Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Energizer Inductive Charger (and Energizer iPhone Sleeve) - The inductive charging concept is magically convenient - simply place your device that needs charging on the charging tray. No wires, no plugs, just place it on the tray and it charges about as fast as if you had plugged it in to a traditional charger. That's the good news. Unfortunately, the negatives currently outweigh the pluses. A consortium of electronics manufacturers established a standard for inductive charging (called Qi and pronounced `Chee') so that in the future, devices can be designed with this technology built in. So far, we're in the early days and that hasn't yet happened. Energizer here in the USA has made the charger tray but since no devices have the Qi technology built in, they are selling specially built sleeves for iPhones, Blackberrys, etc. These sleeves add weight and are cumbersome to take on and off when you want to sync your device. Frankly, it's less work to simply plug your device in than to install the sleeve and then place it on the charger tray. Here are the problems with this system as it stands today: * The charger is expensive (approx. $67.00 at Amazon) and the sleeve to fit your smart phone adds another $30.00 or so to the total cost. * The iPhone sleeve covers the port on the bottom of the phone so in order to sync it, the sleeve must be removed each time. * The iPhone 4 weighs 138g and the sleeve weighs 46g for a 30+% weight increase. * The charger is wide (8 inches) so that two devices can be charged at once. It occupies a lot of desk space. A single size unit would be a welcome addition. Not everyone needs to charge two devices at once. * The printing on the charger and sleeve is big and bold. It would look much better if this was toned way down and made more discreet. A small point, but one of the many reasons people like their Apple devices is because they are `toned down and discreet'. Bottom line - the inductive charging concept is great, but because it hasn't been widely adopted yet by the device manufacturers, this charger isn't quite ready for prime time.