The number one The Android smartphone feature I’ve been looking forward to in 2024 is Qi2. This is the new wireless charging standard that enables a MagSafe-like magnetic charging system, similar to the one available on modern iPhones. It lets you magnetically attach a battery pack or magnetically stick your phone to a Qi2 charger for perfect alignment and faster wireless charging speeds. It even enables other accessories like magnetic tripods, camera accessories, and my favorites: magnetic car docks and bike mounts.

Then you might understand my frustration when not all Android phones announced this year support the new charging standard yet. Even the recently announced Google Pixel 9 series still uses the older Qi standard. The exception? HMD’s Skyline, a new device from the company that previously only made Nokia-branded phones. It’s the world’s first Qi2-certified Android phone on the market, but that’s not the only thing that makes it unique – it’s also user-repairable and comes in a hot neon pink (!).

Magnetic Android

The first thing I did after setting up the Skyline was put it on a MagSafe wireless charger I had lying around. It attached magnetically! Hooray! Except it didn’t charge. Weird. Then I put it on a regular wireless charger and had no luck. I tried it on more than five wireless chargers, some of them a mix of Qi and some MagSafe certified, and the phone wouldn’t charge on any of them. That was the start of my disappointment.

Photo: Julian Chokkattu

The Qi2 standard is supposed to be backwards compatible with Qi, which means your older wireless chargers should still be able to charge Qi2 phones. So what’s going on? Well, it turns out that the magnetic wireless charging coils may not be compatible with all Qi chargers, MagSafe or not. Some Qi chargers will work (HMD has released a preliminary list of several devices), but you’ll most likely need to buy a Qi2 charger. I asked Nomad to send me their new Qi2 stand, and the Skyline started charging immediately when I put it on it. I’m not thrilled with this limitation, but at least there’s a solution.

It’s not all rosy. Even though the Skyline magnetically sticks to this Qi2 wireless charging stand, the strength of the magnetic connection isn’t great. The phone started leaning to the side and flipped horizontally on its own because it’s a bit top-heavy. Compare this to my Pixel 8 Pro with a Peak Design MagSafe case, which stays perfectly still on the same charger because the magnets in the case are much stronger.

This worries me if I want to attach other magnetic accessories to the Skyline – won’t they fall off that much more easily? I’m glad I can finally get the magnetic benefits of Qi2 in an Android phone, but I hope this is just a lackluster implementation and not a sign of things to come.

Standard Android

The Skyline is an otherwise perfect fine Android phone. I like its rectangular design, hard flat edges and all. The neon pink is particularly fun and I’m glad HMD is bold enough to offer loud and eye-catching colors. The whole thing is a bit slippery though. There’s no headphone jack, but HMD does offer a microSD card slot as well as 256GB of internal storage.

Photo: Julian Chokkattu