In a step towards making wireless charging even easier, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has approved first wireless charger that has the ability to charge any wireless charging supported device from a distance of around three feet.

Energous, a San Jose-based startup has announced that it has received the first such FCC certification for the “power-at-a-distance” wireless charging system. The mechanism uses its WattUp Mid Field transmitter, which converts electricity into radio frequencies and then beams the energy to nearby devices which packs a corresponding receiver.

Currently, the wireless chargers require devices to be in physical contact. Energous’ WattUp is addressing that and has eliminated the need for the device to be in physical contact with the charger. The company is also working on a device with 15-foot long-range support which has not been approved by FCC yet.

According to the company, WattUp is capable enough to charge multiple devices simultaneously and should work on any number of devices — from smartphones and tablets to keyboards and earphones, as long as those devices are equipped with the right receiver.

Interestingly, the ecosystem is manufacturer-agnostic, meaning that the user only requires the WattUp transmitter. With this, if you’re using a Samsung smartphone with the transmitter made by Sony or any other company, the charging system will still work.

Ensuring convenience, the entire “power-at-a-distance” setup can be easily controlled using a mobile application. Users can stop charging a particular device from the application and start the charging again without any hassle.

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Currently, the company doesn’t have any retail-ready product for this technology. However, the company is planning to show off its technology at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2018 in Las Vegas. There is a possibility that Energous could start selling the device to public from the second half of 2018.

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We all love to have our gadgets work for us whenever we need them but these batteries that can’t last forever just won’t allow us do that. Again, using a charging cable to fuel up the battery also pose its own challenge, most especially limiting our movement to a particular radius if you actually want to keep it charging and still operating the gadget. That is where wireless charging comes in handy, but we still haven’t got a truly wireless charging device that can charge multiple gadgets all at the same time and don’t need any wire at all or charging pad.

US-based tech company Energous had promised to make its truly wireless charging device dubbed WattUp wire-free charging technology that would charge all our gadgets but that promise is yet to materialize till now. However, Energous CEO Steve Rizzone, in a phone call to Verge ahead of CES, has reaffirmed that the wireless charging transmitters is still in the works and that it might start shipping by the end of 2017.

The charging transmitter was first unveiled at CES 2015 and was supposed to ship that same year, but according to the CEO, Energous signed a “key strategic partnership” just a month after the convention, leading to a renewed focus on miniaturizing the technology before shipping it. The partnership gave Energous’ mystery partner the right to be the first to ship its charging technology inside of phones, laptops, tablets, and certain wearables and accessories, so Energous’ initial plan for battery phone cases had to be put on hold.

There are speculations that the mystery partner is Apple and even though Energous is yet to disclose the identity of its partner, the CEO lent credence to the speculations by hinting that the partnership is with “one of the largest consumer electronic companies in the world. I cannot tell you who it is, but I can virtual guarantee that you have products from this company on your person, sitting on your desk, or at home.”

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If truly Apple is the key partner, then chances are that we might really be seeing the WattUp Wire-Free charging technology before the end of this year. Don’t jump up for joy just yet, the technology still has a long way to go before it get wider accessibility. First, devices have got to support the technology and then there will be a transmitter that would be installed in every home or office where the devices can then be connected to the transmitter. Moreover, the company has said it isn’t manufacturing any of the gadgets itself rather it will sell the radios and technology to companies that are interested in having them in their own gadgets, transmitters, or charging pads. So, it is still doubtful whether we’ll see devices charging wirelessly this year. Perhaps, its is still a technology for the future?

(source)

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