Gadgetory

wireless charging whatever you think about its utility you've got to admit it's a pretty awesome feature if you like a certain futuristic Flair if you own a Nokia Lumia a Nexus 5 or a moto 360 smartwatch you've probably used wireless charging with a cradle or a dock but what if you could charge wirelessly and invisibly I'm Michael Fisher with PocketNow and this is a quick look at the Zen's puck Zen's is the dutch outfit behind wireless charging products we've featured before notably the portable speaker iphone flip case and car charger all these are based on the Qi charging standard and the Zen's puck is no different it's an 80 millimeter aluminium cylinder with seven inductive charging coils mounted in a flower petal pattern and a simple power adapter that plugs into the wall the coils are visible behind the plastic here because you're never meant to see this component the puck is made to live inside a desk table or a countertop with its existence called out by either a plastic landing pad or a simple sticker or nothing at all as ends sent us a sample kit including the puck itself to countertop cross-sections AC wall plug and the installation tools namely two Phillips head screws we provided the screwdriver Lumia icon and Moto 360 as well as the testing venue now I didn't have any furniture I could drill holes in because all my furniture is made of rich mahogany so I tested the puck mainly on the provided samples it worked as well as any cheat charger with a nice wide charging area so precision wasn't terribly important and I liked the confirmation beep when it detected my device and began charging it the instruction manual calls for a two millimeter gap between charger and device so again the puck is best when integrated directly in the furniture it's not something you can expect to work if you bolt it to the underside of a table but if you do find a place for it under the laminate of say a desk simulated here with our self-healing mat insulation really is as simple as two screws or some adhesive tape also included the charger is smart enough to turn off if you drop metal on top of it and it's also water-resistant obviously it doesn't have the convenience of a cradle that stands a device upright for you but it's not made for that it's meant to be something you look down at when working and if Zen's is successful in marketing the puck to furniture makers I'm sure they'll find new and interesting mounting methods still I wanted to do something innovative if not practical with the puck so I found a decorative box one of the ones we bought while filming our galaxy note 4 test footage in fact and patted it out a little bit and then stuck the puck right in there it took a lot of trial and error because of the thickness of the wooden box top maybe 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch but eventually my persistence was rewarded by the best-looking moto 360 charger in Boston if you think you can do better we'd love to hear about it down in the comments further information including availability and pricing is forthcoming and if you want more info on the operation of the Zen's puck head on over to make sense comm be sure to check out our other wireless charging coverage from Zen's to tilt to the power card and beyond and please subscribe to pocket now and give us a thumbs up if you enjoyed this quick look till next time this been michael fisher with pocket now captain to phones on Twitter reminding you that wireless charging is more than a feature it's a lifestyle we'll see you next time