It looks like the new Google's Pixel 4 watch comes with yet another incompatible change in charging technology. This is a ridiculous situation. The original Pixel Watch used one type of wireless charging. Then the Pixel Watch 2 & 3 removed wireless charging and swapped to a different charging mechanism. And now the 4 has changed again. So three different charging cables in under three years.…
    • TheFogan@programming.devEnglish
      14·
      2 days ago

      I think the better question is, why can’t wireless charging be more universal. We had decades of 500 different competing phone chargers. (as the famous XKCD comic https://xkcd.com/927/ ) mocks.

      yet we don’t seem to be getting anywhere near the idea of a universal wireless charge system.

      • MudMan@fedia.io
        11·
        2 days ago

        I mean, we are for phones. Qi2 is finally becoming more widespread, and the Qi1/Magsafe spec is quietly more compatible than its official support suggests.

        Why this doesn’t extend to watches and only partially to earbuds is a different question, but I at least the most likely devices to have wireless charging are getting there.

          • MudMan@fedia.io
            3·
            2 days ago

            You kind of are, it’s basically the same magnets+wireless combo Apple uses for their phones.

            I don’t know if you could use the same charger for a phone. Probably not. But it’s a cross-company standard, so the idea would be to do the same for watches, if the standard doesn’t include a watch option already (I haven’t looked into it, frankly).

            • mesa@piefed.socialOPEnglish
              2·
              2 days ago

              It would be a dream! And I imagine easier to repair as USB anything involves pushing and pulling a physical connector that will eventually break. It may take a long time, but anything that moves will eventually break.