When Google launched the Pixel 3 series in 2018, because the mobile phone supports wireless charging, Google also launched the original Pixel Stand wireless charging dock, which has a built-in NFC tag. When the Pixel phone is charged, it can also display Google on the screen. The slideshow of the photo album, the mobile phone turns into a mini digital photo frame. However, with the evolution of Pixel models, the first-generation Pixel Stand cannot keep up with Pixel phones with ever-increasing screen and battery capacity in terms of size or charging power. Therefore, Google also announced the Pixel 6 series at the same time. A new version of the second-generation Pixel Stand has been introduced.
This second-generation Pixel Stand wireless charging dock is claimed to provide up to 21W (Pixel 6) and 23W (Pixel 6 Pro) wireless fast charging power for the Pixel 6 series. In addition, it can also support the Qi protocol (up to 15W), so it also Compatible with other models that support wireless charging. The editor ordered one of this Pixel Stand when it opened for pre-order, and recently got the actual product, so I came to test it out of the box.
Unboxing the second-generation Pixel Stand
▲ Like Pixel phones, products shipped from the Google Store will be packaged in a completely flat carton, with the words Google Store and Let’s Play written inside.
▲ The picture of the product is printed on the front of the package, and the words “23W wireless charging” and “2nd generation” are written below.
▲ A picture of the product situation is printed on the back.
▲ Open the package and you can see the charging stand body directly.
▲ Below are some other accessories.
▲ All accessories, including charging stand, charger, USB-C transmission line and simple manual.
▲ Since it can support 23W wireless charging, the original 30W charger is directly attached to the package.
The design of the first generation Pixel Stand is quite different. The second generation adopts a wedge-like design on the charger body and uses a two-color color scheme. The standing charger part uses white, while the bottom base is very light green. It looks like a triangle in the past. As for why this generation looks so fat? Google said that it has a built-in cooling fan that can dissipate waste heat during wireless charging, which may be the reason for its relatively large size.
Although the Pixel Stand seems to have multiple wireless charging coils built in, it is actually designed to allow the phone to be placed upright for charging. If you want to charge it horizontally, you will only find that the phone does not respond. However, if you have a true wireless headset that supports wireless charging, you can also put it on it for charging (I tried Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro to work). It is speculated that it should have two built-in wireless charging coils. The coil near the upper half is used To charge the phone, the coil in the lower half is used to charge the earphones.
▲ The body and base of Pixel Stand 2 are designed in two colors.
▲ There is a USB-C power input hole on the back.
▲ The base is light green with G etching on the bottom.
▲ From the side, it looks like a triangle.
▲ The phone must be placed upright to charge.
▲ The space of the base is large enough, whether it is a bare metal or a protective case, it can be placed on it for charging.
Can play photos and control home appliances
Same as the previous first generation, the second generation Pixel Stand has an NFC chip added to the charging dock. When the Pixel phone is placed on the charging dock for the first time, the phone will recognize this accessory and perform the settings. The user can store up to 4 models at home. The Google smart home device is bound to the mobile phone, and can also control home appliances when charging; in addition, it can also be added to Google Photos and automatically rotate, turning the mobile phone into a digital photo frame.
▲ Up to 4 smart home appliances and Google photo album carousels can be added.
▲ It can be set to turn on the zero-disturbance mode when charging, or turn on the sunrise alarm clock.
▲ After installing the December 2021 update on the Pixel 6 series, you can also adjust the wireless charging mode. There are three choices of “optimized”, “highest” and “silent”; if the phone does not install the December update, there will be no This option.
Does Pixel Stand 2 charge fast enough?
When Google announced the second-generation Pixel Stand, it clearly mentioned that it can support up to 21W or 23W Pixel 6 series wireless charging power. If it goes well, its wireless charging time will logically be similar to the wired charging time, because Both have the same power on wired and wireless charging. As for the actual charging status? We also did some actual measurements.
First of all, we use a Pixel 6 Pro that has not yet installed the December update for the actual charging test. We turn on the mobile phone in airplane mode, turn off the “automatic charging” function, and do not allow the mobile phone to perform any electrical remote control or photo slideshow functions. , Only display the AOD screen, and use the Power-Z voltage recorder to record the voltage and current output by the charger when the Pixel Stand is charging. As a result, it took 3 hours and 8 minutes to charge the phone from 3% to 100%, which is slower than the average 2 hours of wired charging.
▲ I recorded the charging curve of the mobile phone through the 3C Battery Manager, and found that it takes 3 hours and 8 minutes to fully charge the Pixel 6 Pro.
In addition, through the records of the Power-Z recorder, we can find that the USB charger outputs about 7W of power at the beginning of charging for about 8 minutes, and then increases to about 13W for about 2 hours. At this time, the battery is charged to 90%. ; After that, it enters the trickle mode, and the wattage output by the charger drops sharply to a maximum of 6W. As the remaining power gradually increases, the power gradually drops to about 3W.
And although what we recorded is the wattage output by the USB-C charger, it does not represent the wattage actually charged by the mobile phone, because there is also energy loss caused by the conversion between electricity and magnetic field; but how can the mobile phone be charged? The wattage will not be higher than the wattage output by the USB-C charger, so it can be known that in this actual measurement, the maximum charging wattage of the second-generation Pixel Stand is only under 13W, which is not as good as the 23W claimed by the original manufacturer. . We originally thought it was due to the overheating of the mobile phone or the charging cradle that caused the power drop, but when we actually touched the body of the mobile phone and the charging cradle, it felt cold and warm, and there was no feeling of heat at all.
▲ Record the output voltage curve of the USB-C charger through the Power-Z recorder, and found that the maximum output power is only 13W. (Yellow wire: voltage, blue wire: current, orange wire: power)
However, in the December 2021 software update launched by Google for the Pixel 6 series, there is an option to introduce a “charging mode” for the second-generation Pixel Stand. You can set three charging modes for the Pixel Stand on the phone: “Optimization” , “Maximum” and “Mute”, so we also used another Pixel 6 Pro that has been updated with the December software update, set the charging mode to “Maximum”, and tested the charging efficiency again under the same conditions. It took 2 hours and 9 minutes to charge to full 3%, which is a full hour faster than the Pixel 6 Pro before the update, and basically the same efficiency as wired charging.
▲ After installing the Pixel 6 Pro update in December, and set the charging mode to the “highest” Pixel Stand charging curve, it can be seen that the first 50% of the phone’s power took about 40 minutes to reach, and the last 10% became very slow.
Under this condition, we also used Power-Z to observe the output power of the USB-C charger, and found that at the beginning of charging, the output power of the USB charger can reach up to 28W, which is close to the original design of 30W; It didn’t last long, but it was maintained at a stable output of 23-24W for nearly half an hour, and then dropped to about 10W; when the power reached 90%, the power continued to drop below 10W until the charging was completed. As an old saying goes, the output power of the USB-C charger does not represent the wireless charging power of the mobile phone, and there must be energy conversion in the middle.
Incidentally, even if it is charged with the highest power, the phone body will not feel overheated, and the editor did not hear the sound of the fan running.
▲ Record the output voltage curve of the USB-C charger through the Power-Z recorder, the maximum output power can reach 28W. (Yellow wire: voltage, blue wire: current, orange wire: power)
From this point of view, after the Pixel 6 series is upgraded in December and the charging mode is manually set to “Highest”, the second-generation Pixel Stand seems to be able to fully exert its strength. The overall charging time is not much different from wired charging. Although according to the current fast charging standards, these two items are not very fast.