Nomad Base Station Pro review: an expensive, limited, but futuristic wireless charger

Nomad’s Atrocious Position Pro used to be speculated to bring in a new generation of wi-fi chargers, promising to win the dream of a numerous-coil wi-fi charger a actuality when it used to be launched almost a yr ago. After indispensable delays, the corporate has been overwhelmed to the punch, but Nomad’s version is in a roundabout plan right here, taking the multi-coil manner that Zens debuted (and Apple reportedly failed at entirely with the canceled AirPower) and pushes it even further with a thinner charger that can wirelessly designate up to 3 devices.

However while the Nomad Atrocious Position Pro — and the Aira FreePower abilities that powers it — would possibly perchance possibly possibly honest one day be the means forward for wi-fi charging abilities, sexy now, the new version is too dear and too restricted.

From the exterior, the Atrocious Position Pro appears to be love a bigger version of the corporate’s existing Atrocious Position wi-fi charger, with the identical slim profile, subtle shaded leather-essentially based entirely, and grey aluminum. The excellent port is a USB-C lunge on the motivate for energy, with three set of residing LEDs on the entrance that demonstrate when a instrument is charging.

Issues are very varied on the inner, despite the actual fact that: as an alternative of the previous three copper charging coils, the Atrocious Position Pro has 18 and uses Aira’s FreePower wi-fi charging abilities. While Nomad is providing the (amazing-having a survey) trappings, it’s Aira’s abilities on the inner that makes the Atrocious Position Pro varied from almost every varied wi-fi charger accessible.

The principle disagreement is that the Atrocious Position Pro doesn’t use former coils, love most varied wi-fi chargers (along side Nomad’s multi-coil competitor, the Zens Liberty). As an alternate, Aira’s FreePower coils are embedded straight in a printed circuit board, taking into consideration a a lot thinner final product — the total board for the Atrocious Position Pro is lower than 6mm thick. Aira says that the numerous coils furthermore enable for a better charging connection that exactly aligns with a instrument’s hang coil, ensuing in much less wasted energy, and as a result of this fact, much less excess heat. The result is a multi-coil charger that’s honest as skinny as Nomad’s former offerings and doesn’t require any noisy fans to chill.

That would possibly perchance seem love numerous effort, but the abilities works if truth be told nicely. There’s no searching for a “candy set of residing” when placing devices on the Atrocious Position Pro — honest fall your mobile phone, headphone case, or no subject varied Qi instrument you’re charging on the leather-essentially based entirely surface, and it’ll designate. As I renowned in my Zens overview, it’s no longer a revolution as a lot because it is far the implies that wi-fi charging ought to continuously like worked.

There’s no finicky alignment wished — something that I’ve encountered as a particular subject with Nomad’s previous Atrocious Position when maneuvering around numerous phones. In my week of checking out, the Atrocious Position Pro did even better than the Zens Liberty, which had the occasional dropout when positioning devices on the perimeters of the pad. (Aira and Nomad furthermore seem to like ironed out the many hardware and plan system faults that my colleague Ashley Carman skilled when making an try a prototype at CES earlier this yr, too.)

With the Atrocious Position Pro, it’s almost not likely to pass away out when placing your mobile phone down, unless it’s placing to this level off the pad that the charging coil isn’t over the leather-essentially based entirely charging surface anymore.

The subject is that while the Atrocious Position Pro makes the “wi-fi” part a straggle, the correct “charging” is moderately restricted. While it can designate up to 3 devices straight away, it’s restricted to honest 5W wi-fi charging — the slowest long-established mosey — for nearly any instrument. Nomad and Aira are handiest supporting a single exception, offering hastily charging speeds of 7.5W for iPhones (and handiest iPhones). However for these who would possibly perchance possibly like got a Samsung Galaxy Display 20, a OnePlus 8 Pro, or any varied instrument, you’re stuck with none hastily charging at all.

That limitation is notably disappointing to take into consideration given the Atrocious Position Pro’s designate: $229, better than twice as a lot because the fashioned $99 Atrocious Position (which equipped faster 10W charging to boot). For comparison, the Zens Liberty, the quite rather a lot of indispensable multi-coil charger on hand, prices $169.99, and while it can handiest designate two devices to the Atrocious Position Pro’s three, it can support up to 15W wi-fi charging and offers a USB-A port for an non-indispensable Apple Observe charger or a former cable for charging issues that don’t support Qi.

The Atrocious Position Pro is simply the first instrument that can characteristic Aira’s FreePower hardware, and the corporate has monumental ambitions for future devices (which presumably received’t handiest be restricted to Nomad). Aira imagines total desk surfaces that are extensive FreePower chargers that can energy any instrument that’s placed on it, or a total nightstand that can recharge all your objects overnight.

The Nomad Atrocious Position Pro is an early preview of the means forward for wi-fi charging — but till the designate comes down and the charging speeds go up, that future isn’t right here yet.

Pictures by Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge