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Hey guys and gals,
I was wondering what stand you guys are using. Many have those lips in front of the tray it seems, which keeps the phone from sliding, but with the thickness of the fold, i'm afraid that the tray would be too narrow? I want to prop up the phone, so I can get a better glance at the notifications coming in.
Cheers,
panda
Have you had any luck with wireless chargers that also prop your phone up for viewing? Preferably ones that can charge in both landscape and portrait modes.
Hello there,
It's not supposed to be a full-blown review, but rather a summary I made for myself. I tried to include as many points that are rarely or never being mentioned in reviews or unboxing videos.
Left to right:
#1. Anker PowerWave Lite 2-in-1
#2. Anker PowerWave 533 3-in-1
#3. Belkin BOOST CHARGE Pro 3-in-1
#4. Anker MagGo 622 2-in-1
I’ve tried these stands with an iPhone 13 Pro Max (bare, with Spigen MagArmor case and MagBak case) and 13 Pro (bare). The Spigen MagArmor is known to have weak magnets compared to Apple Silicone Case.
Charging speed:
Only Belkin is an official MagSafe charger with NFC chip and charges at 15W, while all Anker stands only support 7.5W on their MagSafe-compatible pads. All chargers support 5W Qi charging on their bottom pads.
MagSafe strength:
Belkin has the weakest magnets of them all, and might benefit from cases with stronger magnets - especially if you want the phone to be more secure. However, its magnets seem to be fine-tuned for a sweetspot where it’s easier to remove the phone without having to hold the charger with another hand. It’ll still move the stand across the table if you try to pull the phone directly.
Anker MagGo has noticeably stronger magnets compared to Belkin, and both PowerWaves are very slightly stronger than MagGo. It’s still easy to remove the phone from the MagGo because of its shape, weight and stiff hinge. Its alignment magnet is almost non-existent, but I'm very impressed with how strong it attaches to the MagBak case.
With the PowerWave I think that the magnets are a bit too strong even with bare phone / MagArmor. I almost always have to hold the base with another hand. I believe it’ll be even worse with Apple Silicone Case and it's definitely too much with cases that have especially strong magnets (like Phone Rebel Gen 3 or MagBak).
Physical compatibility:
While all chargers have bottom plates designed to charge wireless earbuds, it’s possible to charge Qi-compatible phones and 5W isn’t that bad. However, if you want to charge a second large phone (like iPhone Pro Max), then Anker PowerWave Lite (#1) wouldn’t work. There’s simply not enough distance between the charging pad center and the vertical metal bar to properly place a phone. It’s possible to charge iPhone 13 Pro without case, and it only works when the phone actually touches the metal bar. 13 Pro in a case or any larger phone wouldn't be able to start charging at all.
Belkin has the biggest base and was able to charge 13 Pro Max in Spigen MagArmor case with 3mm remaining between the case and the metal bar. Anker MagGo is the second with 1.5mm gap left. The PowerWave 533 3-in-1 wasn’t able to charge the Pro Max in the case, but worked without the case with almost 2mm gap left. And, like I mentioned above, the PowerWave Lite has the least room and would only charge 13 Pro without the case.
All Anker models have adjustable tilt which is a big advantage. It’s really unfortunate that Belkin charger plates don’t rotate even though their orientation seems to work well most of the time.
PowerWave 533 (#2) has a slot to put an original Apple Watch charger, but there’re issues:
Only old USB-A charger is supported. You can’t use the USB-C charger even with a tiny USB-C to USB-A adapter because there’s not enough room for routing inside (and even if you could, you’d lose the 33% faster charging feature which requires USB PD)
If you charge your watch sideways with the charger propped up, it’ll work in NightStand Mode. However, metal watch will almost certainly scratch the hard plastic base over time.
When the charger is propped up, its cable is bent violently at 90 degrees. I don’t like that.
You can’t charge a large phone on the bottom pad and the watch at the same time. The best I could do is to fit an iPhone 13 Pro in a thin case and a watch laying flat on the charger. A phone larger than 13 Pro would push the watch aside. If you have the watch placed in NightStand Mode, there won’t be room for any phone.
Materials, build quality and feel:
All stands have solid stanless steel bars that elevate their main charging plates.
Belkin has a softish rubber-coated base (including sides) and an even softer MagSafe plate. The back of the MagSafe charger and the entire Apple Watch charger are made out of smooth hard plastic. The watch feely rotates on it and wouldn’t stay perfectly upright with some bands.
Anker MagGo has a rubber-coated bottom plate and MagSafe side of the battery pack. The rest of the battery pack is made of good quality soft-touch plastic, and the rest of the stand is made out of harder plastic. There’s a small amount of play between the battery pack and the cradle, but it doesn’t bother me - there’s no clicking or rattling noise when the phone moves, and the amount of moving is almost imperceptible.
PowerWave chargers are made of textured hard plastic. They don’t feel as expensive as the other two, but are still very solid. I believe their bottom charging surfaces will scratch a lot easier over time compared to rubberized surfaces of the more expensive chargers.
My only real complaint is regarding the PowerWave 3-in-1 version slightly wobbling on the table, most likely due to the bottom plate being removable and flexing a bit.
Status LED behaviour:
Both Anker PowerWave stands have two white LED indicators - one for MagSafe-compatible charger, and one for bottom Qi charger. Each LED is permanently on when a corresponding device is present, even if the charging is over. The optional Apple Watch charger of the 3-in-1 Anker isn’t connected to the LEDs.
Belkin only has one white LED and it’ll be on when a device is present on the bottom Qi plate.
Anker MagGo has a LED ring at the bottom of the charging base as well as charging level indicators on the side of the powerbank. There’s a slot in the cradle which shows the indicator LEDs so that you know the battery back charge levels. One of the status 4 LEDs will blink whenever the battery pack itself is charging. However, the lights will never switch off even when the pack internal battery is at 100%.
The bottom LED ring lights up nicely when a MagSafe device is connected to the charger, and turns off completely after 5 seconds. There’s no reaction to a device being placed on the bottom Qi pad, so you’ll have to Overall this is the best bedside option for those who are annoyed by LED lights at night. My two complaints:
Like I mentioned, the ring lights up when connecting a device to the top (battery pack) charging spot. It's way too bright for the bedroom at night.
If a device on the bottom plate is not aligned properly, the ring light starts flashing repeatedly and it will not stop until you disconnect all charging devices. For example, you have your phone charing on the MagSafe plate and decide to charge your AirPods. You put them on the bottom plate, but it's hard to put them perfectly in the center when there's no light. The bottom pad has no indentations to help with placing the case like with other chargers. If you're as much as 1cm off-center, the charger will complain and start blinking - it lights up the entire room as if there's a UFO preparing to abduct you. In order for it to stop, I have to remove the AirPods case, disconnect the phone, and then wait for a second. Only then the blinking stops and I can put the devices back. This feature looks good on paper as it'll make sure that your devices are placed properly, but it's way too sensitive and the scenario above happens to me every other day.
Feel free to ask any question regarding these charger, and I'll try to answer all of them.