You know this probably happens to everyone all the time. They're sitting there making a YouTube video, pretending to play a video game for B-Roll and then the wire gets caught on something... YOU KNOW WHAT!? JUST SCREW THIS!! I HATE IT ALL! Fortunately, the solution arrived today. This is a special care package from Logitech, get in here, come on take a look at this, special care package from Logitech that includes their new G903 and G703 mice, and perhaps more importantly, because this is Canada after all, it includes what Logitech is calling the Power Play. But it's not a hockey power play, it's totally different. With the Power Play, these wireless mice can be used indefinitely, without ever plugging them in. I was going to say holy s**t, but I got distracted because they're amazing. [INTRO MUSIC] Browse privately and securely with TunnelBear, the simple VPN app. Try TunnelBear for free at the link in the video description. So, step number one would be to decide which mouse I'm going to use. That's pretty simple, this one is a hundred dollars and this one is a hundred and fifty dollars, so I'm going to use the more expensive one, because... that's how you know you get the best stuff. You just get the one that's more expensive. Then I need to setup the wireless charging Power Play. We've got all our cables and dongles and pucks and mice and everything unbox. We're going to take off the packaging here. Now, to be clear the plan is to follow this up with a full more in-depth review, but today was all about wanting to see this in action, because this isn't the first time that wireless charging has been brought to market. I mean, in form factors like this. This is... this is just a phone backing this is not a real wireless charging case. But in form factors like this, you could get like phone wireless charging docks. But there's a bit of a problem, right? Because: A) you have to position them like just right and then you get the icon and it starts charging, it's kind of a pain in the butt, and B) I mean, can you imagine having something that size? You know under... No, obviously not that's stupid. And while this isn't even the first time that we've seen a company talk about wireless charging for a mouse. This is the first time it's been turned into a real product, something that you can actually, okay, not order today, but you can pre-order today. So our kit actually came with three of these cables. This is actually kind of neat, because the Power Play actually uses the same micro USB cables as Logitech's wireless mice. So, you plug that in and three things happen. BOOM, RGB lighting, that's number one, its the most important. Number two is ... ah yes, so under that mousepad... under that mousepad... right there... the Power Play mousing surface gets activated. You can actually see some of the circuitry down there. And number three is: it actually eliminates the need for your wireless mouse dongle. That's what's really cool about this! Unlike other wireless charging solutions, the Power Play managed to fit into a 2 millimeter thin form factor, and it's got other advantages as well. So, theoretically, over pretty much the entire surface here, you are going to get, not like a full-fledged, you know, 1 amp or 2 amp charge, like you might be able to with a... like a phone charger or something like that, but you're going to be able to power up the mouse, including all its RGB lighting and high performance wireless interface. So these mice, both of them, are actually higher performing than many of Logitech competitors' wired mice, in terms of the time to click, to the time that an action takes place on screen, we've seen this in their lab, and we've seen this at tech shows. But also all their RGB effects and all of that bullcrap. So, let's go ahead and throw one of these mousepads. So, Logitech actually ships it with a couple of options. They've got one of their hard pads and they've got one of their soft pads here, so I'm going to use the soft pad, because that's my personal preference. They've only validated the technology with their mouse pads, but theoretically, there's no real reason why it couldn't work with some other random mouse pad as long as it's the right size. Oh, yeah, and there's another important piece that you need. So, this is a tech that Logitech says they're going to support moving forward. So you just press that in and pop this out. But all you've got to do, is take the power play puck, which uses magnets and a couple of contact points here It's oriented like that for your convenience, plug that in and... ...maybe there is a pairing process?... Yo, did you open this? I told you this was for me to open! Okay first of all... I don't have anything else to say. No defense, no defense whatsoever. Ed couldn't keep his grubby fingers off of this and you're a big G403 fanboy. So you paired it with the 703, didn't you? Yes, I did. Now it's explained why it didn't work. All right, well, thanks Ed. So the pairing process is supposed to be, out of the box, as simple as plugging in the pad. Whereupon it will enter a pairing mode, instead of being RGB cycling. And then you just pop the Power Play in, flip on the mouse and BOOM! You should be instantly paired and enjoying your complete and utter wireless freedom. So, that... that was the experience we were supposed to have, Ed... Next step then I guess is to grab the Logitech gaming software and actually find out, if I sit here in game, will my mouse charge or will it discharge? No, no discharge doesn't have to be a gross thing. Okay, so let's get a baseline for our half an hour battery test. We're looking at about 56% on the battery, and what's cool is we can use this time not just to sit here and play video games, but also to tell you guys a little bit more about the tech, because the neatest thing about this is that even actively using the device, we should be going back to Windows after half an hour or even more, not just not having lost battery, because it can power the mouse, but we may even see a little bit of charge, because it can actually do it while you are moving the mouse around. This is totally different from other wireless charging solutions. Logitech actually draws some parallels to the way that early radios worked, so it's not quite the same thing, but what they had in them was crystals, that they used as rectifiers. And what they could do is they could actually take the incoming radio signal that would have your, you know, sporting event or your war of the worlds or whatever else's on it, and they could use that, not just to create sound, but also to power up the device. Cool thing number two, is the way that they're handling battery management. Because if you guys are familiar with lithium-ion batteries, you may already know this. Having them constantly charging can actually be really bad for them. So, since the mouse has a battery built into it, what Logitech does is they actually let it go between 80% and 95% charge. This does a couple of things. Number one is it keeps the battery healthy and number two is it keeps it free going so low, that you wouldn't even have the option of, you know, grabbing your wireless dongle and taking your mouse with you on the go in class or something. And that's critical because there is a pretty extensive list of do's and dont's that come along with a product like this. This is not your ordinary mouse pad, infact there aren't a lot of DOs, there are mostly a lot of DON'Ts. You don't want to use it on anything other than a flat surface, you don't want to plug it into a USB hub, unless it's a powered one. You want to avoid using it on a metal or conductive surface, like if you had a metal table, for example. You want to avoid putting any metal or magnetic objects on top of it. That includes fidget spinners, you'll have to move your fitting spinner a little over to the right or a little up here. With that said, though, plastic things like CDs, should be just fine. You don't want to... hold on I'm going to consult my list... You don't want to fold it, that's critical, because the delicate antenna system, inside here, could be extraordinarily easily broken. As we know, because in my eagerness to unbox this thing, I actually managed to break our first one. I mean, if you needed any further evidence that... no matter how cool and wireless your gaming mouse is, it's not going to make you a better gamer, then. Here you go, you've got this video, but that's hardly the point, it's the end of the day. Let's go ahead and tab out to windows and... okay, so we didn't get any more charge using the mouse really actively, but over a period of time where it should have gone down by about 3% we didn't lose any either. So there you have it guys, you saw it here in action, Logitech Power Play. Actual wireless charging with zero compromises. Other than the price. It's $100 for the charging pad. 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Was somewhat disappointed when it wasn't magic, but still pretty darn cool. Also, Linus dropped something again woooooooo (sadly not on camera)
I love Linus’ videos, but his video titles are so cringeworthy.