LG announced “the world’s first quad core smartphone” at Mobile World Congress in February of this year. Dubbed the Optimus 4X HD, it still hasn’t hit the market, meanwhile the HTC One X has, and it has the same quad core NVIDIA Tegra 3 inside. Anyway, just like the HTC One X has a dual core variant that relies on Qualcomm’s S4 Snapdragon, LG is said to have an Optimus 4X variant called the D1L that also uses the S4 Snapdragon. We don’t know when this mythical handset will hit the market, but according to the South Korean website DDaily, we know that it’s going to have at least one feature that makes it unique: wireless charging. Assuming the D1L can be recharged without having to fiddle without any cables, that would mean that it would be the first device to ship with this feature built-in by default. The Palm Pre had wireless charging, but you had to buy a custom back cover and charging pad. Several of the smartphones that Verizon Wireless offers can also charge wirelessly, but again, you need to buy a custom rear case and charging pad.
The bigger question is when will the mobile industry as a whole adopt wireless charging? Let’s not forget that the current state of affairs, where everything (except the iPhone) charges via microUSB wasn’t a reality just a few short years ago. The goal with picking microUSB was to reduce waste, but think about it, when was the last time you bought a gadget that didn’t have a charging cable? Will wireless charging force everyone to buy a wireless charging pad and then we can finally enter an era where every widget we bring home from the electronics store doesn’t need to come with its own power brick? Doubtful.
Except to hear more about LG’s D1L this summer, at least we think that’s when it’ll be out.
[Via: Unwired View]