The Sony magnetic charging dock for the Xperia Z1 should be the answer to quickly easily charging your Z1, or Z1 Compact, via the phones magnetic points. The advantage of this is that you you don’t need to keep opening and closing the protective covers to plug in a standard USB charging cable.
Included with the magnetic charging dock were 2 different sized inserts, one for the Sony Xperia Z1 without a cover and one for the Z1 with the cover.
First the good stuff. The idea of a magnetic charging cable is really good as it saves wear on the USB port cover and the Z1 looks great sat in the dock. You can set the phone to trigger an event when docked, for example it could automatically switch to night mode and pop the phone into silenced mode, switch back when removed from the dock the next day.
It’s possible to use the dock with the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact, although I found it worked best without any inserts.
So all good then? Unfortunately not. This feels like a very cheap product with an inflated price tag and in use there are issues:
- Plugging the dock into something like a PC or a bedside unit with USB charging point doesn’t actually cause the phone to charge, the dock has to be plugged into a wall socket.
- No wall socket plug is provided with the dock, if I didn’t have a spare I couldn’t have used the dock.
- The cable isn’t very long, it’s the correct length for plugging into something on a desk, it’s not long enough to sit on a desk and plug into a wall socket.
It’s really disappointing, the idea of this is brilliant and should mean you don’t have to open and close the USB cover just to charge. With such a cheap feel it was no surprise that it was very easy to open the dock up and remove the cable completely, which I’ve found to be far more useful than when it’s in the dock as the contact points can be frustratingly tricky to line up when in the dock.
It’s a real shame the execution isn’t very good, as a dock it’s only of use if you can place it near a wall socket and happen to have a spare USB plug to hand. If you are OK with that this, or just want to extract the cable, this is great, but for anyone hoping for a desk dock you can plug into your PC/laptop you’ll be disappointed.
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TheSmartGuard Dock Compatible with Sony Xperia Z3 Compact / Z1 / Z2 / Z Ultra Magnetic Docking Station DK48 with revised charging speed.
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Features
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Ex-Pro® Sony Magnetic Charging Dock for Sony XL39H Xperia Z1 L39H, Z2 - Black.
Features
- Ex-Pro Sony Magnetic Charging Dock for Sony XL39H Xperia Z1 L39H, Z3 - Black.
- Specially designed for the Sony Xperia Z1, Z2
- While your phone is charging, it stands at a comfortable viewing angle
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2 Pieces Micro USB to Magnetic Charger Connector Adapter For Sony Xperia Z1 / Z2 / Z3 / Z1 Mini / Z2 Mini / Z3 Mini
Features
- High Performance Micro USB To Magnetic Magnet Charger Charging Adapter Converter Connector.
- Perfect conversion adapter for Micro USB to Sony Xperia Z1 / Z2 / Z3 / Z1 Mini / Z2 Mini / Z3 Mini Charging Cable.
- L-Shape Design for extra strong and tidy connection.Maximum charging speed from magnector enhanced technology.
- Allows you to use your current micro USB cable and convert it to magnetic charging adapter for supported your phone models.
- Compatible with: Xperia Z Ultra, Xperia Z1, Xperia Z1 Compact, Xperia Z2, Xperia Z2 Tablet, Xperia Z3, Xperia Z3 Compact, Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact.
Hoping you can answer my very stupid question. The inserts that come with the charging dock, how do you remove one so you can put he other in? I’ve got the dock, came with one insert already in place and I can’t for the life of me pry it out.
Not a stupid question at all, I found it a real pain to remove when I first looked at it. The best thing I can suggest is to pick up the dock and look down it sideways, so you are looking down the space for your mobile. You should see the line for the insert as it sits on top of the dock. All you should need to do is pry it off, first time it might be rather stuck so using a flat screwdriver could help. It might feel like it’ll break, but it shouldn’t, it should pop off..