Of the many features that OnePlus delivered with its OnePlus 8 Pro was the inclusion of wireless charging. Not only does the handset support the standard Qi charging, it also included a new faster charging system for wireless charging.
Has the wait for wireless been worth it to gain the rapid charging experience?
OnePlus chose to go down the fast charging route rather than the wireless charging route that its competitors went down. Over time, rapid charging has become a feature of high-end smartphones but OnePlus still has a lead over the pack and there is a brand association of fast charging with the Shenzhen-based company.
Just as its competitors have moved towards rapid wired charging, OnePlus has moved into wireless with a twist. OnePlus has worked hard to successfully bring its ‘rapid charging’ identity to wireless charging.
The OnePlus Warp Charge 30 Wireless Charger offers 30 watts of power to charge your battery through the inductive charging mechanism. That’s a significant step up from other wireless chargers in terms of power, which reduces the charging time.
This needs some smart circuitry to keep everything in sync, and the charger and the handset talk to each other to ensure the rush of power is balanced against the needs of the battery. It also has to deal with excess heat, and the charger’s built-in fan helps immensely with this.
If you are going to use the charger as a night stand, then the smart charging feature will reduce the speed of the charging and aim to get the phone to 100 percent as you wake up (assuming you keep to a regular schedule).
You’ve probably worked out that this system is proprietary to OnePlus, so don’t expect rapid charging on any other device… if you try it out you’ll get 10W delivered over the Qi standard.
Does all this new technology work in practice, or is the OnePlus 8 Pro’s support of the Qi wireless charging standard enough for most users?
Wireless charging’s promise is simple… the ability to drop your smartphone on a cradle or stand, have it charge without you taking the time to plug in a cable, but able to pick it up quickly. The best use case for wireless charging is somewhere you are at frequently, but are getting up and down all day and need to keep your phone with you. That’s not a model where ‘fast wireless charging’ is as much of an advantage over ‘normal wireless charging’ as you would expect.
Which leaves the dedicated OnePlus Rapid Wireless Charger as a bit of a curiosity, because it’s nowhere near a portable solution. The unit is designed to be put on a desk and left there. It’s not a compact solution that is easily packed away, the cabling between the base unit and the power socket is only three feet long (and fixed in place, so there’s no easy way to replace a damaged cable).
And a desk based charger, as mentioned, is more suited to sipping power than gulping down gallons. For me the biggest increase in functionality of the OnePlus 8 Pro is the inclusion of wireless charging using the qi standard. It brings the OnePlus 8 Pro into line with other flagship handsets, offers the increased functionality and flexibility of wireless charging, and has buckets of compatibility across a wide range of qi accessories.
Technically, the speed of the rapid wireless charging system is brilliant. From empty to fifty percent in thirty minutes is fast (as a comparison, the bundled USB-C rapid charger takes a slightly shorter twenty-three minutes to go from empty to fifty).
Is that faster charging worth the $69.95 that OnePlus charges? I’m honestly not sure. The welcome fact that there is a rapid wired charger in the box negates much of the need for another rapid charger, and the use of the qi standard means there are far more options available for those who are looking to use wireless charging on the OnePlus in similar ways to other manufacturers.
Thankfully this is an optional extra. I’ve been sold on wireless charging for many years, so I know that my lifestyle is quite happy to use a slower universal Qi charger. If you’re considering the OnePlus Rapid Wireless Charger, think carefully about how you’ll use the charger and if it fits with your lifestyle.
