Nokia Lumia 1020: Wireless Charging Cover hands on

Qi is not standard, in fact it's actually the less supported version iirc.

Don't know about that. Got a Nokia Lumia 920, Asus Nexus 7 and an LG Nexus 4, all using Qi and working fine on my Nokia charge plates/stands, and JBL speaker, with built in wireless charging. I know the HTC 8X  from some carriers supports Qi as well. Seems reasonably broad, compared to the alternate Powermate solution which almost universally depends on a bulky (as opposed to this slim back) solution or a plugged in puck.
BTW, no way you can say it is not standard. Not ubiquitous maybe, but It is most certainly a standard. People throw the term, standard, around pretty freely. Doesn't technically mean the thing everyone is using.

Not yet when Apple hasn't jump on board. I hate to say this but it's true.

Indubitably!

This. This. This. The cover looks ugly (IMO). And if it's like the 925's cover it's unnecessary bulky. 

Then you would be complaining that the phone is too heavy

It's a thin little coil.  The wireless charging is not why the Lumia 920 is so heavy.  And again, this means that it's even heavier now to add wireless charging than if it had it built in.

You don't just put the coil inside, there are stil other protective components that you need to attach. Do you think Nokia will purposely omit that feature if it is that simple?

i actually really like the cover idea that nokia is implementing. it's effectively an official cover and for people that hate to have to use one like me it justifies its existence by the wireless charging as well as protecting the edges

I've figured it out - it's consumer and marketing psychology.
When you have phones like the 920 where it includes everything, the bloggers, tech circle and even some end users criticise it for being thick and heavy, despite the obvious advantage of it being sturdy with the extra functionality.  However if you look on the streets you see many people put thick cases on their supposedly "thin and light" phones, and in some cases making them as heavy if not heavier than the 920 but they won't blink an eye.  The key here is that you have to make the people willingly put on the thickness and weight on as "protection" for their expensive phone - THEN they will completely accept the extra bulk, because the users themselves choose to put the extra bulk on themselves, whereas if you include it on in the first place, they write it off as a negative because they didn't choose to have this stuff on themselves.  Thus the idea of a wireless charging case addresses this psychological issue, as psychologically the user would be thinking "hey I'm buying a protective case for my expensive phone with EXTRA functionality!  I could live with a bit more bulk for that.", and also cut off the whole "too bulky and heavy" criticism that the tech reporters are likely to say as well. 

This x 1020.
 
I'm really dissapointed this isn't just built in, and strongly dislike this Nokia trend.  Just look at the charging covers for the 820... the thickness and additional weight is almost nothing.  Just include it in the base plastic.  Cost should be negligible as well.
 
The other thing this makes essentially impossible is a CC-1043 style case.  This case is AWESOME on the 920, becuase it is very thin, covers all sides, and looks almost liek you don't have a case at all. The wireless charging works right through it.  By making the wireless charging an add-on case, they will either make a CC-1043 style case that is incompatible with the wireless charging (either/or), or not make one at all because they believe that this wireless charging back is sufficiently equivalent.  It is not.

Houkohoulic, hit the nail on the head. +1020

Was there any talk about why there is no NFC for this phone?

There's no NFC? Really? Sorry, haven't followed the live stream myself.

Of course there is NFC.

What are you talking about? There's NFC. 

NFC is listed on the full spec sheet.  http://www.nokia.com/global/products/phone/lumia1020/specifications/

I think you better check your information before making a comment, because your confusing people.

Yeah! (grabs pitch fork)

Lol

Because of who's "Confusing People"?

Did you mean "whose"? Nice try, though.

Not only is there NFC, in the box is an NFC tag that takes you to a web site that explains the phone and all the special camera functions. That was outstanding. No need to unfold the pamphlet, figure out how to start a browser, type in a site name. Just hold the simple card to the back of the phone, and the 'manual' shows up. Yes NFC was 'on' out of the box.

 
Still believe Nokia went with turning Wireless Charging into an accessorie because they can quickly adapt to the way Apple is going to do this by releasing another shell. I'd guess once Apple starts incorporating Wireless Charging it will be taking off because it appears many people only consider something worthwile once iPhone has it for some reason..

Well, it does sell better than every other smartphone out there right now.

Case companies should start incorporating the wireless charging into their cases so that you can get the "look" or protection you want along with the wireless charging. Thats the only thing that makes sense to me.

Although your belief is logical, this phone will be long obsolete by the time Apple incorporates wireless charging based on their previous track record. So I agree with most that for how thin/light the Qi backplate is, and how it makes the bump seem smaller, I would've rather it built in. Regardless, I'll still get it.

It reduces cost and provides consumer's options.

