I’m a latecomer to the world of wireless charging. I’ve been doing just fine plugging in my phone when necessary; however, it has always been in the back of my mind to give wireless charging a try. So when the Choetech 3-Coils Wireless Iron Stand Charger was available to review, I was eager to check it out. What did I find? This thing rocks! I love that it’s a stand type charger so that when I place my phone on the stand, I can see the face of my phone when notifications come in – all while it charges. Being a stand charger with LEDs that illuminate when charging also helped to place my phone in the correct position for charging every time. I only wish that the stand had its micro-USB port in the back and that it was collapsible, then it would be perfect!
Package Contents:
- Choetech 3-Coils Wireless Iron Stand (Qi) Charger (T516)
- micro-USB charging cable
- 5V/2A AC adapter
- User manual
- Satisfaction card
- 18 Month Warranty
Popular Compatible Models:
- Note 5/S6/S6 Edge/S6 Edge Plus
- Nexus 7 2nd Gen/Nexus 4/Nexus 5/Nexus 6
- LG D1L, LG LTE2, LG G2 (Verizon)
- Nokia Lumia 920/1020/928
- HTC 8X (not UK version) / HTC Droid DNA / Rzound
Models Requiring a Wireless Charging receiver:
- iPhone 6/5s/5/4/4S
- Galaxy S5/S4/S3/Galaxy Note 4/3(not Verizon version)/2
- Nokia Lumia 820
- Blackberry Z30 Verizon
- LG G4
Design & Build
NOTE: All photos may be clicked on to view a larger size.
The Choetech wireless charger is 3.2″ x 4.1″ x 5.2″, made of a single piece of metal (most likely aluminum) and is really durable, yet lightweight. It has four LEDs along the side of the stand to indicate when your device is charging. This side of the charger also has the micro-USB port to provide electricity to the charger. You may also notice a strip of silicone at the base of the stand where your device sits to help prevent slipping and scratching your phone.
The bottom of the stand charger also has two elongated sections of silicone to prevent the stand from slipping on or scratching the surface of your furniture.
Use
When plugged in, the micro-USB cable sticks out to the side a bit which is a minor inconvenience. Note that before you use the charger, there is a thin plastic coating that needs to be peeled off of the face (which is a little tricky since there is no tab to grab and you don’t want to scratch the surface of the charger when using your fingernails or other objects to peel it off).
From the above photo, you can see how the four blue LEDs light up when my Nexus 6 phone is placed on the stand; this indicates that the phone is in the proper position and is charging.
When in portrait position, you really don’t have to worry about placing the phone in a particular spot because the three vertical coils ensure that your phone charges whether the phone’s Qi wireless receiver is near the bottom, middle or upper part of the phone. However, if you are charging a Nexus 7 tablet (2nd generation), due to its large size, it will not charge if it is in the portrait position.
The charger received 4.97V/1.43A when plugged in with the phone sitting on the charger. When wirelessly charging, there are some inefficiencies that occur with inductive charging so I think that I can comfortable say that the phone is receiving nearly the 5v/1A charge (if the charger is about 70% efficient). “Adding the losses of the AC adapter to wireless charger brings the overall efficiency further down as the inductive transfer efficiency of inductive charging is only 75–80 percent” according to Battery University).
Additionally, charging with my phone’s Supcase on didn’t alter the charging rate when compared to having it off. Yay! I did notice that my phone and the AC adapter were noticeably warm when charging, but that is to be expected when using inductive charging.
The above photo is an example of my phone being placed about 0.75 cm off to the side of the wireless stand charger such that the phone was essentially no longer charging (4.90V/0.07A). My USB multimeter showed that there was virtually no current being drawn by my phone and the charger’s LEDs were not illuminated. It seems unlikely to me that anyone would place their phone on a stand like this (I don’t know, maybe it’s just me but this placement would drive me crazy! It’s like having a glass sitting on the edge of the table.)
The above figure shows how different phones need to be placed on the charger when they are in the landscape position.
Placing the phone in landscape position required that my Nexus 6 phone be placed such that it was slightly off-center on the charger toward the bottom of my phone (nearest to my phone’s micro-USB charging port) to start charging. If I moved the phone over to the right (more centered) any more than this the phone would stop charging.
When placed in the proper position, the phone charged was charging as indicated by the illuminated LEDs and my USB multimeter readings.
However, when improperly placed centered on the stand, the phone did not charge as indicated by my USB multimeter readings – 4.93V/0.02A – and the fact that the stand’s LEDs were not illuminated.
Even though this charger charged my phone at a much slower rate than my Nexus 6 Quick Charge 2.0 charger, when I wanted to set my phone down to do other things during the day, I would place it on the charger knowing that it was charging in the meantime. It also automatically shut off when my phone was fully charged. In addition, the stand is useful to “read incoming messages, watch your favorite movies or enjoy hands-free video chatting with your friends while charging your phone.”
Final Thoughts
I love this Choetech 3-Coils Wireless Iron Stand Charger (T516). It is made of metal, very sturdy, durable and lightweight. Placing my phone on this charger in the correct position for charging is, for the most part, a breeze especially when in the portrait position. Landscape positioning required that I position my phone on the charger such that the bottom was nearest to the inductive coils of the charger. After learning this, placement of the phone in landscape position was easy especially with the LEDs illuminating when the phone is in the proper position for charging. The charging rate was slower than my Nexus 6 OEM charger, but that is what I expected since it is a 5V/1A charger. I also enjoyed being able to view the face of my phone while on the stand. It would have been nice to have had the charging port in the back of the charger and to have had the stand be collapsible, but really these are only minor inconveniences for me. I highly recommend this charger.
Source: The sample used in this review was provided by Chotech. Please visit their website for more information or Amazon to purchase this product.
Product Information
| Price: | $35.99 |
| Manufacturer: | Choetech |
| Retailer: | Amazon |
| Requirements: |
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Have you found any other wireless charging stand that supports quick charging besides the one offered by Samsung? I would like to find a stand like this that allows for the phone to be propped up. The Samsung one has the phone laying down flat.
I don’t know of any stand chargers that support quick charge but maybe other readers might.
I’ve bought this one. It’s adjustable, and the micro-usb cable plugs in the back. It is more expensive though.
@Andy, you did not leave a link.
Hmm. Here’s the Amazon title. It was there when I hit submit:
“Qi-infinity™ 3-coils Folding Qi Wireless Charger Dock (Silver/black) for Samsung Galaxy Note 4, S5,s6,s6 Edge Nexus 5, Nexus 7, Nexus 4, Nokia Lumia 1020/920/928, Moto Droid Maxx/droid Mini, HTC Droid Dna, HTC Rzound, Blackberry Z30, Pentax Wg-iii Camera, Samsung, Google, Lg G3, HTC and Other Qi-enabled Phones and Tablets”
When researching a QI charger recently, I found your review but I then found this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/DLAND-Foldable-Wireless-Blackberry-Qi-Enabled/dp/B00XL4KYL2
This answers your gripes of a unit that is foldable and has the cable connect at the back. The unit is sold by many companies under different names so could be difficult to find but it’s a gem and charges my S6 Edge THROUGH a ‘bumper’ case.
@Simon and Andy – thanks for sharing your information!
Yes, that’s a USA branding of what I found on Amazon.co.uk