... and I really hated it.

For years now I’ve been relying on a cheap Qi based charger from IKEA. Nothing fancy. Just place your phone, or whatever, on top and it’ll do its thing.

For many years now I’ve been contemplating on getting one of those fancy Qi2 chargers that are magnetic (MagSafe), but could never make my mind up, nor justify the cost for a “posh” one.

So finally, after that 2 year thought process I ordered one two weeks ago.

It’s an Anker 2-in-1 stand, it was around $20, that will happily charge the phone on the stalk (so I could rotate it for that fancy thing iOS does — which actually doesn’t work so well on my 12 Mini) and also a small pad below for the AirPods case. As a bonus you can angle the phone too, so I could potentially rotate it to use the camera when calling clients.

Fantastic! One thing I always wanted because I would like to charge both, so they are ready when I need them, and not worry about my AirPods case dying (had it many times).

Day one was getting used to it, sitting next to me on my desk... looking at me. The next day, the same... looking at me. Phone charging nicely, no drama. Sitting there. Screen is nice and clean, because I can’t stand smudges. AirPods charging as they should too.

But the problem for me was... that damn phone screen... the blackness... staring right at me. Even when I am walking around the room. LOOK AT ME! LOOK!

Day 4... 5 & 6. No, I can’t do it anymore. Just no. Complete dread over having to have this thing on my desk now.

If we had an entrance hallway with a power socket I would have moved it there so I could just grab the phone as I was heading out — but nope. But having that screen point into the room would put me off anyway.

Thankfully I had to move my desk the other day, so I looked for an optimal position and make it work.

It now sits behind me screen, slightly angled, so that I can quickly get to the AirPods case underneath the screen, and just have to reach behind and get the phone. Because it’s magnetic I don’t even worry about dropping the thing.

I vastly prefer this set up... and no polished screen reflecting back at me like some black abyss.