Gadgetory

Samsung's official wireless charging kit for the galaxy s3 was announced alongside that 2012 flagship but it didn't arrive on the market until long after well this year Samsung appears committed not to make the same mistake I'm Michael Fisher this is pocket now and this is our quick review of the wireless charging kit for the samsung galaxy s4 the galaxy s4 doesn't ship with wireless charging standard out of the box so the wireless charging kit is made up of two components the charging base itself and the special battery door that enables that functionality the charger is vaguely dish-shaped a far cry from the bold angular design of the tilt view which we took a look at last week and more along the lines of the Nokia charging plate just much larger available only in grey it's inoffensive and it'll probably get along with whatever you have on your desk without standing out too much the device comes with some straightforward instructions for how to place your phone on it but it doesn't ship with a separate adapter or cable you need to use your phone's existing wall charger to supply it with power which we think is pretty lame more on that in a second once you've got the charger set up and ready to go you'll want to install the new battery cover which is thicker and more robust than the stock battery door due to the inductive coil within now it does increase the phone's thickness but it also makes it feel better in the hand easier to grip and there's also no question that this is a better looking solution than our genki do-it-yourself wireless charging mod for the galaxy s3 after that it's a simple matter of dropping your s4 onto the pad to start the charging process like the sticker warns it's finicky about alignment but once you've got it reasonably close to the center of the charging process starts quickly the device recognizes when it's in range and the software informs you that you're charging wirelessly and also a green LED illuminates to let you know the device is suckling juice also because the pad uses the Qi wireless charging standard you can charge other Qi enabled phones like the Nokia Lumia 920 on this charger as well of course the reverse is also true charging the gs4 on alternate Qi enabled chargers will work too as long as the battery covers installed for those of you who may already own a Qi charging pad want to save some pennies speaking of money Samsung doesn't really break from tradition here these accessories are in a word overpriced the wireless charging pad itself will run you of 4999 direct from Samsung but the battery door which again is required to make the whole thing work is the real insult it'll cost you thirty nine ninety nine that's a total of ninety dollars full retail to charge your phone wirelessly and remember you don't even get an extra charger out of the deal Samsung's not the only one to have done this in palms touchstone kicked off the whole sector four similarly ridiculous prices back in 2009 but even for wireless charging fans it sure is a tough pill to swallow ultimately though it's more convenient than fumbling for a cable and it'll work with many other qi enabled devices so this may be worth it to you as we seem to be saying a lot with Samsung products these days you may not use or want the feature but it is nice to know the option is there if you do folks will have a few more written impressions on the galaxy s4 s wireless charging kit available at pocketnow.com and our written quick review and that will be up on July third while you're waiting go ahead and like this video if you did enjoy it and leave us a comment if you have something to say and do make sure to follow us on all of our social media channels until next time this has been michael fisher with pocket now thanks for watching we'll see you soon