Powermat Home & Office Mat review

The concept of wireless charging garnered attention earlier this year thanks to the Palm Pre's Touchstone dock.

You simply attach a special back cover to the Pre, lay it on the Touchstone and it charges without you having to connect a power cable. Now you can charge other devices, including an iPhone, in the same way with pads from WildCharge and Powermat.

To charge your iPhone, you will need to insert it into one of the provided sleeves. A contact point on their back draws power when laid against the pad.

WildCharge's sleeve is made of soft rubber and takes a small effort to slip onto the phone. The charging contact on the back is low profile and the phone remains comfortable to hold, though the sleeve's material is thick enough that the buttons feel recessed and more difficult to press.

Powermat's sleeve is more rigid but also has a smooth, rubberised texture, and it's even easier to fit as it splits in two. You only have to slide your iPhone onto the Dock connector in the bottom part and reattach the top. However, we found it less comfortable to hold due to the larger contact on the back, which detracts from the usual comfort of the iPhone 3G's curved back. However, holes in the case are a little bigger, which makes buttons easier to reach.

You're out of luck if you want one with a flap to cover your iPhone's screen as both pads give you a choice of one sleeve design. That's an unfortunate side effect of Apple's closed cases; for instance, WildCharge offers a replacement battery cover for other phones.

The WildCharge pad is the squarer of the two at 15.2 x 20.3cm, and aside from a raised strip down its left-hand side where the power supply connects, it's also the flattest. Though its surface looks intimidating thanks to the metal strips across its width, you have to lay a sleeved iPhone on top to draw power through the tiny contacts on the sleeve. The Powermat's surfboard shape might be harder to accommodate. It's not as deep at 11.6cm, but it's half as wide again at 31.1cm. Though it's the taller of the two pads, it's still discreet at 1.6cm.

If you have several pieces of kit to charge at once - perhaps your iPhone, your partner's mobile phone and your child's portable game console - they can be simultaneously charged from one pad, though there's a limit on how many can be charged at once; six on the WildCharge pad and three on the Powermat, which also has a USB port at the rear to charge another over a cable. If their surface gets crowded, you can affix the correct tip to a WildCharge PowerDisc (£14.99) or a Powermat PowerCube (£29.99) and lay a device alongside the mat as it charges.

It's when you have several devices to charge that the pads excel, as you can cut the number of charger cables needed. Even better if you have a limited number of mains sockets available as there's no need to trail a bulky, multi-socket extension lead. Neatness is the order of the day, and it's a winning feature as far as either mat is concerned.

Bear in mind you'll need to buy additional accessories for each device that you want to charge. The suggested price for an additional iPhone skin is £29.99 for the WildCharge pad and £34.99 for the Powermat. There's also a Dock (£34.99) for the Powermat so you can stand your phone upright and see who is calling even if it's not right next to you.

It's when you take into account the cost of accessories that they become a less enticing deal, at least for iPhone owners. The WildCharge Pad is at least available in a bundle with one iPhone skin at a slightly reduced price.