Nexus 4 Wireless Orb Review

The Nexus 4 comes with a wireless charging piece called the Orb that came as a surprise to a lot of people.

Here’s a quick review of the product wireless Orb of Nexus 4

The good

Optimal design. The Nexus Orb is shaped like a sphere with a flat end so that the Nexus 4 sits upright and you can still use it even when it’s charging.
Build quality. It is also sturdy to use and the Nexus make it from matte plastic. It comes with an AC adapter and a cable along with it. The top of the charger is also greppable, so you’ll have no worries about your device falling off the charger even as you are using it. The phone also forms a strong bond with the charger the longer it is attach to it.

Lightweight. The Orb weighs only 130 grams, which is 9 grams lighter than the Nexus 4.
Use of microUSB. The charger uses a microUSB plug instead of a DC connector. Google also provided an AC adapter and a cable along with it.

Charging time. It only takes four hours for the Orb to finish charging your device.
There is no need to look for a specific position or angle to charge your phone – the orb lets you put your device in any orientation that you want. The only condition is that the middle of your Nexus 4 should be lined up in the middle of the Orb.

Charger works even if you have a case. Even with a case from different brands, the charger can still manage as long as it’s only elevated by a few millimetres. But it would depend on your type of case if it would stick to your charger.

The points to improve

Lack of LED. The wireless charging orb has no LED that can show you whether your device is charging. As such, you still have to check your phone if it is indicating whether it’s charging or not.
Slight smudges. The charger gets a bit of smudge here and there. But this is just a minor complaint and something that can very easily to address it.
The surface is a dust magnet. Because it is greppable and slightly sticky, the surface of the Nexus Orb becomes a dust magnet. You may have to clean it a lot of times because the dust patch might affect its capacity to be sticky.

It’s expensive. The charger costs $60, and we all know how Nexus quickly changes its programs.

The verdict

Regardless of the minor downsides, the Nexus Orb is still an amazing wireless charger. It works even better than the Panasonic wireless charger, the TM101. The downside with Panasonic’s charger is its flat surface. Moreover, the connection of the charger is sometimes lost as soon as the phone is fully charged. The good thing about it, though, is that it has a LED light that indicates that your phone is already charging.

Nexus Orb is just a bit too pricey, so it would have been better if Nexus was able to add more features to it, such as Bluetooth. This was a similar feature of the Nexus One dock which Nexus was release it a while ago. But despite these slight negativities, the Orb is still a great charger. Most wireless chargers cost an average of $40, anyway. So the additional $20 for a quality and premium charger would be next to nothing, especially for those who can afford the extra bucks. The highly greppable surface is very impressive, and it works perfectly well with the Nexus 4.

In short, it’s highly recommendable to try if you can.

What do you think?

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