Portable USB charger: Don’t go on holiday without one

• Written by  aul Omorogbe & Seyi sokoya
• Sunday, 29 December 2013 00:00

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This holiday season, you will likely need to keep in touch with business associates and or clients; you won’t want to miss something big before the year runs out just because your phone ‘was not reachable’.
Having a flat battery is one thing that could hinder staying connected. This challenge is especially more pronounced now that smartphones are the in thing and manufacturers such as Tecno, Infinix and other Asian companies make cheaper phones available in the market. Today’s lifestyle revolves around a mobile and connected world. Unfortunately, most batteries cannot keep up with the power demands of smartphones and tablets. Browsing the internet, reading emails, listening to music or video soon depletes the batteries making the need to recharge an inevitable eventuality.
While there are a few apps out there and battery power saving tips you can employ and can be a bit helpful, these measures can only take you so far. None of them is truly helpful when it comes to giving those power-guzzling smartphones, especially BlackBerry’s a fresh charge when they eventually run out.
Fortunately, portable universal USB charger has made its debut. They have been around for a while but not many know they exist. They are called portable, as the name goes, because they are generally made small enough to fit into your pocket or handbag, and universal because most smartphone’s charging ports are fashioned after the same micro-USB fashion, such that the same USB port fits a wide variety of brands.
These portable USB chargers are especially useful when you won’t be around a power source, when you are out visiting, or if any of the new electricity distribution companies has failed to give your hometown ‘light’ this festive season. Even at that, portable USB chargers find their usefulness in the hustle a bustle of the city, when you are up and about many places without the time to sit by and wait for a phone or tablet to charge.
These portable power packs, as they are alternatively called, are reputed to power up a battery fast. They can fill your smartphone’s battery to the brim, and even after a full top-up, there’s more to give. You can know what’s left in your charger’s tank with LED energy indicators in the body of the charger.
They are charged using any USB power supply. The LED lights will tell you when it’s full. The average charger can hold power for over three months.
Among others, there are two common brands readily available in the country today: NeoJdx Power Vaults are available from popular online stores and the Nokia type is obtainable from reputable phone stores.
Portable USB chargers vary in size, both in terms of physical size and power storage capacity. The DC-19 model by Nokia is small and weighs 78g (that is just 8g more than the weight of one ‘Gala’ sausage roll!). However, there are bigger sizes.
One NeoJdx model, the PV5000 weighs more, has Lithium Polymer battery which provides 5000mAh of power. Power this much can charge a 10-inch tablet fully from scratch. According to the makers, an IPhone 4 or 5 or a Galaxy S3 or S4 would be charged three and half times. It charges to full in three and half hours, recharges your device in half normal charge time. While the PV 10000 gives 10,000 mAh of battery power, enough power to keep your smartphone charged seven times or your big tablet three times from a depleted battery!
Big names in the battery industry like Duracell and Energizer also make portable power packs strong enough to power laptops.
Summarily, when looking out for a portable power pack, you should make sure that it provides enough additional power to the hardware you want to use. It should be compact and shaped in such a way that it’s not a pain to pull out of a pocket, bag or purse. It should be light enough that when you carry it, and when the time comes to use it, it should be adaptable; you’ll want it to be capable of charging from a number of different power sources, and you’ll want it to be able to charge the majority (if not all) of the USB-powered mobile hardware you own, including devices, like the iPad. Finally, it should have charge indicator lights built into it, so you can tell how much power is left when you’re using it, and how far along it is when you’re recharging it.

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