Categories
apple

What is wrong with MagSafe Qi 15W

That is quite a long story of smartphone makers are trying to create powerful Qi charging devices. And usually, they are all fails. Wireless chargers are still noticeably slower than wired. And also less power-efficient. And also not reliable. With some previous wireless charging docks, you someday waking up with your phone not charged at all. And there are a couple of reasons for that. First is coils misalignment, which reduces all (speed, efficiency, and reliability). The second is power loss and related overheating (affects speed and efficiency). So what is good about Apple MagSafe 15W Qi charger. It solves the first issue. Coils are now aligned. So you can be more or less sure that you will get your phone charged. But it mostly ignores the second. Qi charger is still overheating. And that is slowing down the charging process. Yes, it is an aluminum body, and that is kind of good news. But that is definitely not enough. So for a period of 3-5 hours of wireless charging, you will get 15W only for a short period of time. Usually, it is about 5-7 minutes. And the most interesting part there is 7.5W charger may charge faster than the 15W charger just because of less initial overheating.

So the usual charging may look like graphs below

That is just about 4 hours. But results may vary a lot. That is highly dependent on temperature (room temperature, phone temperature, table temperature), on do you charge with a charger below or above the phone. Do you use a case or does the phone do some background tasks. Do your air moving in the room. It impacts Qi charging speed much more if compared to wired charging.

Wired charging from same 20W power adapter:

It is for the same conditions, same case, same temperature, same table. Just about twice faster. And power consumed is 14.5Wh instead of 22Wh to charge an iphone 10.78 Wh battery (while phone is on, but not in use). That is about 3 times more energy lost on generating heat.

So How to get 15W we pay for? That is easy :). You need to place the phone (without a case) in some cold place with airflow for at least the first 30 minutes of charging.

And if you got proper cooling you will get something like:

Still a bit worse than wire charging in the room. But anyway we got our 15W Qi. It exists and it is fast. (That is kind of sarcasm).

So what is wrong with Apple Magsafe Charger?

  • it is slow
  • it consumes more power
  • it is expensive

One more thing.. about power consumption. Idle power consumption is also might be an issue. Lightning cable inserted in 20W AC adapter consume much less power (0.0025W) in idle mode (when you do not charge anything) than MagSafe charger (0.34-0.5W). So if you kind of eco-friendly person you better plug out the MagSafe charger every time you are done with charging.

Categories
apple Devices

SeekThermal CompactPro

SeekThermal CompactPro (300~500$ on Amazon) is an accessory that allows you to shot thermal photos or videos. Available for Android and iOS devices

SeekThermal CompactPro

Example video (time lapse done in an external application)

Categories
apple iphone

Umidigi Q1: iPhone X charging

Umidigi Q1. 15 Watt Qi charger for Umidigi Z2 Pro (that is not yet released). It should also charge iPhones with 7.5W max.

Umidigi Q1 15W charger

Apple iPhone X charging time:

50% 80% 100%
PC Port USB 2.0 03:00:00 04:40:00 06:10:00
Umidigi Q1 01:28:00 02:28:00 03:34:00
Apple 5W charger 01:25:00 02:05:00 03:25:00
Umidigi Q1 + extra fan 00:55:00 01:48:00 02:40:00
Apple 12W charger 00:35:00 01:05:00 02:10:00
Apple 29W charger 00:30:00 00:55:00 01:55:00

Charge in case without extra cooling
Qi Charging iPhone X

Charge with no case and with additional external cooling

Categories
apple iphone

Charging iPhone X

iPhone X got 1.5 times increased battery capacity in compare to iPhone 8 and now there is some difference appear in charging time using 12W and 29W Apple chargers. Also, standard USB port now charging more than 6 hours.

50% 80% 100%
PC Port USB 2.0 03:00:00 04:40:00 06:10:00
Apple 5W charger 01:25:00 02:05:00 03:25:00
Apple 12W charger 00:35:00 01:05:00 02:10:00
Apple 29W charger 00:30:00 00:55:00 01:55:00

iPhone X charging time

Categories
apple Devices iphone

iOttie wireless Qi with iPhone 8

Using iPhone 8 with iOttie Qi Wireless car charger.

iOttie Easy One Touch Qi Wireless

Use iOttie charger for about a month. I would say it is nice that there is no need to plug in cables any more. What is not that great is iPhone wireless charge speed. It is slow.

