Battery Charging Going Wireless

Here’s a great article, from the cover of Nikkei Electronics Asia June edition, detailing the wireless transmission of electric power. As we see more services and functions for mobile devices, which naturally leads to increased usage, the demand for more battery power has clearly become an issue. Quick wireless power re-charges stations, in convenient locations, may well prove to be a more effective and popular choice to the methanol alternative.

In Japan, NTT DoCoMo Inc is actively developing similar technology, with the first prototype mobile phone supporting wireless charging developed in 2005. A variety of other technologies capable of pumping power to terminals over ranges of several cm to several m have appeared in addition to non-contact charging, with some of them expected to show up in illumination products before the end of 2007.

This electromagnetic induction example [.jpg] seems to be along the lines of what we saw in tv spots, from DoCoMo R&D labs last summer, where users could get a quick zip of juice from a restaurant table top or even from the rubber handrail while riding the escalator.

Also of interest in their June Edition: Inside Super-Thin 3G Flip-Phones

Carrying on the trend set by the autumn and winter 2006 models, the “thinness” competition between mobile phone carriers in Japan will continue to intensify with spring 2007 handsets. At the front of the pack are the FOMA N703iu made by NEC Corp of Japan and FOMA P703iu made by Panasonic Mobile Communications Co Ltd of Japan, both of which are released by NTT DoCoMo Inc of Japan. Both measure only 11.4mm thick, making them the thinnest flip-phones in the world supporting W-CDMA.