The future is going to be wireless and I am going to be so pleased. I currently have a wired cam, keyboard, external mouse, speakers, external hard drive and two phone chargers. It’s a bit much. Luckily for me the future has already started. We have wireless headsets, security camera’s, routers and now wireless phone chargers! I’ve had the Powermat for a week now and it truly is a great device.

The Powermat is a rather sleek-looking series of conjoined flat pads, with which you wirelessly charge your devices. Currently I only have one device aligned to the power mat, my Blackberry, however I could have up to 3 devices on the mat at any one time. To use is easy - I come home, drop my Blackberry onto the mat and it automatically starts charging. Normally I’m hunting around the house for my charger (as it’s never where I left it) or I’m forgetting to charge it at all, so am left watching it go flat the next day.

There a couple of things that surprised me about the Powermat. The first was that you don’t ‘just’ throw any gadget on the mat, you have to align them first. This is done by purchasing a ‘receiver’. For my Blackberry the receiver is a replacement back panel with the receiver incorporated. You can also get receivers for iPods, iPhones and Nintendo DS, for everything else you need to have a Powercube. Powercubes are receivers with interchangeable tips, enabling you to potentially charge anything from a Nokia to a Sony PSP. The tips are kept in a storage compartment in the Powercube so hopefully you’ll never lose any.

There are two quite different versions of the Powermat available in the UK; the Home and Office Mat, which looks rather like a skateboard, and the Portable Mat, which folds up into 3 so as to comfortably fit into a briefcase or travel bag.
The Powermat has two rather useful innovations – light and sound. When I place my Blackberry on to the mat, a sound will alert me to the fact that the phone has started its charge. Later when I remove my phone, I will hear this sound again. You’d think that a sound such as this would eventually get annoying, however it’s been a week and I still like it. If you go onto the Powermat UK site you can hear the sound for yourself, but it’s much more satisfying if it’s your actions causing it.

At the front of the mat (the side with the green strip) is a very subtle light. Each section of the portable mat has its own individual light which switches on when the device starts charging and switches off when it’s fully charged. The mat is cleverer than that however, as it doesn’t only switch off the light, it also turns off the charge to your device. In this way the mat is also eco friendly, you never use more power than you need, unlike other devices which will continue delivering power until you unplug them.

If you do decide that the light and sound is driving you crazy and you just must turn them off, the power mat has another trick up its sleeve. As you go to put your device down, a light magnetic pull will hopefully pull the receiver into the right position to start charging. It hasn’t always worked for me so best to check if it’s important that your device charge. At the back of the mat is a USB port, so if you’re lucky enough to have four devices which need charging at the one time, you won’t be left frustrated.

Things I don’t like about the Power Mat –
I’m not a fan of the receiver as I feel it makes my phone heavier and bulkier than I would have liked.
If I wish to use my phone while it’s charging then I have to remove it from charge. This may not be an issue for some but I prefer my phone to be on continuous charge.
Currently it’s only available in black. I like black, but if you’re going to talk innovation and popularity then you should at least give your audience a choice of colour.

How do I feel about the Portable Power Mat overall? I like!

See the Powermat website more information.

The Portable Powermat costs £79.99 and the battery door for the BlackBerry Curve 8900 costs £29.99.

A list of additional Powermat products that are available can be found on the Powermat website.