Last month there was a lot of talk about a case from Nikola Labs. The case in question was one that was built for the iPhone 6 and was more than a pipe dream. CEO, Will Zell debuted a fully functional prototype that charged the iPhone 6 without the need for traditional power from a battery bank or wall outlet. Today the company is launching a Kickstarter campaign to bring the new technology to market and, with such an overwhelming response to the technology, they are also bringing a case for the Galaxy S6.
In the simplest form, the case captures RF waves, like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and LTE, and converts that into usable DC power that is pushed back into the device’s battery. It isn’t going to keep your device at 100% all day every day, but the company says that you will save around 30% of your battery’s life with the case on. Essentially it will slow the battery depletion and give your device the ability to last longer on a single charge.
Product Features
The Nikola phone case increases battery life by slowing the rate at which the phone’s internal battery discharges and does this:
- Without impacting data transmission rates or call quality
- With no supplemental batteries, allowing the case to be significantly slimmer than typical powered cases
- While providing a layer of protection through its lightweight, high-strength polycarbonate material offered in a variety of colors
- With easy access to the headphone jack and charging port
The Kickstarter campaign is live and you help back the product starting at $99. That will get you either the iPhone 6 case or one for the Samsung Galaxy S6. At the time of this announcement they have a tentative shipping date of February 2016.
Nikola Labs will be expanding the product line with plans to create internet routers that will also be captured by the case to charge the battery. I was actually reading about this earlier this week where tests with a simple firmware update to a variety of routers was able to charge devices while within Wi-Fi range. While still in its early phases, it is cool none the less. Pretty soon we won’t need to hug the wall or carry around battery banks. I, for one, am pretty excited to see how it all comes together over the next couple of years.
Interested in backing the project? Head over to the Nikola Labs Kickstarter page now.
