The number one Android smartphone feature I'm looking forward to in 2024 is Qi2. This is the new standard for wireless charging that one MagSafe-like magnetic charging system, similar to what is available on modern iPhonesThis allows you to attach magnetically to a battery packor stick your phone magnetically on a Qi2 charger for perfect alignment and faster wireless charging speeds. It even opens other accessoriessuch as magnetic tripods, camera accessories and my favorites: magnetic car docks And bicycle mounts.
Then you could understand my frustration if every Android phone announced this year, has yet to include the new charging standard. Even the recently announced Google Pixel 9 Series still uses the older Qi standard. The exception? The skyline of HMDa new device from the company that previously only Nokia brand phones. It's the world's first Qi2-certified Android phone on the market, but that's not the only thing that makes it unique: it's also user-serviceable and comes in a bright neon pink color (!).
Magnetic Android
The first thing I did after setting up the Skyline was put it on a MagSafe wireless charger I had lying around. It was magnetically attached! Yay! But it wouldn’t charge. Weird. I then put it on a regular wireless charger and had no luck. I tried it on over five wireless chargers, some a mix of Qi and some MagSafe certified, and the phone wouldn’t charge on any of them. That was my disappointment.
Photo: Julian Chokkattu
The Qi2 standard is supposed to be backwards compatible with Qi, meaning your older wireless chargers should still be able to charge Qi2 phones. So what’s going on? Well, it turns out the magnetic wireless charging coils may not fit all Qi chargers, MagSafe or not. Some Qi chargers will work (HMD shared a preliminary list of several), but you'll likely need to buy a Qi2 charger. I asked Nomad to send me the new one Qi2 standard and the Skyline started charging right away when I turned it on. I'm not a big fan of this limitation, but at least there is a solution.
Not everything is rosy. Even when the Skyline magnetically sticks to this Qi2 wireless charging stand, the strength of the magnetic connection isn’t great. The phone started to tilt to the side and even turned horizontal on its own because it’s a bit top-heavy. Compare this to my Pixel 8 Pro with a Peak Design MagSafe casewhich remains perfectly still on the same charger because the magnets in the housing are much stronger.
This makes me worry that if I want to attach other magnetic accessories to the Skyline, will they fall off that much more easily? I'm glad to finally get the magnetic benefits of Qi2 in an Android phone, but I hope this is just a mediocre implementation and not a sign of things to come.
Standard Android
The Skyline is a perfect one by the way fine Android phone. I like the rectangular design, the hard flat edges and everything. The neon pink is especially fun and I'm glad HMD is bold enough to loud and proud colours. The whole thing is a bit slick. There is no headphone jack, but HMD does offer a microSD card slot with 256GB of internal storage.
Photo: Julian Chokkattu