I wish ATT would bundle the camera grip accessory and the wireless charging plate in the $299 price. That would have been sweet!

If I could get AT&T to give me another new upgrade so soon after doing it for me with 900 to the 920, I'd take that deal in a heartbeat.

Lol they would probably do it. They want that $$$

Microsoft Store is already offering the camera grip with pre-orders. (Or will when they start taking pre-orders.)
 
So, you'll probably see bundling deals like that. (Hell, the B&M Microsoft Stores are always good with negotiating discounts, so it wouldn't surprise me if you couldn't talk them into both...)

What about maintaining grandfathered unlimited data plans: Are they able to keep when purchasing through B&M stores? I was under the impression only AT&T can do this.

Yea, but the MS store wants $299 with the included grip, and you can get the phone for $249, and the grip for $50, so it is about a wash. If the MS store was $249 w grip, they'd have sold me one. As it was I went through Amazon for the phone, and the ATT store for the grip. Easier. Talking them down to $249 w grip would have required a 2 hour drive. Don't think anyone has the charge backs yet.

Any word on price?

Does it provide much protection tho? I'll have to choose between a case or wireless charging if not:-(

Article says watch the video, but the app doesn't contain any video link...

Gimme two seconds. I'll fix it.  Weird works for me. Anybody else?

Thank you Sam.

Fixed now, thanks.

This is my fault, update to fix this problem coming soon, in the meantime Sam is a dude for sorting it out on the article content end :)

Just the way your phrased "Sam is a dude..." made me chuckle.  Does that mean that Sam can be construed as a woman sometimes?  Poor Sam, no love at all;)

There is absolutely nothing wrong with Sam choosing to embrace his femininity from time to time!! lol

Aha that's why the phone has 2 connections dots on the back site. I thought when I read wireless charging cover as a cover like the 820 or so. But this is a clever way to use a cover to. It gives even more protection now.

The 720 has the same design (wrt wireless charging) as the 1020 too.

And the 925.

It would be nice to get a comparison of those wireless charging shells; the one for the 720, 925 and now 1020...

Well if this shell is so light and thin with all the plastic around the coil, why the heck is Nokia refusing to just simply include it in the device? I really hope they will include it again in the 930 or 1030 or whatever the next highend phone with 1080p screen and quadcore will be called.

I don't want any news about the Lumia 1020. I'm not going to like it either (just Windows Phone News) it used to be interesting checking 7 new WPCENTRAL items but it's only 1020 7x in a row.

What the hell do you expect on announcement day?

@Jarocookies I'm now going to write 4 more stories on the 1020 because you complained :)

You forget to bring new news UCbrowser's update for example. That is what I meant but you claim it's complaining. (!) Your comment says more about yourself than you think. Do you have children?

Jarocookies, that is the dumbest comment ever. You would rather they check with you to see if you are interested in the new product that is creating all the news before they start writing stories about it? Would that be nice for you? Grow up.

UC browser has been updated when the 1020 hadn't arrived it would have been shared by WPCENTRAL like always......

Yes, of course. Clearly WPCentral should have stayed home from the biggest WP news story yet (the 1020 announcement) and waitied in case some rinky-dink little app that nobody even gives a crap about gets updated so they could fire out a story immediately for the two people in the universe to care about. That wouldn't have dissapointed the tens of thousands of people who are chomping at the bit to get every bit of 1020 news they can at all. You have no grip on reality.

You have not read my comment

What the hell are you talkign about?
 
I definitely read your comment.  You were bitching about there being too much important news on this Windows Phone news site.  That's why I told you it was a dumb thing to say.

Wow!! This is breaking news!!!!!! Not

You're looking for a 41mp monster?

I tried to reply but did you get it?

This charging cover actually looks really nice!

Totally getting this.  Its like a case and adds wireless charging.  It doesn't look like it'll stay when you drop your phone but it'll absorb some of the damage tot he corners nonetheless.

Those covers don't absorb anything, at least not on the 720 they didn't. First hand experience

Lol exactly.

So cool I watched it twice! :)

Wooooo that's a winner for me.... Thanks...i Will have it

this is something that make me glad I got a 920. I really hate covers, so the build in charging is great.

My proof (7x in a row) http://postandplay.blogspot.com/2013/07/my-proof.html

Well its a good thing that it says 1020 in the title so you can just ignore the article. Now move on, nothing to see here

Don't like. For the price, it should have feature parity with the 920. Going forward, all Nokia phones should support wireless charging

I think one of my favorite parts about the 1020 is the wrist strap. This will definitely help me feel more safer holding it. I used to have a phone about 7 years ago that had one and thought why all phones didn't do that..

