OPPO thinks battery-less gadgets are the future
The company detailed this in a new whitepaper, reports Android Authority. The company detailed its plans for a “zero power communications” system. It is worth noting that this goes for small, low-powered IoT devices. “In the near future, IoT devices will be able to harvest energy directly from Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and cellphone signals, resulting in excellent features such as smaller size, better durability, and lower cost”, said the company. There are a number of benefits to this. Not only would this idea reduce battery usage, and help the environment by doing so, but it would also lower maintenance costs. This technology couldn’t power smartphones, for example, or something similar to that. That requires way more battery power than it would be possible to provide via ambient radio waves. Now, this idea may not seem entirely new to some of you. Both Xiaomi and Motorola demonstrated ambient device charging last year. Both companies plan to bring over-the-air charging to the table.
The company believes zero-power tech could also charge wearables
OPPO claims that zero-power tech could actually allow wearables to charge passively as well. If that ever happens, it would be a huge win for smartwatches, that’s for sure. Battery life is one of the main problems with smartwatches these days. That at least goes for Wear OS and Apple wearables. OPPO sees this technology as the future, and sees it used in various cases. It could be used in heavy industry, transportation, or your smart home needs. Those are just some examples. Such tech could also be used for location tags, so that they don’t need battery replacements. Another wild use case is for tracking bird species when they migrate, and so on. The company allegedly tested the technology already, and sees it as viable. Don’t expect it to arrive anytime soon, though. OPPO does plan to push it forward, but we still don’t know when will it become a reality.
