Review: Kew Labs UTS-1 Wireless Charger

Wireless mobile device charging is a cool idea and all, but there’s one big problem with it: You still have to have something on your desk or table to actually provide the charging power.

Wireless chargers typically come in the form of a little tray or a hockey puck upon which you rest your device, and while many of these have become quite stylish—I recently checked out one made of marble—they still take up a lot of space on your desk, doing nothing for you when they’re not in active use.

Photograph: Ugne Pouwell/Kew Labs

Kew Labs offers a nifty idea to fix this issue: It secrets a Qi charger underneath your desk or table so it’s functionally invisible, cleaning things up and minimizing clutter. Naturally, this approach has its share of challenges. The big one (and I’m simplifying here) is that wireless charging uses electromagnetic induction to generate a current inside coils of wire within your phone. This is a finicky process that requires not just the right alignment between the wire coils in the charger and those in the phone, but also the right amount of distance between them. Some phone cases—namely thick, “armored” ones—have been known to interfere with wireless charging because they’re just too big. Now imagine what the thickness of your desk is going to do to this delicate process.

Kew Labs’ solution to this has a few elements. First, the device has a total output of 30 watts, which is three or four times more than that of the typical charger, allowing it to power through that oak plank you call a workspace. Also, the device offers two settings that adjust its power output based on the thickness of your desk. A tiny DIP switch on the unit lets you select one output level for desks 18 to 21 millimeters in thickness, another for desks 22- to 25.4-mm thick. (A simple scale on the side of the packaging lets you roughly measure where you stand before you even open the box.) If your desk doesn’t fall in one of these ranges, you can’t use the device.

Placement is the toughest part of installing the UTS-1, because once you peel and stick the four pieces of adhesive tape to the underside of your desk, that’s pretty much where it’s going to stay. (Small screws are also included if you want the option to relocate it later, but drilling underneath your desk may be difficult.)

Photograph: Kew Labs 

It’s easy to test locations by placing your phone where it typically sits and holding the UTS-1 under the desk to determine when charging is active. A calibration mode helps you find the perfect spot by beeping when everything’s lined up. From there, just set the height switch, stick the UTS-1 to the underside of your desk, and you’re done. Kew also includes a bevy of stickers that you can place on the top of your desk to guide you to ideal phone placement, or you can set the UTS-1 to beep when you have your phone properly aligned. You can also daisy-chain two UTS-1 units together to run off of a single AC adapter if you’re that technologically obsessed.

The system installs quickly and intuitively, and best of all, it works well. The charging tech is a lot more flexible than you’d think. I was able to quickly eyeball where my phone should go in order to charge, without having to slap an ugly sticker on my desk—though I found my iPhone would still charge even if I was off center by up to an inch or so. The beeping system is a huge help here too. That said, your mileage may vary based on your desk and your specific phone.

The price is the toughest sell here, however. At a suggested retail price of $105, it’s a big ask in a world where a basic plastic charging disc will run you around $20. But such is the way of the world for minimalists: Sometimes you have to pay a lot more to get a lot less.