Duracell SmartPower MyGrid Wireless Charger Charging Pad Juices Electronics Without Wires, Sorta

True wireless charging certainly seems like somewhat of an elusive
prospect. To-date, there haven't really been any marketable innovations
when it comes to being able to actually charge your electronics without
having to connect them to some type of power source. Maybe if Tesla
hadn't been shut down by the electricity magnates of his time we'd be
closer than we are today and we wouldn't have to settle for devices like
Duracell's SmartPower MyGrid charging pad. The charging pad lets you
charge your electronics, up to four at a time (if you can cram them on
the pad) by laying them on the charging surface.

An almost carbon copy of the WildCharge Inc.'s WildCharger pad, Duracell
appears to have bought into some type of licensing agreement with them
in order to market the SmartPower charging pad. The basic gist of the
product is this: you plug in a mousepad-looking thing to your computer
or other powered USB port, you attach a receiver to your electronic
device, you lay said device on the pad to charge it. I guess it's an
interesting technology at best, seeing that you can purchase like
chargers that are simply multi-port USB hubs. I mean, you still need to
purchase the right adapters for your devices and you still need to plug
in the pad, so is it really wireless?

When I think of wireless charging I think of something like a wireless
router that beams electrons through the air in your house. You connect
some type of receiver to your iPhone or Blackberry and it charges your
electronics no matter where you are as long as you're within range of
the transmitter. OK, so maybe that's a bit far-fetched at the moment,
but that is the main reason I am not all that impressed by things like
the Duracell SmartPower charging pad. That being said, it's the best we
have at the moment and it just might save you from having to deal with
all of those cables under your desk.

The Duracell SmartPower MyGrid charging pad is expected to go on sale
sometime in October. There is no word yet on pricing, but given that the
WildCharger pad kit retails for about $65 I would expect it to be
somewhere in that neighborhood. Head over to www.duracell.com for more info.