Charge Your Phone Wirelessly with Glowdeck, a Companion for Your Smartphone
There are a number of devices that connect to your cell phone wirelessly via Bluetooth, and these devices make things pretty convenient. You can listen to music on a nice set of speakers or program your phone alarm to sync with your clock. Although these gadgets are useful and aesthetically pleasing, they are still two separate gadgets that take up two separate spaces on your shelf. Enter the Kickstarter-funded Glowdeck, and you have a single device that works with your smart phone wirelessly- but what makes this device special?
1) It Charges Your Phone without a Charger
That’s right- you don’t need to plug in your phone. You simply set your Qi-compatible phone on top of the Glowdeck and wait for the battery to re-juice. This gadget won’t over-charge your phone either. When the battery is full, then the Glowdeck will simply stop charging. Gone are the days of burning out a battery because your phone has spent too many hours plugged into a heated charger for the sake of remaining at 100%. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like you can charge more than one device at a time, however the Glowdeck does have a couple of USB ports that can be utilized.
2) It Plays Music with a Side of Ambiance
Glowdeck connects with your phone via Bluetooth 4.0 and plays what you want it to play. It works just like any other Bluetooth- compatible stereo, except you have the option to scroll through your playlist from your phone or the Glowdeck itself, all while your phone continues to charge. The Glowdeck is also set up with a LED Light System that syncs with the music you’re listening to, creating a spectrum of peaceful to slightly chaotic ambiance. However, you can turn the lights off if you prefer your stereo to be free of dancing lights.
3) It Offers Handsfree Calling
This one is a given: you can put your phone on speaker while the phone charges, right? Sure, you can, but it might be easier to call, or receive calls, while connected to the Glowdeck. It has a built in speaker so that your conversation partner can hear you clearly, and you can hear them just as clear because the sound is coming from the Glowdeck speakers (beats the mini-speaker on your phone)! Use the Glowdeck Voice Assistant to call or text friends or family without having to look up from paperwork or glance away from the computer- it makes communicating just a little bit more convenient.
4) It Delivers Social Media Notifications
This handy gadget will notify you of any updates that you receive from your various social media accounts. An icon will appear on the Glowdeck screen indicating that a new Facebook notification or email is available. The LED lights will flash a particular color as well, letting you know which account is receiving the update. You can program your social media accounts into the Glowdeck app and personalize what you want to receive notifications about, and what you don’t. You can also opt to turn the notifications off entirely, or momentarily, say, when you’re sleeping.
William Golding, the Nobel Prize- winning author of the Lord of the Flies, wrote in his novel, “The greatest ideas are the simplest.” The Glowdeck takes a few simple ideas that enhance your smartphone experience and meshes them together, creating a gadget that offers an all-in-one experience. It is something that can do so much, but is so easy to use that the complexity of the device is unnoticed by the everyday user. This a good thing- if the device is hard to understand, then it wouldn’t be very functional, would it?