Case-Mate Wireless POWER PAD Charger Stand REVIEW

POWER PAD is perfect for fast charging

Wireless charging is nothing new — well not for everyone outside of the Apple ecosystem. Now that our gods over at Apple have finally blessed us with the almighty wireless charging feature for iPhone 8, 8 Plus, and iPhone X, I’m ready to take full advantage of it. In the months since I’ve received the iPhone X, I have been testing out a variety of wireless charging options. The most popular style seems to be the round, pucks that force your phone to lay flat on a tabletop. While this version has been effective, I prefer a stand because I am able to see the face of my phone easier as it’s charging. There seems to be a void in the wireless charging market for affordable, reliable charging stands. I have been able to try out a couple and the latest one is the Case-Mate Power Pad with Stand. I was very excited to hear about the release of this product and even more excited to actually try it out.

Details

The Power Pad charger with stand is a fast-charging option for wireless charging devices. The device is Qi Certified and supports Apple fast charging at 7.5W and Samsung fast charging at 9W. The product is a charger in two parts — the Power Pad and the stand. You can use them together or detach the Power Pad for a lay-flat pad. The pad has a TPU ridge that creates a slip-resistant surface. It works well whether it’s laying flat or on the stand. The stand will work in portrait or landscape views. The Power Pad comes with a 5-foot cable and it has a soft LED indicator that confirms when charging is taking place. The Power Pad includes an 18W Adaptive Quick Charge USB Wall Adapter.

The Power Pad is designed for easy wireless charging for the user. Round, puck-shaped chargers will make users search for the special charging area, but the Power Pad is smartphone shaped so that no matter where your phone sits, it will get a charge. The Power Pad only weighs around 8 ounces and since the pad is detachable, it travels very well. The Case-Mate Power Pad is priced well with other wireless chargers with stands. It’s currently being offered for $60 through Case-Mate, but I’ve seen it priced as low as $46 (Amazon) at the time that this article was written.

User Experience

When I product arrives at my house, I normally like to wait to use it. I try to unbox each item and really pay attention to how everything is boxed up. I smell the tech — yes, I smell the tech — and if wires are included, I measure them to see if said wire is as long as the company states. There are a lot of things I try to check out as I unbox a product, but something about this little charger caused me to pull it out and plug it in immediately — skipping all those other unboxing steps. I got it assembled (minor assembly required) and started using it when it arrived. I have been using it ever since. The nicest thing about this stand is that it sits on my desk. So, when I walk into my office to work for the day, I can place it on the stand and start working. I know my phone will always have power and I don’t have to mess with plugging or unplugging it from a charger.

As a method of testing the effectiveness ness of the charging capabilities of the Power Pad, I noted battery percentage throughout the course of a day in order to show how quickly the battery on the iPhone X was charging. The first chart shows how well the Power Pad charged my iPhone X while it was plugged into my Corsair ST100 Headset Stand which is a USB 3.1 port. It shows a gain of 11% battery over a period of 47 minutes.

Time	Battery Percentage
11:51 p.m.	16%
12:04 a.m.	19%
12:29 a.m.	25%
12:38 a.m.	27%

This second chart shows how the Power Pad charged while it was plugged into a wall outlet using the provided 18W power adapter. Using this method, my iPhone’s battery was able to gain 20% over a period of 46 minutes. It’s clear that even though you can charge it with a direct USB connection, you are much better off using a wall outlet as a power source.

Time	Battery Percentage
10:50 p.m.	68%
11:00 p.m.	72%
11:09 p.m.	76%
11:20 p.m.	82%
11:36 p.m.	88%

As I mentioned above, I prefer to use a stand-style charger. That wasn’t always the case. At first, I wasn’t sure why a wireless charger would need a stand. Now I can’t imagine it any other way. I was having issues with my iPhone sliding off other chargers and sometimes finding it hard to connect to the coil that charged the phone. It might be due to the camera bump on the iPhone X but I was never really able to pinpoint the reason. I’ve not had these issues with the Case-Mate Power Pad. I can charge while watching videos and while on FaceTime calls. It’s been a really great addition to my office/desk setup. It will charge in both portrait and landscape mode, but you will have to rotate the Power Pad along with the phone so that the charging coil in the pad will line up with your phone.

Conclusion

I have been really digging into the world of wireless charging over the past few months and I can’t tell you how much I enjoy this charger. I have two that really make life easy for me. This one from Case-Mate and one from Anker. Each charger is the stand-style, but both have their place since they have different features. The Case-Mate Power Pad with Stand is a great investment and is very affordable. I would recommend it based on its versatility and charging effectiveness.

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