Xiaomi introduces Mi Air Charge technology that can remotely charge devices without cables or wireless charging stands

Xiaomi today introduced self-developed remote charging technology called Mi Air Charge that enables users to charge electronic devices over-the-air without any cables or wireless charging stands. Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun said that this technology has 17 technical patents.

How does Xiaomi Mi Air Charge work?

• Xiaomi’s remote charging lies in space positioning and energy transmission.
• Xiaomi’s self-developed isolated charging pile has five phase interference antennas built in, which can accurately detect the location of the smartphone.
• A phase control array composed of 144 antennas transmits millimeter-wide waves directly to the phone through beam forming.
• On the smartphone side, Xiaomi’s self-developed miniaturized antenna array with built-in beacon antenna broadcasts position information with low power consumption.
• The receiving antenna array composed of 14 antennas converts the millimeter wave signal emitted by the charging pile into electric energy through the rectifier circuit, to turn the sci-fi charging experience into reality.

Xiaomi’s remote charging technology is currently capable of 5-watt remote charging for a single device within a radius of several meters. Apart from that, multiple devices can also be charged at the same time (each device supports 5 watts), and even physical obstacles do not reduce the charging efficiency.

Xiaomi said that this new charging technology will also be able to work with smartwatches, bracelets and other wearable devices in the near feature. Soon living room devices, including speakers, desk lamps and other small smart home products, will all be built upon a wireless power supply design, completely free of wires, making our living rooms truly wireless, according to Xiaomi. Hope we can see this remote charging technology in commercial devices soon.

Xiaomi patents a smart speaker design which looks similar to Apple HomePod.

Xiaomi has many times been accused of copying Apple’s design and it seems that the company has no issues with this. Xiaomi has patented a new smart speaker which looks very similar to the Apple HomePod.

The patent has been published on the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) website and the included schematics for the smart speaker with a cylindrical design looks awfully similar to the Apple HomePod.

It suggests that the smart speaker will come with a 360-degree sound output and could include a touch-sensitive surface area which will enabled users to interact with the device even when voice commands don’t work.

The upper part of the speaker may include a circular disc-like surface that could offer two things — Mini OLED display for showing connectivity status, volume, etc. or touch-sensitive surface for gesture-based controls. Which one of this will be adopted by Xiaomi has not been confirmed yet.

However, it seems more likely that the top part of the Xiaomi Smart Speaker will include a touch-based control system given that there are no control buttons on the device. While smart speakers are powered by voice assistants, they also come with physical buttons to control various aspects of the device.

If the device is limited to the Chinese market only, then we expect Xiaomi to use its own XiaoAI smart assistant. But, if the company has plans to make it available in other regions as well, then we expect the company to use Google Assistant or Amazon’s Alexa. It will be interesting to see which one of these gets picked up by Xiaomi.

Apple HomePod launched in India for ₹19,900/-

Apple has finally launched HomePod, its Siri-powered smart speaker in India. The company has also pushed iOS and iPadOS 13.3.1 update that brings support for Indian English Siri voices for HomePod.

To remind you, it was introduced at WWDC 2017 and went on sale in Australia, the UK and the US from February 9, 2018 priced at US$349 (Rs. 24,860 approx.), and got a price cut to US$299 (Rs. 21,300 approx.) in April 2019.

It rolled out in Canada, France, and Germany in June 2018 and in Spain and Mexico in October 2018. It went on sale in China and Hong Kong in January 2019 and in August 2019 in Japan and Taiwan

The 7-inch tall Homepod adapts to wherever it’s playing and is controlled through natural voice interaction with Siri like playing music, checking the news and controlling other connected devices in the home. It uses spatial awareness to sense its location in a room and automatically adjust the audio. It has six microphones that enables easier interactions and can learn preferences and also handle advanced searches within the music library.

The Homepod is powered by A8 chip and Apple says all the instructions to the speaker are recognized locally on the device, and they are encrypted. It features a large, Apple-designed woofer for deep, clean bass, a custom array of seven beam-forming tweeters.

The Apple HomePod is priced at ₹19,990, making it the cheapest in the world, and will soon be available from Apple’s Authorized resellers across India.

Xiaomi launches Mi Outdoor Bluetooth Speaker Mini with true stereo support, Type C port, IP55 water resistance and much more.

Xiaomi has launched the Mi Outdoor Bluetooth Speaker Mini and it is now on sale on Mi Mall for 99 yuan ($14). As the name implies, the Outdoor Bluetooth Speaker Mini is a smaller version of the MI Outdoor Bluetooth Speaker that was launched in September 2019 priced at 199 yuan ($28).

This new model looks like a miniaturized version of last year’s sleek portable Bluetooth speaker. The design is similar as well as several of the features. This model adopts the attractive lanyard pattern of its predecessor but the lanyard is shorter on this model. It also supports Bluetooth 5.0 protocol. The mini has a dimension of 86 × 86 × 45mm and weighs 185g.

It also utilises a USB Type-C interface which is located just under the lanyard. The Mi Bluetooth Speaker Mini also presents with an impressive 2000mAh battery that Xiaomi says can deliver up to 10 hours of music playback at 60% volume level. The portable speaker also comes with IP55 level dustproof and waterproof protection.

Furthermore, the Mi Outdoor Bluetooth Speaker mini supports true wireless stereo interconnection function. This means it can interconnect two speakers to form a wireless stereo speaker with the delivery of stereo effects on left and right channel playbacks.

The Bluetooth speaker mini equally has a built-in high-sensitivity, high-signal-to-noise ratio microphone, and integrated echo cancellation technology, which can be used to answer and hang-up calls with one click

boAt Stone 200A with built-in Alexa launched for ₹1499/-

boAt, a popular manufacturer of audio products has updated their Stone line of portable speakers with their new Stone 200A, now with in built Alexa support. The small powerful speaker now lets users ask to play music, hear the news, check weather, control smart home devices and access over 30,000 Alexa skills across genres.

The speaker connects via Bluetooth 4.1 and features a robust design with IPX6 rating making it perfect for poolside parties. The 3W 1.96 inch driver ensures the Stone 200A delivers powerful sound with thumping bass and HD Clarity. To use the Alexa voice assistant, users need to simply download & install the “boAt Lifestyle” App available both for Android and iOS on App Store or the Play Store.

Music can be controlled via voice or the integrated buttons present on the speaker. boAt claims a battery life of 8 to 10 hours, powered by its 1500mAh battery that can be charged in under 3 hours. The speaker comes in black colour and is available on Amazon for a price of ₹1499 right now