HMD Skyline Review: The first Qi2 Android smartphone

Number One A feature I’m hoping to see on Android phones in 2024 is Qi2, a new wireless charging standard that will enable a magnetic charging system like MagSafe available on the latest iPhones. You’ll be able to magnetically attach your battery pack or magnetically stick your phone to a Qi2 charger for perfect alignment and faster wireless charging. Other accessories will also become available, including magnetic tripods, camera accessories, and my favorite, magnetic car docks and bike mounts.

You can probably understand my frustration that all the Android phones announced this year still don’t support the new charging standard. Even the recently announced Google Pixel 9 series still uses the older Qi standard. The exception? HMD’s Skyline, a new device from a 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 all that makes it unique: it’s user-serviceable and comes in a vibrant neon pink color(!).

Magnetic Android

After setting up the Skyline, the first thing I did was plug it into a MagSafe wireless charger I had on hand. It stuck to it magnetically! Yay! But it didn’t charge. Weird. I then took it to a regular wireless charger, and no good! I tried over 5 wireless chargers (a mix of Qi and MagSafe certified) and none of them would charge the phone. Disappointing.

The Qi2 standard is supposed to be backwards compatible with Qi, so older wireless chargers should be able to charge Qi2-enabled phones. So what’s the problem? The thing is, magnetic wireless charging coils may not be compatible with all Qi chargers, with or without MagSafe. Some You can use a Qi charger (HMD has published some preliminary lists), but you’ll probably need to buy a Qi2 charger. I asked Nomad to send me a new Qi2 stand, and the Skyline started charging as soon as I placed it on the stand. I don’t like this limitation, but at least there’s a solution.

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

This makes me concerned when I want to attach other magnetic accessories to the Skyline – is it really going to fall off that easily? I’m happy that Android phones can finally get the magnetic benefits of Qi2, but I hope this is just a flawed implementation and not a sign of things to come.

Standard Android

The Skyline is otherwise perfect. Are you okay Android phone. I love the rectangular design, the hard, flat edges, and all. The neon pink is especially fun, and I’m glad HMD is bold enough to offer a flashy, unashamed color. It’s just a little slippery overall. There’s no headphone jack, but HMD does have a microSD card slot along with 256GB of internal storage.