Categories
apple Devices iphone

Apple iPhone 8 charging time

Charging iPhone using different chargers. Results time depends on charger a lot. Starting from long 4 hours charge using standard PC USB port with 5v 0.5A. Ending with 1h 40m using Apple 29W type-c charger with USB PD 14.7v 2A. Despite 29W charger is actually the best one it cost too much to use it as iPhone charger – 75$ (charger and cable). There is other option available for fast charge iPhone. Apple 12W iPad charger with 5.1v 2.4A. It is only ~20$. Same 1h 40m for 100% charge.

50% 80% 100%
PC Port USB 2.0 1:45:00 2:55:00 4:00:00
Apple 5W charger 0:52:00 1:25:00 2:20:00
Apple 12W charger (add  19$) 0:26:00 0:50:00 1:40:00
Apple 29W charger (add 49$ + 25$) 0:26:00 0:50:00 1:40:00

iPhone 8 charging time

Fast charging is actually happens only when battery is more or less empty. Charging from 80% to 100% may take same time that from 0% to 80%.

See charging current and voltage details on graphs below for all types of chargers

Categories
apple Devices iphone

iPhone 8

First look on iPhone 8 and iPhone 7 comparison shows that phones have more in common than differences.

iPhone 8 and iPhone 7 have same:

  • size and bumping camera
  • photos (camera) quality
  • accessories compatibility
  • accessories in the box
  • charging time
  • both need cases

iPhone 8

  • is heavier
  • 20-30% faster
  • support wireless charging
  • support USB PD 14.7v charging
  • have glass back
  • got screen auto white balance (True Tone)

iPhone 7 and iPhone 8

As usual a little bit faster than previous model. Little bit heavier. Same size. Compatible with existing accessories. iPhone 8 support charging with 14.7 volt (up to 80%, using Apple USB Type-C power adapter). But quick charge test shows more or less same charging time for both iPhone 7 and iPhone 8. Same need to use case because of bumping camera. Plus, another reason to use case with iPhone 8 is because of its glass back. It may be broken and it get dirty looks fast.  Minus one reason for the case is less slip grip of iPhone 8. The phone is no longer try to fell from a hand all the time. When using a phone in case it is hard to say if it is iPhone 7 or iPhone 8. Screen scratch protection is still not perfect. Couple of days in pocket with coins and/or second phone – visible scratches. Same USB 2.0 wired sync speed. Type-C to Lightning cable is also USB 2.0 sync speed. Phone does not have Apple wireless charger yet, but Samsung and other Qi charges work for iPhone 8.

Categories
app apple GPS iOS

Traffic on Apple iOS 11 map

Latest iOS update brings among other traffic data in Kyiv.  In addition, map is less outdated compare to how it is usual in Apple maps. Now map based on OpenStreetMaps.  Routing is far from perfect. Traffic is also not always relevant. But at least map improves.

iOS 11 Navigation with traffic

Good news is that map edits that I did during last year using OSM editor now are in new Apple map. Therefore, the way to fix Apple map mistakes exist.

Some streets names are not translated properly.

iOS 11 Navigation night mode

 

Categories
app GPS iOS iphone

NavLux

It looks like I have found last available on iOS navigation software from Ukrainian developers. It is NavLux from Luxena. When it works it looks like:

But it is sometimes hard to make it work. My application purchase expirience:

  1. Not possible to try it before buy on iOS. Must pay 15$ first.
  2. Purchase Server Unavailable. Cannot activate the map.
  3. Support not answer on both in-app and site forms requests.

NavLux Premium versionNavLux purchase errorNavLux Map Not Activated

Application start work in about 3 days after purchase (I suppose Luxena have fixed the issue with its server).

Categories
Android GPS iOS

Yandex Navigator Alternatives (UA)

Читаємо новини:

Порошенко ввів санкції проти Яндекса, Вконтакте, Одноклассников та інших

Київстар, lifecell і Vodafone почали блокувати санкційні сайти РФ

Обираємо Альтернативу

HERE WeGo Android та iOS

Безкоштовний навігатор з трафіком, офлайн картою, можливістю редагувати карту через сайт, з повільним оновлення (назв вулиць і т.і.), без подій (аварії, дорожні роботи, і т.і.).

here

Google Maps Android та iOS

Безкоштовний онлайн навігатор з можливістю завантажити вибрані фрагменти мапи розміром з місто чи район. Без можливості редагування для регіону Україна. З трафіком. Без можливості повідоми про події, але з відображення подій з Waze.

google

Waze Android та iOS

Навігатор – соціальна мережа, лайки, коментарі, статуси, трафік  з подіями (перекриття, ремонти, аварії, затори). Є можливість редагувати мапу. Зміни мапи  з’являються в програмі швидко.

waze