We detect the faint smell of bananas
while reviewing the latest PowerTraveller device
Portable power is a big issue for anyone
who travels, because public transport tends to be rather inconsistent when it
comes to offering power sockets. Running out of power on your phone or tablet
can be a nightmare, and the limited battery life offered these days just
exacerbates things.
As its name suggests PowerTraveller has
built its business around addressing these issues, and the latest in its range
of primate-inspired products is the Powerchimp 4A.
What I loved about this little black box is
how versatile it is, because it has myriad of other uses other than just
keeping your smartphone alive.
PowerTraveller
Powerchimp 4A
On one level it's simply a battery charger
that can take four AA or AAA batteries and charge them irrespective of capacity
or make.
It doesn't come with a power pack but
instead uses USB power that you can either get from a PC port or from a phone
charger that uses USB. It's a breeze to use in this way; you simply slide it
open, place the batteries inside and then read the four LEDs that tell you if
the batteries are charging or charged.
Included are four of its own branded AA
Ni-MH 1800mAh batteries, which, by my calculations, together represent about
1440mAh of phone power capacity. The reason that they don't add up to 7200mAh
is that phones use between 4.5-5.5V, and the batteries are 1.2V, which must be
converted up to work, dividing it roughly in half.
Depending what phone you have, this could
be a single full charge or 60% of that.
Two USB cables are provided: one that
enables you to connect to a standard USB charger for power and another than
forms the adapter for connecting to the phone.
You also get a couple of plastic tubes,
which can convert AAA batteries to fit into AA spaces. And hidden in a secret
compartment is a spacer, which when placed inside the Powerchimp 4A enables AAA
batteries to fit into the AA charging slots.
You
also get a couple of plastic tubes, which can convert AAA batteries to fit into
AA spaces
It's all very neat and compact, but it's
not perfect. The hidden adapter is the clue, because what this device really
wanted to offer was a compact box that contained all the parts. But that's not
possible once you put the batteries in, and you're left with a handful of
cables and accessories to carry separately. One cable could have been dispensed
with if they'd put both standard USB and the micro-B slot on the device, as
I've seen with some dedicated Belkin phone chargers.
Perhaps this is a minor point, but making
the Powerchimp a tiny bit bigger and giving it another compartment for the
cables would have made it a much neater solution.
Perhaps
this is a minor point, but making the Powerchimp a tiny bit bigger and giving
it another compartment for the cables would have made it a much neater solution
I'd also have liked to have seen low
self-discharge (LSD) cells included, though I accept this might have bumped the
price up.
Its a battery charger, its a smartphone
life extender and its both. It's not the cheapest of either, but you can extend
its potential with bigger capacity AA batteries or by carrying additional ones.
There's tons of potential here for us
hominids to exploit.
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Information
·
Price: $68
- Manufacturer: PowerTraveller
- Website: powertraveller.com/
- Required spec: USB power charger or PC,
smartphone or tablet
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