Intel Wirelessly Charges Phones From Laptops

New system will allow users to cut the chord.

Those inductive charging pads that juice up your phone without wires are pretty cool, but once you're already at home it's not such a big deal to simply plug it in. This new system from Intel takes that convenience on the road, by letting you charge the phone using the power stored in your laptop.

Demonstrated with an Acer Aspire laptop, the computer has a plug-in transmitter module on one side that provides the inductive charge. Simply place your similarly equipped phone next to the module, and you'll year a ping to confirm that a connection has been made. Power will start to flow immediately from the laptop to the phone.

This sounds great if you're running low on phone power and you don't want to search for an outlet, but I wonder how much you'll suck down the battery life of the laptop? That power has to come from somewhere.

While the computer part can probably be added to most laptops and ultrabooks, Intel will have to convince phone manufacturers to add this feature if it's going to catch on.

The Verge, via Treehugger

For the latest tech stories, follow us on Twitter at @dvice
Copyright DVICE - DVICE
Contact Us