One of the fantastic advancements with Windows Phone design development is wireless charging. It eliminated the need to plug your Windows Phone up to a charging cord. Plus you have the cool factor of simply laying your Windows Phone down on a charging pad to replenish the battery.
While Nokia offers a Qi-Enabled wireless charger (the DT-900), there are a few third party options out there. RAVPower is one such alternative and the company offers their own Qi-Enabled wireless charger that may save you a few dollars at the checkout line without compromising quality or performance.
Reviewing a Qi-Enabled charger is somewhat of a challenge in that there’s not much to things. The RAVPower charging plate measures 5.7 x 3.11 x .31 inches and weighs only 4.5 ounces. It is noticeably larger than Nokia’s charging pad but about the same thickness and weight.
The RAVPower charger comes packaged with a micro-USB to USB cord, wall plug and owner’s manual. I like that RAVPower uses a standard cord instead of a proprietary cord. It allows you to charge directly to your Windows Phone (e.g. from the computer) and if by some unfortunate accident the power cord is damaged (e.g. chewed up by your pet dog), finding a replacement cord is much easier.
The design of the charging pad has a little led light that indicates your Windows Phone charging status. It will flash green/red while your phone is charging and solid green when charging is complete. An audible chirp sounds when the connection between the charging pad and your Windows Phone is made. Construction quality with the RAVPower charger appears top notch and in using it over the course of a few days, I didn't experience any heating of the charging pad.
Again, the charging pad is larger than the Nokia pad and easily accommodates the Lumia 1020. It should match up nicely with the Lumia 1520. I did find that both the Lumia 1020 and 920 had to sit higher on the charging pad before the connection kicked in.
As far as pricing is concerned, the RAVPower is currently running $39.99 over at Amazon.com. In comparison, outside the occasional deals that crop up, the Nokia DT-900 is running in the neighborhood of $45. It isn’t a tremendous savings but with an easier to replace power cord, the RAVPower Qi-Enable Wireless Charger is an option to consider. Now if we could just get AT&T to keep the wireless system in place.
You can find the RAVPower Qi-Enabled Wireless Charger here at Amazon.com for $39.99.
