Serious question: Why on earth do we have wireless charging pads?
 

I'm very curious to know HOW this got on the car. What phones actually use this, and use it without blowing up (recent Samsung). Also given the market share for bigger phones and them not being able to even fit back there..


Can someone justify this for me?

My S7 edge has wireless charging... although it's too big to fit.!

My point exactly... I'm trying to understand the logic behind this feature that we for sure paid for, yet is probably not utilized. Add to it, a phone cant sit there without falling off.

Note 5 is a no go even out of case. The case for my glasses though fits very well and doesn't slide out even in hard cornering ;).

It's worthless to me. My S7 Edge doesn't fit and even if it did, it is in the most inconvenient spot to get to. I would bet it was an afterthought usage of space at the back of the center console.

You can pull the rubber mat out and a Note 5 will start to charge for a few seconds in a very, very specific position. But, it stops shortly after because of how difficult it is to hold it there.

It's just a poorly implemented design that I'm guessing when it was designed, was targeted at specific dimensions hoping more phones would fall in line.

Though, I'm still baffled at how so many tablet phones are excluded. They're not new.


Anyone out there with a 3D printer could make themselves some money if they could make an adapter plate that held more phones, slipped in where the rubber pad is and still allowed the wireless charging.

Which again, leads me to ask... Why the hell is this on here? It doesn't seem that hard to remove the feature and make that spot actually useful. We somehow paid for this, and I'd love to know how they justified it lol.. Anyone know how to get in touch with someone?

its a low-cost gimmick, thats why

About a design question?

Good luck. You can call Chevy Customer service and talk around in circles.

Honestly, the best place would have been the 50th bash and to corner someone there about it that isn't reading from a script in a manual in a call center that Chevy out sourced to.

You can try Chevy Cust Svc here, but I've not found them to be much better. More script reading.

It's cool :dizzy:

There are several things on this car that make me question the designers and engineers. I love my car, but some of its more "practical" cues are...... Horrible.


Example, the USB port.. you plug your cord in and immediately the cord has to do a 180* turn. Your cord frays within days AND given it is in the middle, it renders most of the storage compartment useless, unless you pile shit on top of the cord, further damaging it.

How about the 98% useless door pocket location? That's pretty much in the side bolster of your seat unless you're sitting in the back. So, anything in there is inaccessible. The center console area is useless for anything other than your thumb drive w/o knocking it loose and the cup holders, while nice, are really your only useful storage area readily accessible as the driver.


I really wish the Corvette's drop-down screen had made it to Camaro.

Yeah! Another thread of worthless complaining.

Somebody capable please draw and print up a nice storage insert the replace both the pad and the charger below it.

Complaining about complaining is very meta.

yea-It's stupid!IT IS IN THE BACKSEAT!Door pockets-where? o in the backseat!:mad0260:

Not to pile on, but even if you have a phone that fits there, it is useless if you are using Apple Play or Android Auto as you have to plug the phone into the USB plug anyway so you don't need wireless charging. Both of these seem to be check box marketing items that were added to the car without any real design thought. Ideally you would be able to place your phone on the wireless charger and have it connect to Apple Play or Android Auto via Bluetooth and the wireless charger should come with different sized rubber inserts (GM Read this as another nickle and dime your customers sales opportunity for you) for different size phones. But that would have taken real engineering thought and not marketing thought.

It's a gimmick. They should remove it from the future refresh. It's the only practical place to put my sunglasses though.

Do they stay charged?

:thumbup:

My Samsung Galaxy S6 fits beautifully... not like the CrApple phones.

I just have a base model so no wireless charging pad for me but I do use that area for my spare change.

My Galaxy S6 fits perfect, use it all the time and love it!

I prefer the driver's side map pocket, shrug.

I thought the only thing that mattered was the performance specs. No one who buys a Camaro should be concerned about practicality!

Before you go on a rant, please understand the technology. No one has wireless support for CarPlay or AA in a vehicle yet. It has absolutely nothing to do with GM and in the future (when the hardware for wireless CarPlay and AA is made compatible) you will be able to use the wireless charging pad at the same time. There are also questions about the effectiveness of wireless charging and while doing wireless AA for example. AA draws a good ammount of power. Currently the universal Qi standard is low rate charging. This means it would likely not be able to keep the phone charged while using wireless AA. Now Samsung and others are now shipping phones that support a fast wireless charging profile. This should solve these issues, but again highlights how this technology is still brand new and changing rapidly. At this point you should be hoping Apple decides to use a non-proprietary form of connection for wireless CarPlay. Otherwise it will take specific hardware in the car to work (i.e. new version of myLink). Google is reportedly planning on using the car's built-in WiFi to enable theirs. So that should mean backwards compatibility. I hope Apple does the same.

