I reviewed the TYLT VU Wireless Charging Car Mount in March and I’ll admit I was pretty hard on it. I wanted it to be magical and it wasn’t. The convenience of having wireless charging in the car was not enough to get excited about when my Nexus 5 would basically only charge if it wasn’t being used and asleep. But then I traded out my Nexus 5 for the Nexus 6 and everything changed. And yes, the it holds the Nexus 6 just fine.

Now my Nexus 6 charges with my display on, navigating via Google Maps, and streaming music via Bluetooth. If I leave my house in the morning with the battery level around 90 percent and use my phone pretty heavily while wireless charging in the car, I’ll get to work and it will be at 100 percent. If I’m on a phone call and navigating via Google Maps, it will still be losing charge, but not as fast as on my Nexus 5. It’s great now. It’s definitely not as quick as a 2.4 Amp charger through the micro-USB port, but like I’ve said before, the convenience of wireless charging is awesome and I’m thrilled that it’s working better now. I’m happy that the battery level is increasing rather than just decreasing more slowly than it would without the charger at all.

I’m speculating that the difference in my experience is due to the display technologies. The Nexus 5 has a 4.95-inch full HD IPS LCD display, while the Nexus 6 has a 5.96-inch AMOLED display. For an LCD display to be used, it needs to be backlit whether the pixels are black, white or any other color. This means it’s always using energy while the display is on. In contrast, the AMOLED technology does not need to be backlit. Individual pixels can be powered, meaning that a pixel isn’t on when it’s black, which can save on energy consumption. What I’ve read about AMOLED displays is that when they’re displaying something mostly white, they can actually use more energy than an LCD display. But in general, AMOLED is less power hungry than LCD. Also, when I’m commuting to and from work with Google Maps on, the display is mostly not white. Therefore, I think it’s completely plausible that the Nexus 6 is requiring less energy to power the AMOLED display compared to my old Nexus 5. So the Nexus 6 charges with the display on, and the Nexus 5 didn’t.

Two other things to note: First, I’m happy with the durability of the TYLT VU Wireless Charging Car Mount. It gets hot here in California, especially on my black dash. I’ve returned to my car on at least two occasions after a long, hot day of work to find the car charger on my seat or the floor. So it’s taken a few drops. If you read my original review, I somehow managed to break my original base while traveling back from Europe to the US. After being sent a new base, I haven’t had any issues, and this base is holding up great. So the issue I had previously may have just been a fluke. But these devices do come with a 1-year warranty if you run into the same issue.

Speaking of heat, another issue I ran into a few times with the Nexus 5 was phone overheating. The Nexus 5 overheated and shut itself off a few times after I threw the phone into the TYLT VU Wireless Charging Car Mount after it had been sitting in the sun and had the added heat from wireless charging. I found that if I blasted the AC with the front defrosters on when I first got in the car, I could keep the phone cool enough to avoid the issue. Ever since I started doing that, I haven’t had any issues. Just a little tip from me to you.

Overall, my experience with the TYLT VU wireless car charger has greatly improved with the Nexus 6. I’m not 100 percent certain my experience improved because of the AMOLED display technology on the Nexus 6, but I think it’s a good bet. Samsung is also using Super AMOLED technology with their Galaxy S6 phones that come with built-in wireless charging. So if you’re using a Samsung Galaxy S6, a Nexus 6, or another wireless charging device with AMOLED display technology and are thinking about getting a wireless car charger, I say go for it. Know that it won’t charge as fast as a high amp car charger, but the convenience is awesome and you’ll feel much cooler than your friends who have to plug in their phones.

The TYLT VU wireless car charger is available from TYLT’s website for $79.99, or you can find it on Amazon for a tad cheaper.

I’m curious if you have had similar experiences with a Qi wireless car charger and your LCD or AMOLED devices? Do you think my improved experience is because of the display technology? Or something else? Think wireless charging is for suckers? Let us know your thoughts by commenting below.

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