It's a pain to keep track of the chargers that go with cell phones, media players and other small electronics. It's even more annoying to stuff multiple power cords and adapters in your bag when you go out of town.
What if you could charge things without plugging them in?
I've started doing just that. I tested two mats that juice up small devices like iPods on contact, with only the mat plugged into an outlet rather than each gadget. The mats are far from perfect, requiring special sleeves and adapters for electronics. But there's something thrilling about cutting (most of) the cords.
The first product I tried came from Powermat USA, which started selling two $100 mats this month.
One of them is an oblong mat designed for home and office use, which impressed me right out of the box because it was easy to set up and compatible with lots of popular gadgets. Powermat also sells a rectangular one that folds into thirds for traveling.
Both are available at Best Buy and Target, and are expected to start selling through Amazon.com next week.
Each Powermat comes with a little white cube that sports a miniUSB connector -- the kind that goes into BlackBerrys and numerous other phones -- and eight different tips that fit the charging port on an iPhone, iPod, Sony PSP and other small electronics. Once you connect your gadget to the cube with the appropriate tip, you drop the cube onto the mat to start charging.
You can skip the step of using the cube, but that will cost more money. Powermat sells plastic cases for devices such as the iPhone, iPod Touch and Nintendo DSi, along with special back covers for some BlackBerrys. All these let you charge the devices by simply plopping them down on the pad. There's also a small charging dock that fits an iPod or iPhone.
These add-ons run $30 to $40. But it is much easier to keep the special case on an iPhone and then simply drop it on the pad when you need more juice.
Each Powermat can charge three gadgets at once; magnets hold them in place. When you put a phone on the Powermat it emits a soft white light and a chirpy "zzwhip" sound to let you know it is properly connected. A somewhat opposite noise tells you when the connection is broken.
Powermat uses induction to charge your electronics. Basically, when you drop a Powermat-enabled device on the mat, the two exchange a "handshake" using RFID, or radio-frequency identification technology. The mat identifies the device, determines how much power it needs, then starts transferring energy  to it. Once a device is fully charged, Powermat will stop the electricity from flowing. (continued...)
© 2009 Associated Press/AP Online under contract with YellowBrix. All rights reserved.
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