The Slicecharge Pro Wireless Charger

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Back in September of 2017, Apple announced a revolutionary product concept that excited a lot of people. The AirPower charging mat was going to be a one-stop charging destination for any Apple device you owned. And, unlike other charging mats on the market at the time, it was going to be dead simple to use. Just drop your phone, AppleWatch, or AirPods on the mat, at any angle, in any order, and a connection would be established and charging would begin. Don’t worry about placement - put it down and Apple promised it would charge.

Then, it never got released. A rare Apple fumble, engineers were unable to solve dramatic overheating issues, forcing them to cancel an announced product for the first time in company history.

Immediately after the AirPower was cancelled, other companies scrambled to take advantage of peoples' anticipation, and began releasing clones that looked like the AirPower mat, and kind of worked like the mat, but definitely did not fulfill the promise of the mat.

My first wireless charging mat, which I bought a few weeks after upgrading to an iPhone XR, was a first generation AirUnleashed. Intentionally made to resemble the AirPower, the AirUnleashed was designed with two charge coils, and a charging groove for the Apple Watch. And, it worked - mostly. It regularly took multiple attempts to place my XR on the pad and achieve a connection, and within four months of purchase I’d abandoned it for the product I am going to be reviewing today.

Why a charging mat, anyway?

Even in 2021, there are plenty of people who are skeptical about the need, or purpose, of a charge mat. It’s understandable - after all, it still needs to plug into an outlet, so there’s still a cable. Back when I first heard about the AirPower mat, that was my own response as well. As someone who hates cable clutter, I loved the concept of being able to just place my devices down and have them charge without mess, but I didn’t see the value or purpose of swapping out the chargers I used for a wireless mat.

But, as someone who travels, I’d come to dislike the clutter of the chargers I used, and their many cables, not to mention the act of hunting down outlets in any hotel or guest bedroom to plug in everything I took with me. Having the ability to swap out three plugs for one is incredibly convenient, and so I pursued that option as soon as I had a phone that could charge wirelessly. Anyway - enough preface. Let’s jump into the review.

The design

“Slicecharge Pro Wireless Charger” is a bit of a mouthful - even moreso if I were to type up the full name for you. Officially, it’s the “Slicecharge Pro,Wireless Charger, 30W Qi-Certified Wireless Charging Pad,6-Coils Wireless Charging Mat.” Yeesh. Makes you long for the days of the AirPower. Simple, one word, eight letters, all I need to know. The look, however, is a bit more elegant than the name.

The mat includes an Apple Watch charger, and is covered by an attractive mesh fabric. Underneath the mesh are five interlocked coils which provide wide charging coverage. Produced by HardCiderLabs, the charging mat lacks any obvious branding apart from an understated red tag on the right side. My original charging mat appeared to be made out of a “silicon/rubber” material, whereas the Slicecharge Pro uses the previously mentioned mesh fabric. I assume the mesh fabric better disperses heat produced from charging, although I’ve also never noticed it feeling particularly hot in any case. In my experiences, the materials in the other kind of mat - such as the one used by AirUnleashed - has the tendency to collect dust and look a bit grimy, while the mesh fabric maintains a cleaner look and feel.

Truthfully, unless I’m a particular fan of a company, I don’t like products with branding on them. I generally buy products for their use, not their brand, and if my two choices are between items that work identically, but one has an ugly logo and the other an understated one, then I will buy the one with less branding every time. After all, I buy these kinds of products for their function. They are intended to be utilized to service the devices I use most frequently in my life. They aren’t meant to draw attention to themselves with garish logos, which detract from the aesthetic I’m trying to create in my workspace. I want items that look beautiful, but fall into the background behind the devices with which I use them. The Slicecharge Pro has a red leather tag with no real functional purpose, but it doesn’t get in the way of the look or design of the mat in any way. I find it attractive.

The Apple Watch charger is placed on the far right side of the mat, allowing for two effects. First - the interlocking coils cover a wide area of the mat without interruption, and second, it becomes easier to place not one but two phones on the mat simultaneously without having to fish around for a connection, which, for me, was an essential feature.

