I've always loved wireless charging for many reasons, with the main ones being convenience, ease of use, and sometimes even form-factor. Not to mention the charging port doesn't get physically damaged from accidental trips and falls from a dangling cable directly connected to a smartphone, especially from Micro-USB cables, and prevents potential wear-and-tear. However, due to USB-C, I haven't had any wear-and-tear issues with connecting any of my devices via USB-C. Here's the big but: This still involves a cable directly connected to a smartphone, some of which cost upwards of $2000 or more. Now granted, there's still a wire connected to the wireless charging pad/stand that. For me at least, that cable is out of the away all of the time no matter where I put down the wireless charging pad. This also significantly decreases any chance for my $1000+ phone from falling and damaging anything externally and the physical USB connector outright. In my opinion, the added costs for the wireless charging tech is worth it, especially for the ease-of-mind (almost like getting a case or skin for a phone). Now with a bulk of my reasoning out of the way, here's my overview of the Anker PowerWave Stand.
If anyone has ever unboxed any Anker products, unboxing the PowerWave Stand is like any standard unboxing from Anker. Inside the box, you get the wireless charging stand and a micro-USB charging cable. You do need to buy or use your own fast-charging power brick to take advantage of the 10 W fast wireless charging.
For my testing, I used the Samsung 15 to 18 W charger that was supplied with my Samsung Galaxy S6, which is the exact same as the charging brick I got from my Galaxy Note 9. The power brick that I am using supplies 9 volts and 1.67 A (so 15 W). Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0 and 3.0 power bricks should also supply enough power to enable 10 W fast wireless charging. You can still use 5W wireless charging by using a 10 W or 12 W charging brick (power bricks that supply 5V and either 2 A or 2.4 A, respectively).
My initial thoughts for the PowerWave Stand was excellent. Everything was plug-and-play and I was able to charge my Note 9 wirelessly with no problems at all. For my testing purposes, I tested out both 5 W and 10 W wireless charging on my Note 9. For this, I used the Ampere app to test out the charging speeds. Here are my results:
Battery Drain before wirelessly charging:
Do keep in mind that thee voltage pertains to the battery and not from any charging whatsoever.
First 5 W Wireless Charging Results
Here are my first results for 5W wireless charging. This does seem kind of low (around 3 W to 4 W).
2nd 5 W Wireless Charging Results
This is more along the lines of what I expected (Between 4 W to 7.5 W depending on the voltage supplied by the wireless charging stand, which could be either 5 V or 9 V)
10 W Wireless Charging Results
After seeing these results, there is one thing I can confirm, and one thing I can assume:
Confirm: Yes, wirelessly charging a smartphone is less efficient than connecting a cable directly to the device due to some of the energy being released as heat. Not to mention that the coils have to supply power through various plastic and glass layers, between the charging element from the charging pad/stand and the charging coil on the back of a smartphone, to even allow the device to charge. Then again, this is a trade-off that a person like me is willing to take. TLDR, you can't beat the laws of Physics here.
Assumption: At least for 10 W charging, this wireless charger supplies around 9 volts (Power in Watts equals Voltage * Current in Amps).
As for overall design, it is not the most attractive thing, but it is not the ugliest thing in the world. There was some thought put in the design. For instance, I like the blue indicator near the bottom of the charging base of the PowerWave Stand, as it tells the user that the stand has detected the device. Overall, I'm satisfied with the design. It's no modern design, but it looks decent.
As for overall function, the PowerWave Stand functions almost exactly as the PowerWave Pad that I had about a year before receiving the stand version, as they both provide the same power and current (at least in my testing). However, the PowerWave Stand is just more practical and functional, in my opinion. The PowerWave Stand part can double as a regular phone stand to view media content. Now granted, the PowerWave Stand has a fixed angle. From my experience, the stand angle is good. On a desk, the PowerWave Stand is not high up, which makes the fixed angle of the stand not that big of an issue to me, especially with the good viewing angles that the Galaxy Note 9 offers. Also, wirelessly charging a phone with the PowerWave Stand is just easier and more consistent. With the PowerWave Pad I bought earlier, I did have to make an effort to know how to place my phone down on the pad. With the PowerWave Stand, I literally just plop my phone down on it and it just charges my phone. There's just no guesswork needed compared to frankly any wireless charging pads. For me, the PowerWave Stand is functionally better.
Overall, there's nothing really to complain about the PowerWave Stand, other than the design (and that is me really nitpicking). Everything works well and is definitely worth the added cost.
Here's the supplemental video for this blog: https://youtu.be/W5Si7WTklzE
Here is the product page (not an affiliate link): https://www.amazon.com/Anker-Qi-Certified-Compatible-Fast-Charging-PowerWave/dp/B07DBXZZN3
Disclaimer: Anker did not pay me to write this review. I did get a free sample from the Anker Testing Club. However, Anker is seeing this review for the first time as everyone else. Everything I put in this blog post is purely either objective or my honest, non-biased opinion. Again, thank you, Anker, for having the Testing club. I really love getting my hands on these products and giving my honest feedback.
Anyways, Cheers!
Victor Le | CEO of Le Blogs