Charging battery over the air - wireless charging (a.k.a. inductive charging)

Remember that it was just a few years back when the industry players of devices carrying a rechargeable battery (e.g. mobile phone, bluetooth headset, GPS, digital camera, digital camcorder, digital voice recorder, ... etc.) unified their charging interface to use USB or mini-USB or micro-USB, so that we no longer need to carry charging adapter and charging cable for each and every of the devices, as they can now share a common charging adapter and common USB charging cable.

That move has also made possible for car or furniture to provide USB port featuring charging capability to our mobile devices, and the invention of portable power bank.

What's next?

I think the next move for the industry players is to do away the charging cable and embrace the wireless charging (a.k.a. inductive charging) technology.

Wireless charging involves transmission of power contactlessly (over the air) from the charging base station (transmitter) to the receiver using electromagnetic field. In fact, this charging technology has been used in Oral-B rechargeable toothbrush since the early 90s.

Nowadays, there are already several mobile phones such as Nokia Lumia 820/920, Google Nexus 4 and HTC Droid DNA for Verizon support wireless charging with the Qi standard, and there is rumour for the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S IV to join the bandwagon too.

Imagine what will happen to our live in the near future when the wireless charging technology is more widespread:

• The home theatre system surround speakers can be truly wireless, without the need of power cable.
• The iRobot or other similar robotic cleaners can be recharged over the air and need to returning to its base station when battery power is low.
• Workstation or table top can be the charging station for our mobile devices (including laptop). When we put our mobile devices on top, they are automatically recharged.
• Restaurant, hotel and other places can offer "hotspot" charging service in the same way they are offering Wifi service now.
• Hybrid or electrical car can be charged when parked at the garage or parking area with the charging base station on the floor.

And possibly, the following scenario could happen in the future too:

• When one mobile device (such as a phone) is having low power, it can borrow the power from another mobile device (such as another phone, or a GPS, or a "wireless powerbank") by wireless transmission.
• More home appliance become wireless (kettle, blender, TV, ...) and the amount of  power socket needed in our house/office/building can be substantially reduced.

HTC One (M7) Android smartphone launched

HTC just launched a new Android smartphone in London just now. It will be made available to the market from 15 March 2013 onwards.

This widely anticipated HTC One (a.k.a. M7) features the following:

• All aluminium body frame, zero gap construction
• Platform: Android 4.1.2 (Jelly Bean) with HTC Sense 5
• Size: 137.4 x 68.2 x 9.3mm
• Weight: 143 gram
• Display: 4.7 inch, Full HD 1080p (1920x1080), 468 ppi, Super LCD 3
• CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 600, quad-core 1.7 GHz
• RAM: 2GB DDR2
• Storage: 32/64GB internal
• Network: HSPA, WCDMA, GSM, GPRS, EDGE
• NFC, Bluetooth 4.0, WiFi 802.11 a/ac/b/g/n, DLNA
• Infrared remote control to home appliances (TV, DVD player, etc.)
• micro-USB 2.0 (5-pin) port with mobile high-definition video link (MHL) for USB or HDMI connection
• Dual front facing speakers with integrated amplifiers
• Beats Audio
• HDR microphone
• Sense Voice
• HTC Ultrapixel camera with dedicated HTC ImageChip 2, 2.0 micrometer pixel, F2.0 aperature, 28 mm lens, 1/3' sensor, Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) and Smart Flash
• Front Camera: 2.1 MP, 88⁰ wide angle lens with HDR capability
• 1080p Full HD video recording for both front and back cameras
• HDR Video
• GPS: Internal GPS antenna + GLONASS, Digital compass
• Sensors: Gyro sensor, Accelerometer, Proximity sensor, Ambient light sensor
• SIM card type: MicroSIM
• Battery: 2,300 mAh Li-Polymer
• HTC Zoe, HTC BoomSound, HTC BlinkFeed, HTC Sense TV

It seems that this HTC phone won't support for microSD external storage and LTE network. The battery is also non-removable.

Watch the HTC One commercial below:

Will HTC make a turn back and snatch back its market share lost to Samsung Galaxy series of smartphone with this new Android smartphone? Time will tell...

CNY red packet (ang pow) money in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan and China

TNS has conducted a study in January 2013, covering 5000 people over the age of 20 in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China, about their Chinese New Year planning and spending to celebrate the festival.

Among the questions asked in the study, there are 2 questions related to red packet (a.k.a. ang pow) money:

• Average amount of red packet you give out to each individual during Chinese New Year
• What is the total amount of red packet money you allocate for CNY each year?

And the result for Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan and China in their respective local currency is as below:

Converted to US dollar, the result for comparison is as below:

It seems that Taiwanese allocates the most red packet amount for each of their family members, while Hong Kong people are pretty generous in red packet given to their relatives, friends, colleagues and employees.

To see the full result of the said TNS study, you need to have Adobe Flash Player installed and:

• Click here for Singapore
• Click here for Malaysia
• Click here for Hong Kong
• Click here for Taiwan
• Click here for China

Note: I faced problem opening the page in Internet Explorer 9, but no problem with Google Chrome,  Firefox and Opera.