All the points about the charging pad are valid. For the life of me I cannot see how someone on the design team thought it was a good idea. I mean it's a Camaro...it will be driven aggressively. Why did they put a tiny inductive coil (which requires the phone to stay in one exact position) on a pad too shallow without adjustable rubber grips to custom fit various phones. I do not have a problem charging my S6 on a cheap Amazon pad at home, but it refuses to charge it with the case on it in the car. Not to mention having to keep the phone in a specific spot to charge. Exactly how are you supposed to pick up the phone and put it back on the charger if you are driving? Just plain terrible engineering to me. And pretty obvious this never was tested really in the production mule phase.

My S7 edge fits with the rubber pad taken off. The phone doesn't fall off, either.

And the Note 7 issue is just a one off mistake. I've been using Qi for over two years now with no issues.


Edit: it's back there so you're not finger ****ing your phone while driving.

^^^^This!

Isn't your car parked somewhere waiting for you to come and have sex with yourself on it?? :pound::pound::pound:

What you are forgetting these cars were designed over 5 years ago so they took a shot at something that went the other way, that's why Car electronics are always at least 3 years behind. Phone's 5 years ago were tiny compared to today, and wireless charging was just beginning, they did not know it would fade away. My Link has always been behind the tech curve, Euro cars do a much better job in this department. Then again go to many European cities and they are much more advanced than us.

I'm sorry, the wireless charging pad was not designed 5 years ago. It's ad-hoc at best. Thrown in at the last minute without much thought. 5 years ago there was no Android Auto or CarPlay or wireless charging, but it's on the car now. While the car itself started design work that long ago, components are continually designed and incorporated..particularly in infotainment. But I would agree they still will lag behind, but myLink is on par with the majority of the OEMs at this point (not really a good or bad thing).

I don't agree with the Euro cars being better. BMW still doesn't have CarPlay or AA support. My '14 328i with the tech package couldn't reliably show text messages, didn't support Pandora via Android, and had almost 0 support for remote control apps (BMW going so far to block US users from installing/using the app). Some of the brands are better (in particular VW AG) but they aren't really ahead of myLink, Uconnect, or Sync. The one thing BMW did do well, was the physical controller...a much better idea than touch screens, but that's another story.

Between the charging pad and the iPad looking gauges, I suspect the interior is going to look dated quickly.

In 5 years it'll be like seeing someone with a Motorola bag phone. Lol. Ok maybe not that bad but I don't see these gimmicks aging well.

Hey, don't knock those.. Cheapest form of birthcontrol I know of outside of standing in front of a microwave oven with the door open! :smiling1:

As opposed to the antique interior in the 5th gen? You realize in a few years there will probably not be any physical gauges in cars right? So no they aren't going to look outdated. The physical speedo and tach will be in a few years at current rates.

I have a Droid Turbo and it fits like a glove. I just set the phone down and drive off. I also don't feel compelled to look at my phone while driving since I can't see it. Bummer that some phones don't fit...

Mechanical and electrical gauges like are in the 5th gen stand the test of time. Look at the old muscle cars of you don't agree.

Now go look at popular cars through the years that had the latest digital gauges gadgets and gizmos. Most are cringeworthy now.

:thumbup::thumbup:

Ha, I can see you are letting experiences with the electronics of the 80's and 90's color your opinion. I would not say gauges in the 60's and 70's cars stand the test of time. I've had my share of speedos, tachs, fuel gauges, and indicators break. Not to mention tach lag, bulbs burning out, needles stuck or loose, etc... The only advantage a mechanical gauge has is fewer places to check for trouble.

But this is a pointless debate. The trend is cars, planes, and boats are large LCD screens replacing multiple single use physical gauges. The wealth of information a vehicle can display now necessitates this. Maybe in 20 years we will have interactive holographic displays, but until then LCDs will dominate car interiors. And the only thing that will look outdated is the software running them.

My bet would be....because the feature was integrated into the design and engineering plan about the same time as it came out on cell phones in the mobile device market. Had phones stayed a decent size...this probably would have been a home-run idea. Someone mentioned that cars take several years to design from the ground up - and they're right.

Also consider...besides becoming bigger...mobile device manufacturers are also interested in making them slimmer, and lighter...the induction charging components that are necessary for this feature add weight and cost...many manufacturers have opted out.

Plus...advertising that your car can wirelessly charge your cell phone (not mentioning that most phones will require an accessory case to do it)...is pretty awesome. :D


NOTE: My iPhone does not have this capability...and I have not found a case I like yet that does it...so my "phone charging pad" will likely collect dust and speeding tickets (when I finally get the car). Or maybe hold my helmet!!

You have to understand that the technology they put in any given car is going to be, what 3-4 years behind current technology trends. Back when they were developing the Camaro phones were smaller in screen size and wireless charging was going to be the next big thing. However not much long after that phones started getting larger and wireless charging was only adopted by a few manufactures.

My S7 fits just right, so did my S6... I use it all the time. Not sure why they have those raised areas to limit phone size, lots of people have giant phones these days.