No Stupid Questions

When I sleep at my mom’s house, there’s a smart lamp my brother put in the spare room that has 1 USB port on it and a wireless charging pad. I opt to use the wireless charging pad at night for my phone and the USB for my watch. Makes it so I can charge two devices simultaneously without having to switch out USBs.

in a car, having wireless charging pad is nice for the convenience of taking it with you and putting it on very quickly and easily, especially if you’re actively driving and just want to do it with the least amount of distractions. Even with USB type C being reversible, you still need to make sure the cable gets in the hole and that’s dangerous to do while driving. But with a wireless pad, you don’t have to look and the magnet helps guide it on correctly for you. You still shouldn’t do this while driving, but out of the two, a vastly safer alternative. Besides that, it’s nicer to be able to just grab your phone and go when leaving the car and also easier when entering. Another addition is that a wireless charging pad takes the place of two accessories and combines them together. So you now have a mount and a charger in one instead of both being separate.

Hygienically speaking, it’s cleaner in that you don’t have to touch the charger. Best for public use like a coffee cafe. People are gross and I try my hardest not to have touch contact with stuff if I can help it. So to be able to drop my phone down without touching a cable a million other people have been touching helps with that too.

Even though I like it…I still want a port. A lot of cases don’t allow you to make direct contact to have wireless charging, so it’s not always an option. Also don’t always want to have my phone laying down, sometimes I want to use it while it’s charging, especially when typing, and that’s near impossible with 90% of charging pads unless it’s a special type of MagSafe for iPhones. Then there’s also the fact that I like it as an option in case something breaks. If the port is dirty or damaged, I still have the wireless charging option. Same in reverse if the wireless function ceases to work for some reason.

Some phones can get hotter (which is bad for battery health) when charging wirelessly.

Don't want to bother with a cable at night.

I use wireless charging 99% of the time. It's convenient to plop your phone or earbuds down and effortlessly grab them when it's time to go.

The other reason I like wireless: less wear on your phone's USB port. Even though USB-C is supposedly good for millions of plug/unplug cycles I've had several phones with USB-C that get wonky after about 2+ years. "Wonky" as in having to hold the cable just right to transfer data or even successfully fast charge.

Wireless charging drastically cuts down on the amount of times you'll be ramming a USB cable into it's port, hopefully prolonging it's useful life.

I use one in my car - it's more convienet for short trips or trips with multiple stops. I do keep a cable for longer trips though, especially if I need to keep the screen on for GPS - the wireless charger makes the phone warm enough to stop charging over the course of an hour or so.

My port isn't worn out, but I'm worried it will become that way. I also don't need it to charge at full speed overnight. Therefore, wireless charger.

When my mom finally ditched her land line and ported the number to a smart phone, getting a wireless charger that propped the phone up was a nice way to set up a sort of designated place to keep the phone (where the landline phone had been) so that there's less chance she misplaces the phone or forgets to charge it.

So I can keep the waterproof case sealed.

Probably if you're too lazy to grab a cord, line it up with the plug, and press gently but firmly. With wireless, you can just lob it vaguely in the right vicinity and not overstrain your fine motor skills.

Some charging pads also prop up the phone at an angle, making it easy to read the screen while also not having to hold the phone up. Most phones have their charging port on the bottom, so a phone stand couldn't be used while charging with a cord.

I have one scenario where it’s useful. When in the car and entering a parking lot and you have to scan a qr/bar code on your phone, you can easily pick it up and get it out the window. That said, wireless chargers on cars are terrible.

They're very convient, I use them for the phones, airpods, battery phone cases (airpods cases even with a silicon skin still on much less). Just nice to be able to leave your device on them while running them and know they won't die out