The designers at Air Dock have recently introduced a new Indiegogo project for their second generation wireless charging car mount, the Air Dock 2.0. Like the original, the Air Dock 2.0 is a wireless car charger and dock for smartphones and tablets that are equipped with Qi inductive charging technology. The Air Dock docking surface is made of nano suction foam, so “mounting your device is as simple as placing it on the dock”.
The Air Dock 2.0 improvements include:
- New Qi transmitter – This allows for a longer charging range, enabling the use of thicker cases. More aftermarket receivers are compatible with the improved transmitter.
- NFC enabled – Use the built-in NFC chip to trigger events on your device. You can open apps, start music, or go to dock mode.
- Functional design improvements – Thinner design and USB port re-location.
The Air Dock 2.0 has four mounting options:
- Standard mount for textured surfaces
- Standard mount for smooth surfaces
- Long flexible mount
- CD mount
At the time of writing this article, the Air Dock 2.0’s Indiegogo project is fully funded with three weeks left. A pledge of $85 will reserve one Air Dock 2.0. The project closes on January 26, 2015.
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Wireless charging. I’m curious about interference when charging with wireless. I built a very similar product (almost identical function wise) for the Palm Pre. I had suction foam and stronger magnets to hold the phone to my car dock. One issue I had with the wireless charging was interference in the audio out on the palm pre. I solved with with a Ground loop isolator on the audio side. I currently have a Note 4 with Qi charging, but not in my car. I use a ProClips doc for my car. But I’m wondering is QI has the same issue with audio noise. Anybody test this?
@Andrew Can you explain the issue? Are you saying you have audio problems when the device is charging wirelessly? I can try testing this if you get me some details.
I’ve had no issues that I can tell with audio noise using Qi chargers in my house or car, in fact now that I think about it, I used to get more noise on a direct charge cable from the car then with the Qi.
I use all bluetooth now (I bought inexpensive BT receivers so I can be 100% wireless, even by the bed where I use headphones at night.
This is with a Nexus 5 & 7.
@Julie This was a problem I had with my Palm Pre wireless charging. I would get a loud hum and clicking/ticking while charging. I was using (actually still AM) the blackberry bluetooth receiver for my car. I solved the buzz/ticking issue by installing a ground loop isolator on the aux cable for my car. I no longer have the Palm Pre. I was curious if the ticking/buzz was something that the wireless introduced into the system. I do notice late at night when it’s very quite I can “hear” the wireless QI charger. It’s right at the edge of my hearing and very quite. What I probably should do is temporarily install my QI charger in car and test. I just wondered if anyone else experienced this.
http://www.amazon.com/BlackBerry-Remote-Stereo-Bluetooth-Gateway/dp/B00170KUM0/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1420557500&sr=8-7&keywords=blackberry+bluetooth
Just tried it with my LG G3 and a Nokia Qi dock. With earbuds in I didn’t notice any audio issues. I can try it through the phone’s speaker later tonight (I’m at work right now).
OK, this is a message for Tim Cook and the iPhone/iPad charging team.
It’s starting to get a little annoying that Apple hasn’t jumped on the Qi bandwagon.
Oh I know Apple has a long history of taking any existing technology and then refusing to use it, but messing about to make a “better” version.
Meanwhile, though, I’m shuffling through all sorts of expensive cables to hook my iPhone to various chargers.
Tim, are you listening? Your customers would like to move into the 21st Century. Little white cables are so 1990s.
Little white cables also allow a device to be used while it charges.
I have owned two Air Docks and both are in the garbage.
The charging port on the first dock became loose. When I politely asked the company to stand behind their product, they said no. They did offer a 50% discount if I bought a new one (which should give you some sense of how enormous their markup is). I did buy a new one.
The entire front face of the new one came completely off the frame within 30 seconds of un-boxing. When I politely asked the company to stand behind their product, they said sure – but I would have to pay to return it to them. I declined on general principle. Why should I have to pay to return their defective product? When I asked them to reconsider, they did not bother to respond.
My overall impression is that this is a mediocre product that is easily damaged and rendered useless, and the customer service is three feet below the bottom of the barrel.
Find an alternative on Amazon.