The idea behind the original AirPower is interesting - Apple promised its users that they could simply place their Apple Watches anywhere on the mat that they wanted, and a charge would be established. However, while cool in concept, the practicality of that has the potential for frustration. After all, some watch bands don’t allow the watch to be laid flat, which means that the wearer would have to go through the extra step of sliding off at least half the band in order to establish a charge. The Slicecharge Pro’s watch charger allows for the option of a flat charge, or an elevated one, and uses what looks to be stainless steel on the exterior ring of the watch charger, although I’m sure it’s just plastic with a shiny coating. It doesn’t look cheap, however.

When talking about the look, it’s important to note that the mat comes with a plastic stand that I immediately threw into the garbage. The concept behind it was that you could stand the mat up on your tabletop, but it was finicky to use and unattractive. I much prefer to leave it flat instead.

Using the mat

The problem I had with the 1st Gen AirUnleashed charging mat was that it required a lot of fumbling and perfect placement to establish a charge. The Slicecharge Pro Wireless Charger, however, uses more coils and very nearly achieves the promise of the never-released AirPower.

It’s a very simple procedure to place my phone down on the pad. I can place it vertically (such as in the photo above), and a charge is almost always immediately established. Or it can be placed diagonally. Or even horizontally if I just want to cover the entire pad with my XR. It’s also easy enough to charge both the phone and my AirPods Pro simultaneously, or, if I am traveling with my wife, for us to charge both of our phones simultaneously on the mat.

Device placement is totally up to the user. The phone can be placed anywhere on the mat, and it will charge.

The mat is powered by a single USB-C connector, which runs to an included 30W USB-C power adapter. It provides a 7.5W charge for iPhones, or a 10w charge Samsung Galaxy products. It’s possible to charge two Qi protocol phones at the same time.

Issues

In the year that I’ve been using this mat, I’ve found very little to complain about. That said, there are four things you should be aware of before you hunt down one of these for yourself.

First - as I mentioned previously, the included plastic base is pretty much garbage. You almost certainly won’t choose to use it. It is finicky to connect to the charge mat, and even when it’s connected it feels flimsy, as though an accidental bump might cause the entire thing to detach, resulting in your devices spilling all over the place.

Second - the mat pretty easily slips and slides around on any surface. I’ve never really had a problem with it, but if you are at all order-obsessed, you might find yourself constantly adjusting the mat on your tabletop to prevent it from resting at an askew angle.

Third - you pretty much need to use a case when you’re charging a phone on one of these mats. I like to take my phone out of its case if I’m just spending time at home, and if my phone is placed naked on this mat, no matter how the placement is arranged - vertical, horizontal, diagonal - within 30 seconds it slides right off and has, in fact, crashed onto the floor before. There’s something about the fabric of the mat, and the glass back of the XR, that just makes it frictionless and at risk of sliding.

Fourth - it’s very rare, but on occasion, for inexplicable reasons, I’ve found that my phone doesn’t charge when placed on the mat. I mean, literally, it happens maybe 1 out of 25 times, if even that often. It’s a good idea though to listen for the telltale vibration before walking away after placing the phone on the mat.

Final Thoughts

The Slicecharge Pro is an attractive charge mat that makes for an excellent travel companion. As someone who brings most of his devices with him on overnight trips, I’ve greatly enjoyed the convenience of a one-stop charging destination for most of my devices.

My particular model is no longer in production, although at this writing Amazon still sells one for US$119.

The newer models can be ordered directly from HardCider Labs' webstore for US$79.95. Although it is less expensive and likely offers an even better charging experience, truthfully, I’m not sure I would buy it. After all, looking at the design (which includes an improved, more attractive stand), it doesn’t appear that I would be able to charge two iPhones simultaneously based on the revised placement of the watch charger. It is infrequent that I need to charge two phones at the same time, but, on trips, having the ability to charge my phone and my wife’s is a convenience that I don’t want to surrender.