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Fulton's latest innovation: a tablet that also functions as a wireless charging mat

Fulton's latest innovation: a tablet that also functions as a wireless charging mat

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Fulton Wireless two-way charging
Fulton Wireless two-way charging

Fulton Innovation has been showing off advances in wireless power at CES for years now, and while the technology still isn't exactly mainstream, it got a bit of a boost in 2012. High-profile phones like the Nokia Lumia 920, HTC Droid DNA, and Nexus 4 are all compatible with the Qi standard that Fulton supports, and we'd expect to see even more devices include the feature in 2013.

Share your tablet's battery with your phone

While Fulton will certainly be showing off the growing collection of Qi-compatible phones at CES, the company usually takes advantage of the show to display new and emerging technology that may not have a place yet in consumer products, and this year is no exception. Probably the most intriguing new technology on display is Fulton's new two-way technology. The company will be showing off a tablet that can be wirelessly charged — but it can also share that charge with other Qi-compatible phones. From a quick demo video that Fulton released a few weeks ago, it looks like the tablet can function as a wireless charging pad for other devices, something that might come in handy if your phone is dying but your tablet's large battery remains well-charged.

The company is also displaying the flexibility of this two-way technology in a less conventional way, in the form of a printed poster of a DJ console that can be played — you can tap different elements of the poster to create sounds, and the whole thing is powered by the aforementioned two-way tablet. The poster is similar to the light-up magazine coverand box that we saw last year at CES, but instead of powering lights, the tablet will be powering the speaker for sound output.

The circuits on the poster itself are all printed electronics — specifically, conductive inks are used to create the wireless power coil. It certainly sounds like an odd product, but it seems more meant to demonstrate the versatility of the two-way tablet's wireless power capabilities — we'll check it out tomorrow and get more details on how exactly it works and how the technology might be implemented in consumer-facing products.

Perhaps more initially useful will be Fulton's new multi-device power mat — multiple Qi-compatible devices will be able to charge on a single surface that can adapt on the fly to the different power needs of each phone. In a multi-device household, this could end up being a more elegant solution than what's currently available — we'll be checking everything out tomorrow in person to see how these latest wireless power efforts stack up.

Fulton Innovation wireless power press photos

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