Google Pixel 3 locks fast Qi charging to its own $79 stand - Sensationalist Headlines

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/10/drm-for-chargers-google-pixel-3-locks-fast-qi-charging-to-its-own-79-stand/ It still allows 3rd party chargers to charge at 5W, but 10W is locked to Google's charging stand.

Despicable.

It's a damn shame. I love my first gen pixel but Google's just going with all the dumbest trends with the newer models. May as well just buy a new battery for my current phone and keep using it instead of taking my upgrade.

Huh I thought Apple was the money-grubbing greedy corporation

I was just about the post this. I love 1st gen Pixel as well and I won't """upgrade""" any time soon because they removed shit like the headphone jack, added the notch, and decided to do shit like this. Hey, remember when they advertised the headphone jack to "burn" Apple with the 1st gen Pixel and then totally caved like a bitch with the Pixel 2?

hackers will totally find a workaround in 5 minutes, won't they?

If it is possible to unlock, I'm sure it would at least require root access, which is not so trivial your average person.

I miss the days of the Nexus line of enthusiast Android phones Now we have another iPhone clone

Damn I like my first gen Pixel, this sounds like bullshit but I don't really feel like migrating back to something else.

In defense the Pixel Stand is pretty ace, but the charge-rate lockdown is pretty uncool.

They still are lmao. Google have been getting real weird with the Pixel line. Compared to their old Nexus line they're really going hard with the walled garden ecosystem. Sure it might provide a better UX, but at the cost of going against a main USP of Android. Now their hardware side is getting even shiftier.

The pixel 3 is such a dumpster fire. I don't think I've ever seen anyone who wants one

That is super gross, why do that?

holy fuck they made it proprietary they must be fucking dumb

Suddenly i like google a wholelot less. They probably manufacture the stands for 5 dollars a pop too.

Adding to this: Google has to address an update because the phone isn't saving photos. They're doubling down on noise reduction in recorded videos, so the audio quality is poor. And, it can't even keep three apps in memory. It's probably one of the worst dumpster fires I've seen in a mobile device for a while.

They earn loads of dosh, that's why Google decided to copy them. But they forgot to copy good Apple stuff, what little they still had left from Jobs days.

Well I don't think there is a 10W Qi standard yet.. so they took matters into their own hands?

Qi has a spec for power delivery of up to 15W https://www.wirelesspowerconsortium.com/developers/specification.html Version 1.2 Fast charging. The possibility for transmitters to deliver up to 15 Watt power and the option for receivers to obtain up to 15 Watt.

Well, looks like I was mistaken

There can be more than one, you know.

https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/standards.png

Qi charging is capped at 5W, the 10W charging is a new Google technology that will be available for 3rd party manufacturers, but it needs to be certified by Google before reaching the market. Here is a Belkin charger that is certified that goes up to 10W charging for Pixel 3: 10W Charger from Belkin

Samsung uses 10W for a long time, iPhones are capped at 7.5W. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DBXNV58/ this Anker charger is outputting 10W, but is capped at 5W by Pixel 3

can confirm. I got my pixel 3 a few days ago and i was furious when i found out it was charging half as fast on that anker pad, then i looked it up and i started seeing all the articles about the limitation. there's literally no reason for this, even the iphone uses full speed charging

The Pixel line is nice tho?

Hmm, lets see 1) carrier locked to verizon 2) bug that doesn't seem to save camera photos 3) this DRM level bullshit 4) charging EU carriers to preload g apps after the anti competitive fines. 5(6, 7, ..) google doing its usual anti competitive bullshit I honestly don't know what the fuck google was thinking that this would help anything. But I sure as hell won't buy any sort of pixel phone if google's going to pull this garbage.

that sound reduction idea seems cool on paper but how does automating it help anyone. Let the user control what frequencies they want.

this is because google only uses the base qi wireless charging standard which supports up to 5w and also use their own method on top of that for reaching 10w, they're in the process of creating their own certification so 3rd party stands can also support 10w charging on the pixel 3 samsung does the same thing (but because samsung's had wireless charging for so long, most 3rd party chargers support samsung's version of wireless quick charge now), in fact, the only device that fully supports qi's own fast charging method is the razer phone 2 with its own $100 wireless charger apple's iphone is limited to 7.5w charging, and has no method for greater speeds

This is what I don't understand about this tech culture we have. People will shit on Apple everyday of the week for not "Including a fast charger" in the box with the new iPhone, yet some of those same people will praise Google for putting what is essentially a fucking DRM on their chargers. I think people need to realise this isn't a brand-specific problem, it's an industry problem. Phone's have evolved to such a point now where currently, there isn't much you can really do to "improve" them. So companies are starting to make these bullshit gimmicks to make the phone seem like it is special or can do more.