BBERRYNEWS

Powermat is a company pioneering its way into the future of our wireless charging solutions. They’ve released their product less than one year ago in October of 2009 and the industry has been buzzing ever since. Powermat offers the consumer the option of wirelessly charging up to three of their personal electronic devices simply by dropping them on to a mat; resolving the issue of tangled wires. Its sleek and elegant design, in my opinion, clearly gives it an advantage over competitors such as WildCharge and Duracell’s myGrid.

During CES this past January I was fortunate enough to receive a private tour of Powermat’s current lineup as well as some information on exciting new items to be added in the near future. I’m pleased to say that they have done their homework. They’ve listened to the consumer, to the demand, and to the market; and the direction they are taking their products is one in which I very strongly support.

Powermat currently offers two solutions to the consumer, a home and office mat and a portable mat that folds up easily for travel. In each respective box, you can expect to find one mat and its power source, as well as eight tips to use with the included Powercube. These tips include Apple, Micro USB, and Samsung to name a few; all of which make your favorite electronic products compatible with Powermat and ready for wireless charging. Additional Powermat receivers can be purchased for supported electronics and not only provide true drop and charge functionality, but may offer protection to the device as well. Each mat is priced at $99.99 each; while you can expect to find the additional receivers ranging from $29.99 to $39.99.

Our friend Jim Curzon over at Powermat sent the home and office mat our way last week and our team has been very pleased with its performance thus far. These days “going green” is the ever so popular trend, in fact it can’t even be called a “trend” anymore. It’s starting to become anything but that; a way of life, a business model, a message for humanity. Powermat aligns their focus with this by providing us with an outstanding product that not only uses less energy, but charges the devices, on average, 20% faster than the standard wall charger. Here are some notes from my review of the product:

What I Liked:

-       The overall design is very solid and incredibly sleek. From the color choices, to the LED indicators, to the signature mount and dismount sounds, and down to the smooth rounded edges. This was no doubt an exciting un-boxing experience.

-       Efficiency of the charging. I’ve charged through the wall outlet, desktop, laptop, you name it. Hands down this is the fastest I have seen. BlackBerry for example: a completely drained battery on average will take 20-30 minutes on a wall charger to see any life again; took 10 minutes on the Powermat.

-       When charging multiple devices, the mat does not overheat or get too hot; a problem found in many multiple device charging solutions.

-       Ergonomic clean design. It’s the little things that always matter, in anything you deal with. Here, the design of the power source to the mat allows for a very clean folding of its wire avoiding any tangles and allows it to be neatly stowed away if needed. Same can be said for the included Powercube.

-       iPhone receiver unit converts the iPhone into a more standard Micro USB charging solution for use away from the Powermat.

What I Didn’t Like:

-       The price point. As great as this product is, it is pretty expensive to get started up with it. In a nutshell, to get the TRUE drop and charge wireless charging experience it is going to cost you about $140 to get started. And that is only if they offer a receiver for your current device; otherwise your only option is the Powercube which then essentially turns your Powermat into a $99.99 standard wall charger.

-       When using the Powercube, if it is left on the mat, you cannot simply plug your device back in to charge. The Powercube must be first plugged into your device, lifted off the mat, and then placed back on the mat.

-       Weight. Now this is much more personal preference than anything. On the iPhone in particular, I’m used to simply having a skin on there. With the added weight of the receiver unit it definitely took some getting used to. Not unbearably heavy by any means, just more weight than I’d prefer.

Overall I loved the product and the things that I didn’t like were mostly user preference. I give Powermat the benefit of the doubt because their product is still very young and already far above and beyond the competition in my opinion. As I mentioned earlier, they do their homework and based on what we saw at CES 2010 and are allowed to talk about, they’ve listened to the consumer and have some great things in store for us.

We are anxious to see Powermat during CTIA held in Las Vegas, NV at the end of this month and hope to follow up with their progress in the way of new products and compatibility to the ever so quickly growing electronics industry. If you have any questions about their products are have something in particular we would like to cover during our visit with them, please feel free drop a comment.

If you are interested in purchasing the Powermat, or would simply like to learn more in detail, you can do so by following this link.