During the release of the Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge in March 2016, there was some chatter among gadget communities regarding fast wireless charging, and whether Samsung’s new flagships would support the Wireless Power Consortium’s new 15W standard for inductive charging.
I was only able to find some confirmation on this through an article posted on CIO , which stated that both S7 models would indeed support 15W fast wireless charging, but only if mated to a pad that also supported it.
Fast forward a few months, and Samsung’s fast wireless charger stand had hit retail outlets. I posted a review of it in fact and found it output 12.74W on average. With an input rating of 9V 1.67A, 15W output was always going to be a bit of a stretch once overheads had been considered.
Rolling on to the present day, we now have Belkin’s latest Boost Up wireless charging pad, which boasts fast wireless charging and doesn’t shy away from stating that it is 15W. It also states that it is faster than Samsung’s fast wireless charging pad.
Belkin’s product page states that the Samsung charger outputs 9W, even though my own testing showed it to be between 11W and 13W on average.
The Belkin pad has an output rating of 12V and 2A from its proprietary AC adapter. This means it has a theoretical power rating of 24W before overheads are taken into consideration. Even with overheads, a sustained 15W output should be possible.
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Up to 15W for fast wireless compatible devices.
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I was somewhat surprised by the construction quality given the high price. The pad is lighter than the Samsung model, and the non-slip matte surface is less grippy than the rubber ring on the Samsung one.
I expected the construction quality to be equally as good as Samsung here, especially considering Belkin have some high-quality products in their portfolio.
Having said that, I actually prefer the two tone design of the Belkin pad. It also sits flatter than the Samsung one does, and because it’s wider, using the phone on the desk does not lead to the top or bottom tilting.
There is only a single green LED to indicate that charging is taking place. The LED remains illuminated once the device being charged has been topped up. I would have liked to have seen a multi-color LED to provide indication of charging progress or speed.
It is nice to see the LED is on the right side of the pad, though. On wireless charging pads from other manufacturers, I have found that placing a phone on top normally results in the LED being blocked by the phone. So you have to place it sideways instead, which is counterproductive.
The construction materials and single LED can, of course, be forgiven if the pad performs well. And in order to perform well, it needs to beat the competition, which is much cheaper in this case.
