Wireless Charging... Not Entirely

We've seen this with Palm E-organizers or PDA before. In fact you can still order the desk charging coils to be used for inductive charging.

What is wireless charging currently? Some current models of Nokia and LG have incorporated induction coils in their devices already, unlike Samsung where you the need to buy an accessory or the cover that permits this feature. You would also need a wireless charging pad plugged to a power source to be placed on a flat surface like on your desk in the office. Your phone gets charged charged while you place it on top of the charging pad like so:

The charging is as thin and around the size of a Note 3

It works when the powered coils of the charging pad passes electricity via magnetic waves received by the special coils in the device to get your battery charged. You need to have your phone to be physically on top of the charging pad in order to get a charge. It's slower to charge with this method than the regular charging via the micro USB port with the original high 2A charger.

Why not just plug in to charge, you may ask? It isn't exactly wireless, like I first thought like you'd have your device in your pocket and some special charger would transmit some magnetic or microwave signals. I think that can kill you slowly.

The main advantage of this is simply for opportunistic charging, simplifying charging your device when you can while at home or work place by leaving your device on the charging pad while not in use without the need to jack in with wires. When you need to use your phone, it's easy to pick it up, make calls or browse a bit, and put it down again onto the charging pad.

Ok, the real big reason why I wanted this was the thickened cover of the wireless receiver for the Note 3. I really wanted to keep on using the screwed in aluminum side bumper in order to secure the back cover from easily being opened by anyone, but the problem was the camera was bumping out, making my device wobbly when I sketch or jot down notes. With the new S Charger Cover, some 1mm thickness is added and the back exterior is flushed just above the camera hump. I'm just guessing here, but I think the extra thickness also integrates the NFC antenna and the cellphone antenna so no weakened signals happen.

No more camera hump

That extra thickness is just welcomed. It made the Note 3 much more steadier to handle. Wireless charging wasn't something in my list of accessory priorities, but since I already got myself the wireless charger back, might as well get the charger pad.

Upcoming portable power bank products will integrate inductive coils to charge these wireless charging ready devices. One is even proposing having charging coils on the removable battery itself. Interesting enough for me to take a look.

I'll talk more about making the Note 3 more secure other than merely preventing the back from being opened easily.

A phone For My Note 3

The alternative Bluetooth earphones replacement

My stereo Bluetooth earphones of two years is giving up with a charge not lasting as it use to. So naturally I was keeping my eye out for something with more features but nothing that I'd cry about. 

The Sony Bluetooth sets have some extra features other than there's usual remote control buttons like text display, an ear speaker but cost more than US$100.

Enter a local Philippine brand, Cherry Mobile which offers a small sized basic phone called P1 that bluetooth pairs with your better Android device to remote access your calls, SMS, audio media, and itself is a basic phone with its own SIM card. It retails for only Php 799 (US $18.16).

It works with the Galaxy Note 3  on Jellybeans 4.3 without the need to install extra software. It uses the Message Access Profile or MAP usually used for current car radios for calls and SMS for your smartphone.

Complaining how hard it is to handle the Note 3's size? 

Let's look at the key features:

*A smartphone remote dialer

Smartphone SMS viewer (Bluetooth Message Access Profile (MAP) needed)

*Single regular SIM card

*Dual band GSM 900/1800 Mhz

*1.77 " LCD @ 176 X 220 pixels

*VGA camera

*FM Radio

*Music Player

*Bluetooth 3.0

*Built-in battery

*Micro SD slot up to 4GB only

*Available in 4 colors - white, light blue, orange and red

*54 x 89 x 10 mm (with buttons slightly protruding)

*No specs on battery or weight

Damn tiny in the hand

Barely covers the palm

Pros

*Acts as a secondary phone and remotes your Android device for answering and making calls and SMS

*Decoy device where you shouldn't be flashing your more expensive or larger Android device

*Acts as bluetooth audio for your main device

*Compact and light

Cons

*No thrills plastic build with 1990s inexpensive cellphone design (but that maybe a good thing)

*Basic dumbphone with all low end features with no wifi access or Internet capabilities, or social networks and email notifications

*No 3.5mm earphone jack, and only takes micro USB earphones which is NOT provided

*Sound only comes from the ear speaker and is low quality

*Built-in battery with no user replacement

I'd fire the package designer

Somehow, they should have emphasized on the Remote Access feature than the camera on the box

Okay, the P1 doesn't aim to give any visible first good impression. It looks cheaper than any of the current low end basic Nokia phone. The P1's choices of colors of light blue, cherry red, Vermillion (orange) and white aren't exactly attractive either. I got the less atrocious white. Its buttons are made of hard translucent jelly with strange dotted text styled numbers and small crate numbering styled letters, but they won't be fade away like past generic 2G phone devices of late 1990s.

Strange choices of fonts

The seemingly small and low resolutioned 1.7" LCD screen shifts colors at angles. It's not a  touch screen and in no way for you to be watching any media if this device coupons ever play videos, that is.  

I just know I'll lose that cover

Don't hold your breath on the VGA camera too. It'd probably be OK for some quick urgent pictures...  if you navigate to the camera function quickly enough. You'll need to place a micro SD card for this to work.

The P1 doesn't have a regular 3.5mm jack for audio. It only has a micro USB for you to plug in old earphone or adapters for your usual earphones with this connection socket. The FM radio will not work at all without a wired audio as it uses the wire as an antenna. Don't expect stellar audio quality as your main Android device. 

As tiny as it gets

Conclusion
It's as tiny as my extra battery case. for my Note 3.  The unspecified battery seems to be decent enough to last the entire day connected. The P1 is unapologetically unattractive, but it's a perfect compliment to the Note 3.

Well, you'll get the FM radio receiver missing in the Note 3, and it's functions surpass that of any Bluetooth earphones. You can probably put in that 2nd SIM card of a different network for signal differences when you need to make that call.

The remote dialer and sms functions are probably the main features to get the P1 for those less appealing places. This is the first I have heard of of such a device. No guarantees in keeping you from harm, but at least it gives less reasons for anyone to stop you on the lonely streets seeing you using an expensive device. It would be a selling point for other established brands out there to add a MAP feature on their dumbphones. They'd make a killing.

Aluminum Side Bumper

I got this because it's the thinnest and most minimum side protection for the Galaxy Notes 3. The pure aluminum finish would give the cleanest in the long run. I suspect the colored versions will get scratches eventually. 

The thinnest protection you can find

It measures some 9mm side depth. Priced at $11.30 at a local retailer of generic China made smartphone accessories, this beats the price of branded products like Capdase that would turn up 4 times the cost for something like this. The quality build is quite good, fine machine trimmings.

It exposes the leather texture of the back cover which has a good feel on the hand. It secures the Galaxy Note 3's back cover since this one piece assembly has 2 small screw holes in the lower left corner to hold it in place. Yes, it's a bitch if you're a heavy user who swap to fresh batteries. A small screw driver and two extra screws are provided. 

The only things I find wrong with it are there's no hole for the temperature & humidity sensor, and the camera bump will be proned to scratches or breakage from drops.

I think this is the same thing from EBay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/181262060985

Mainly protects the plastic sides. Feels good to hold. 

The lower left corner has two tiny screw holes for securing the entire thing onto the device.

The back cover is exposed, and keeps the main antenna open located at the lower back.

The only thing I'm really worried about is the camera bump being damaged.

Overall good clean look.

It's About the Battery

Apple did it with the whole non-removable or fixed battery because Steve Jobs didn't want anyone tinkering with the hardware. He gave direction for simplifying technology for the general mass with "it just works", and no hassle to knowing what goes on inside or trouble about what other things to buy like a memory card.

The fixed battery gave the advantages of a smaller and thinner body, less expensive to make without the extra housing, and ligther. Sony, HTC, and other followed suite with this idea to produce their own uni-bodied smartphones.

Until we have a technology that finally can hold 10 times more capacity for power using silicon base commercially, there's no where around the most practical method of maintaining the power hold ability by swapping batteries from time to time.

Apple was the first to implement the fixed battery concept. Making the device thinner was not the main idea for the first iPhone at 13mm thickness. The reason was that no one would tinker what's inside. Steve Jobs was very protective of that.

Then they did it with their laptops. The fixed battery for a laptop worked since only roughly 5% of people actually got spare batteries. The laptops became thinner without the extra housing for the removable batteries and they could be moved elsewhere in the chassis. This is good for laptops.

So now we have roughly half the thickness of the original 13mm fixed battery smartphone,and that achievement WASN'T done by the iPhone.

But there's are injustices of what a built-in battery system for SMARTPHONES holds.

1. Weaker and tinier battery.

With the more power demanding hardware, and new OS features, you'd think they would increase the batteries. Instead, they have resorted to "it got 20% thinner" and "it's waterproof" but in reality it's just water-resistant of about 1m depth and anything beyond that, water seeps in. Is a shorter usage time what you want with a 2mm thinner device? Switching off features like LTE just to get by the day?

2. Exorbitant prices for replacing built-in.

It would happen long after your warranty expires. Warranty for my region is only 6 months to a year. Battery degradation happens after more than a year. It'd cost you more than twice the amount at the service center. For big OEM batteries like the Note series, it's only around $25.

3. DAYS or even over a week to have them replaced.

Fixed batteries aren't always stocked, and hence the ordering time needed to get them. You can imagine too the millions the manufacturer has sold and you'd be not the only one in waiting. In the meantime, what do you think you'll be using as a smartphone? How much time you'd think going to the center and coming back again to get your device back?

4. Making us carry power banks, power jackets or plug in more, away from home.

I thought the whole point of mobile devices is being wireless. What use is that thinner design form factor when you end up carrying extra stuff thicker than your device itself? Power jackets just can't give you an equivalent 100% charge, heats up everytime and becomes dead weight.

5. Limiting capabilities & features and LTE signals.

Steve Jobs NEVER officially signed off with LTE for the iPhone. Verizon's CEO said so, only after Jobs passed away. We got iPhone5 users complaining about LTE signals not and switching to the 3G signal often. Apple never intended its users to download torrents, unless you do some hack configuring with the settings. They just don't want you draining that tiny 1500mAh battery they put in.

The removable battery system is very practical and much more efficient.

1. Better battery cycling and thereby longer life.

2. Seconds to get a full charge back than wait 2 hours to charge.

3. No need to carry the charger or a heavier power bank.

4. You have a choice of a third party extended battery, even trippling the capacity.

5. Safer to charge on a cradle than on the device as about 10% of batteries have chances to be unstable.

Charging the spent battery at home

6. Reduces the chances of theft while charging outside the house.

7. An extra battery is smaller and thinner to carry inside your pocket.

Fancy carrying the power bank on the right, or just that spare battery? 

8. When your battery finally gives up, you just buy a new one.

9. No need to pay for more expensive internal battery and wait for days to have it installed.

10. Your device becomes practically wireless without the need to plug in via the micro USB most of the time if you just charge the spent battery via the battery cradle.

A fixed battery gives the advantages of a smaller and thinner body, less expensive to make without the extra housing, and ligther. But it has less practicality to me. You'd have to get this which does not give you a full charge and becomes dead weight, or carry a bulky power bank