The shell makes wireless charging pointless.  The best thing about wireless charging is you can just throw it on the plate and not think about it.  If I have to take out a shell, clip it on, and then put it on the charger, well...i may as well just charge it the traditional way. 
Plus, if I already have the camera shell on it, then I have to take that one off....it takes away from the simplicity. 
But overall, I guess its not a huge deal..this phone is still tits.  I wish they would work with Verizon...I dont want to have to wait a year for the Nokia 1028.  Maybe they will give verizon the 1025, aluminum body version this time.

Or, and this is cuh-ray-zee... you could just leave the case on the phone and consider it to be like any other protective cover.

Comment of the day!

You know that's just too easy and logical :S I myself will love the option of using both the cover daily and only change to the grip when I need a camera handy. Very functional for me. I do wish the cover afforded a little more protection but the concept will definitely work for me.

Except compared to my genuine nokia cover on my 920 this thing doesn't protect for crap.

But it does protect the corners...

As I understood from the keynote, it was AT&T who cried about it and said not to include it. They had to make the phone as thin and light as possible. This is why Qi was not built in.

Lies. You mean to tell me AT&T can have that much influence on a device that will be available to other countries? I choose not to believe that. 

I also don't believe him but it CAN be true considering they have an exclusive deal with ATT.

Yes. Elop said that in the Q&A session.

Considering that AT&T will be the first to sell it and it's a major partner in US, it wouldn't be so hard to believe that they had influence on it. When the device doesn't sell because people are not buying due to weight and size, both companies are affected and both companies have to come to an agreement.

Oh. Okay, sure... let's do ALL the things... YOU want to do.
 
Yeah, no, not buying it. I think customer feedback has suggested they prefer the lighter/thinner designs, and they want the option of the charging.

Matte Yellow? 

thanks for the video coverage of the cover
 
 

"and reduce cost, presumably"
BS. It's to grab more accessory money. The BOM must be miniscule on a charging cover. Does it even have an IC? Plastic and a metal coil. I bet it costs them $3 to make one.

Given that it isn't built into the phone, I would love to see a 3rd party come out with a Book/Wallet type case for the 1020 that has wireless charging.

Something like this one? :) http://pureviewclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Nokia-Leather-Case.pn...

Unless I'm missing something, that case (though very nice) does not have built-in wireless charging.

Yeah, sorry, wasn't clear enough. Was trying to suggest "something like that", if it included wireless charging. My bad, not my prefered language either, leads to misunderstandings like this.

Ah, got it.  yep... this is exactly why people are upset wireless charging is not included.  Now we have to decide between using this nice case OR getting wireless charging.  If it was built in, it would work through that case no problem.  Sigh.

Who care about bulk that camera already kills the slim element. I say stop caring about slimness. Why are phones becoming teenage girls?

I'm pretty angry with Nokia about this to be honest. I have wireless charging in my house now, I'll have wireless charging in my car soon, and with future Lumia's apparently either this will all be useless, or I'll have to put on a crappy looking case that doesn't even cover the damn phone properly.

Same for me!
 
hopefully future technics will make it possible to integrate it again without bulkiness, although I prefered the 1020 with wireless charging build in.

Exactly. They get us to buy into it and then make it an optional feature that just gets in the way of their other accessories.

Does anybody else like the new jump program that T-Mobile just announced? I know that might be a little off topic but I would sign up for that in a heartbeat if AT&T offered something like that so that everytime Nokia out does itself with a wonderful new phone I don't have to track down family members or friends and use their upgrades to get me the newest phone! I can't wait to use my brothers upgrade to get a 1020! Haha

That it still is thinner than the protrusion of the camera is what is interesting. Who cares about standards while the war is being fought. Still, it is a little disappointing they opted to exclude it whatever the reason - this phone is already going to be more expensive what's a few 10s more?

Just saw the Nokia lumia 1020 on fox news....thought that was cool that they did a story about it....

This back cover looks a lot nicer than the 925 one. Really wished that the wireless capability was also on that camera case, don't want to shell out for both :(

I think there is no way wireless charging will work with the camera case. the coil will be too far away from the plate to work.

more coloursssss

I too am mad about the lack of integrated charging in recent Lumias. I have the chargers everywhere and I love them. I think Nokia is unsure of Qi future & would rather follow the light & thin fascination right now. I do like this shell tho. I don't buy u guys saying it provides no protection. I've had cases like this before on ipods. They stand the chance of absorbing some impact & potentially absorbing energy by popping off. My 920 has deformities on corners and it sucks. This can't be any worse

Geebus, if the phone had built in wc you would bitching that it was fat, heavy, thick. Boohoohoo. Where's my 1080p quadcores dammit. Blah blah blah.

Now if Nokia would make a full case like the CC-1043, but build wireless charging into it.

