Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 4 is very clearly still a product that favors Galaxy smartphone owners, but it seems like the product is opening up a bit more compared to past generations. Not only does the Galaxy Watch 4 support charging from Google’s Pixel 5, but it even seems to work on some standard Qi charging pads.
Reverse wireless charging has been around on Samsung smartphones for a couple of generations now, and the entire time, it’s been mainly designed to be used on the company’s accessories such as earbuds and smartwatches.
The latter, though, proved tricky for non-Samsung devices with the same feature. Because the Galaxy Watch lineup uses a modified version of the Qi standard, it doesn’t always work with other devices. So, going back, previous Samsung smartwatches would charge with Google’s Pixel 5, which has its own reverse wireless charging feature known as “Battery Share.” Thankfully, that’s changing with the Galaxy Watch 4 series.
We’ve confirmed that both the and Galaxy Watch 4 Classic will charge on a Pixel 5 that’s using “Battery Share.” It works consistently each time we’ve tried it, although we can’t test to see if it’s getting the same speeds it might get from a Samsung phone. Charging did not work with a OnePlus 9 and its reverse charge feature.
In more exciting news, the Galaxy Watch 4 seems to support at least some Qi chargers. It still works the most reliably on the included charging puck, but for once it seems other chargers work.
I tested out the Watch 4 on many of my Qi chargers including the entire Nomad Base Station series and from other brands, and most just didn’t work at all. However, two showed promise. A slim charger I purchased from Nonda triggered charging, but the Watch 4 then paused it a moment later and refused to continue charging. I had better luck with an old dual-device charger from Choetech, but that product has unfortunately been discontinued (and the company banned from Amazon).
It’s unclear why some chargers work and others do not, but both examples here are a tantalizing tease of what should have been. Wireless charging is a great open standard, and it’s a shame that Samsung locks down how you can charge up its smartwatches. Hopefully, this is the first step toward that changing for the better.
More on Samsung Galaxy Watch 4:
- Samsung’s take on Wear OS is great for Galaxy owners, but Google’s side clearly isn’t a priority
- Galaxy Watch 4 will get Assistant eventually, but only has Bixby now; Google Pay delayed
- Galaxy Watch 4 series hands-on: Wear OS reinvigorated [Video]
Author: Ben Schoon
Source: 9TO5Google
