Anker debuted its PowerWave series of wireless chargers at Mobile World Congress back in February. Now we’ve already taken a look at the PowerWave Pad, which is slightly cheaper and a really good option for those looking for a wireless charger. Now it’s time to take a look at the other model in that lineup, the PowerWave Stand. This features the same specs as the Pad model, but in a different form factor, and a slightly higher price. So let’s talk about it.
The PowerWave Stand is a pretty simple wireless charging stand, compared to some of the others we’ve seen and reviewed over the past few years. It has a pretty small footprint, which is really nice to see. That makes it great for sitting on a nightstand next to your bed, or even on your desk. The actual charging part of the Stand is about the same width as the Galaxy S9, which is nice and small, but still large enough to charge your smartphone and/or tablet. Though there aren’t many tablets that support Qi Wireless Charging anyways. The charging pad does have a soft touch material which helps to keep the phone in place, which as you can imagine is pretty important on a charging stand. As some of the others we’ve reviewed, the phone has slid off during the night and thus isn’t fully charged in the morning. On the front, there is a slight lip, to keep the phone in place, and there is a LED light there as well to indicate that it is charging. On the back, you’ll find a micro USB port for charging, as well as a fan to keep the charger and the phone being charged, cool.
As far as day to day usage goes, this wireless charger performed quite well. Just set your phone on the charger at night and it’ll be fully charged by the next morning. Smartphones don’t appear to slide off at all on this wireless charger, which is really nice to see. We tested this wireless charger with the Galaxy S9 as well as the Xiaomi Mi MIX 2S, and both smartphones worked great with the charger. Even with the Mi MIX 2S being slightly wider than the Galaxy S9 and thus the PowerWave Stand, it still charged it without any issues.
Now let’s talk about fast wireless charging. Anker is touting these as working with Apple’s fast wireless charging, which uses 7.5W, as you can tell by the name. But it also supports 10W, which is what Samsung uses for fast wireless charging. So whether you have the latest iPhone or Samsung smartphone, you will get fast wireless charging here. With the Galaxy S9, we were able to go from completely empty to full in around two hours. That’s about the same amount of time it would take with a conventional charger – not the Adaptive Fast Charge wall charger included in the box. So it’s not super fast, but it’s fast enough, considering this is wireless charging. Of course, for other smartphones, it is still quite slow, and it’s really only recommended to use wireless charging at night, when you can let it sit on the charger for hours at a time without needing it.
The Anker PowerWave Stand is a great wireless charger to pick up, especially if you are looking for a stand form-factor to use. Now if you’d rather use a charging pad, Anker’s PowerWave pad is another great option. The PowerWave Stand is available on Amazon for $49.99, which you can pick up by using the link down below.