I prefer to have wireless charging build into the device. Even if it adds extra weight and size.
 
In the beginning I was very negative about the bulkiness of the Lumia 920 but now I have it --> love it!
And I don't want a device anymore without wireless charging build in. Don't want an extra cover.
Hopefully Nokia brings a Pureview 41 MP with wireless charging as well: makes the back of the phone more flat as well.
 
 
 
 
 

Personally I was disappointed when Wireless Charging wasn't included in the 1020 itself. It isn't about the weight or the expense. As people have rightly identified, the coil is only a thin film element, and if you include it into the build of the device itself in the first place it literally only adds cents, or a couple dollars at most, to the overall build of the device. 
It equates to increasing revenue, plain and simple.
There must be others out there like me which have invested in chargers for their 920. Now to sidegrade (in some respects) to the 1020 a consumer will have to fork out treble the cost, or more, for the priviledge of continuing to use Wireless Charging. I'm a fan of Nokia but this is a fairly blatent grab for revenue addon.
Fortunately Mr Elop said there are other devices coming out in the near future that will include Qi charging and hit other price points using the technologies that are being developed. I will be happy for my next device to have Wireless Charging with a 21mpx shooter - that's stacks for me, with the thinness of a 925. I'm bypassing this one sadly but I'm looking forward to seeing what's coming in a few months toward Q4 2013 - Q1 2014.
It is a wild device no matter which way you look at it... I like how USB On The Go is included too - awesome Nokia!
 

With the camera hump, I presume that the 1020+wireless charging cover will not sit flat on the existing wireless charger built for the 920, correct? Does this matter and will it still catch the charge?

I just received my charging cover and it doesn't seem to work very well with the Nokia stand up charging plates.

Having the same issue here.  Tried charging on my stand last night, would not pickup the charge.. messed with back plate a little and woke up middle of the night and realized my phone was completely dead!  Really sucks since I was so used to the built in charging of my 920.  This case is not the solution!  Have you had any other luck charging on the upright stand?  I own a few of these at work and home would hate to scrap them all

I too seem to have this problem. Got my charging cover yesterday. Put it on my upright charger and it appeared to be working as it does on my 920. Went to bed and when I woke up this morning the phone is dead. Put it on the cable charger and it charged up quickly. I've a couple of the flat chargers at work. I will have to try them Monday and see if they work.
I love the wireless charging and this could be a deal breaker for me. If it doesn't work Monday on the flat charger the phone may go back to the Microsoft store on Monday evening.

how did the flat charger work wih the case? Still have not had luck with my standup charger and I am going to send the case back if there is no use for it.  May work better with the pillow.  thanks for the update

@tumolo
The flat charger works well. As does the JBL powerup wireless charging speakers. I also got the upright charger to work.
Try this: if you have the NFC charger set up on your 1020 where the app opens when you tap the nfc area, turn it off by removing the charging stand from accessories in settings. So, I'm just using the time on the screen that's part of Amber. I have it turn red at night and it seems to work better for me.
So, as soon as I just began using the upright charging stand to only charge the phone it's working great. Hope you have success.
-C

The real problem with the covers is that they are NOWHERE to be found.

This thing can be super frustrating.  I have a black one and a yellow one.  My black one works every time, but the yellow one works very inconsistently.  When I looked closely and compared the positions of the contacts, you can see that the yellow cover's contacts are skewed slightly toward the bottom of the phone.  So I typically have to push the yellow cover up toward the top of the phone in order to get a consistent charge.  I bought it from Amazon, and I can't even get a replacement currently because Amazon itself is out of stock (though they are available through another seller via Amazon).
I could understand Nokia not wanting to include something like wireless charging in the 1020, because pretty much every review of the 920 complained about the weight of the device, but Nokia should have included this feature in the 1020. I would say the phone plus the charging cover combo is very likely bulkier than if the phone had it integrated.  Maybe they could have placed the wireless charging component closer to the camera lens and shaped the phone with more of a gradual slope toward the bottom of the phone...

My 2 cents. My only complain about this cover is the price. I live in Brazil and I bought 1020 in Nokia store (full price, a lot expensive, btw). This cover could be included as an accessory, not sold separately. But, the way is constructed is a good idea. Wireless charging normally is hotter than plug at the wall/USB (my previous LG Nexus 4 and my actual Lumia 1020 always are hotter charging wirelessly). So, detaching this cover will make your phone colder than awaiting with cover on. And other: if you have a problem with wireless charging, with built in chargin in your phone you have to search for a repair store (and good luck if they give you a smartphone replacement during its time at repair), different with a replaceable (and sometimes cheaper than a repair, if your phone is not in warranty) cover.