I have a place on the kitchen bench where I charge my phone. I try to keep it tidy, but it's annoying to keep rolling up cables neatly after each charge. Add to that my partner's phone-charging set-up and it's a double mess. So wireless charging – on a pad or mat – sounds appealing.

Sure, plugging in cables into a device is a small action, but it's just easier to throw a phone on a flat thing, especially if you're charging it every other day.

Up until now, Apple phones have lacked this utility, but the new iPhone 8 and X now support wireless charging.

I've been playing around with a Belkin Boost Up charging pad ($99.99) that works for any properly enabled device, including the newer Samsungs, Google Nexus, as well as iPhones.

This means different types of phones in a household can be charged on the one pad instead of using separate chargers, which is a much neater set-up. The drawback for some is that it's not easy to use your phone while it's sitting on it.

Style-wise, the Boost Up is sleek in white with a practical non-slip silicone ring on top. It's a decent size, 11.86 centimetres in diameter and 1.46 centimetres high. Phone cases can be left on if they are less than three millimetres thick.

The phone does need to be in the centre of the pad for it to charge, and an LED light will glow a bedside table friendly subtle green when it is positioned correctly and charging.

But it's still early days for wireless charging technology. I look forward to fast wireless charging as a standard feature built in to cars, cafe tables, and, of course, kitchen benchtops.