Sawyer for ENR
The svelte, universal SunBar pocket solar charger from Juicebar is about the size of a deck of cards, weighs 3.2 oz. and is a negligible addition to your gadget load. But the 5.5-volt, 80-mA polycrystaline-photovoltaic panel and its 3.7-volt on-board Li-ion battery will soak up the sun or even your desk lamp and build and hold power to charge virtually any mobile device using a set of included mini USB adaptor plugs. An iPhone 5 with a 49% charge came back to 95% charge in an hour and cruised to 100% in a few more minutes. With SunBar, your cell phone really could go conveniently off the grid.
Photo By Tom Sawyer for ENR
Intel's charger is the Smart Bowl, a black, 10-in.-dia dish into which a variety of devices, such as phones, headsets or tablets, can be placed to charge, simultaneously and without exact alignment, using magnetic resonance. Intel is a member of the Alliance for Wireless Power (A4WP), a not-for-profit group that aims for wide adoption of a wireless charging standard. It is to be based on Rezence technology, a trademarked variant of magnetic resonance that meets A4WP technical specifications. The idea is that any A4WP-compliant device can play and charge with any other, regardless of manufacturer. In his keynote at CES, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich dropped his phone and a Nike+ Fuelband, a wearable device that monitors the user's physical activity, into the bowl to demonstrate how they charged together. Intel has not yet revealed pricing or a schedule for release.
Photo Courtesy of Intel
