What’s the worst tech catastrophe that is only a few minutes or hours away from occurring to you every single day? A dead smartphone battery! If you’re not near an outlet, the threat of no juice is a real nightmare. Am I being melodramatic? Only barely. We count on our phones for so many reasons that backup battery power is a very important commodity. Just like we might carry snacks with us in our gear bag, we should also carry extra power with us for those times when we are away from the power grid and see the dreaded low battery notification. One potential solution is the TYLT FLIPSTICK Portable Power Pack. Let’s check it out.

What is it?

The TYLT FLIPSTICK is a 3,350 mAh portable power supply that is available with a USB Type-C connector, micro-USB connector, or a Lightning connector (for $10 extra).

Design and features

The FLIPSTICK is a 5.25-inch long tube shaped backup battery with a soft touch rubber covering.

Available in gray or blue, the FLIPSTICK has a built-in USB cable that plugs into the top of the FLIPSTICK to create a loop that you can use to attach the FLIPSTICK to a strap on your bag, your belt loop, or something else.

The cable is about 4 inches long on a flexible, soft cable.

In the image above you can also see a + etched into the rubber covering. Below the + is a line of 4 LEDs that light up to show the FLIPSTICK’s battery capacity while charging your device and while the FLIPSTICK itself is charging. Below the bank of status LEDs is a slight divot that is a button that you click to see the current battery capacity status.

On the other end of the FLIPSTICK is the cable that you plug in to your USB Type-C device, micro USB device, or Lightning connector device.

Putting the FLIPSTICK to use

Using the TYLT FLIPSTICK is very easy. First, you plug the black USB cable into a USB port on your computer or a USB AC adapter to charge the FLIPSTICK. You’ll know when it’s finished charging by keeping an eye on the status LEDs. When all 4 LEDs light up, it’s fully charged.

TYLT sent me the USB Type-C version of the FLIPSTICK which I tested with my Nexus 6P which has a 3450mAh battery. Remember that the FLIPSTICK has a battery capacity of 3350 mAh.

Test 1: 6:10 am, the Nexus 6P was at 12% battery when I plugged in the TYLT FLIPSTICK.
The FLIPSTICK ran out of juice at 7:47 am when the Nexus 6P had been recharged to 77%.

7:47 am, plugged the FLIPSTICK into a USB port on a Dell laptop to recharge. The FLIPSTICK was fully recharged at 10:30 am.

… the next day…

Test 2: 7:36 am, the Nexus 6P was at 8% battery capacity when I plugged in the fully charged FLIPSTICK.
The FLIPSTICK ran out of juice at 9:00 am when the Nexus 6P was recharged back up to 73%.

4:07 pm, plugged the FLIPSTICK into a USB AC adapter to recharge. The FLIPSTICK was fully recharged at 7:00 pm.

Final thoughts

Does the TYLT FLIPSTICK provide auxiliary power to USB TYPE-C, micro USB, or Lightning connector capable devices? Yes.

Does the TYLT FLIPSTICK have fast charging capabilities? No.

Can the TYLT FLIPSTICK completely recharge a device’s battery? That depends on the battery capacity of the device and herein lies my main issue with the TYLT FLIPSTICK. It just doesn’t offer enough juice for the price. I can find a huge assortment of backup batteries for $30 that have 2 even 5 times the battery capacity of the 3350 mAh FLIPSTICK.

While the TYLT FLIPSTICK is well made and easy to use, it doesn’t offer enough bang for your buck. My advice is to keep shopping.

Source: The sample for this review was provided by TYLT. Please visit their site for more info and Amazon to order.

Filed in categories: Reviews

Tagged: Batteries and Chargers

TYLT FLIPSTICK Portable Power Pack review originally appeared on on May 18, 2017 at 11:00 am.

Note: If you are subscribed to this feed through FeedBurner, please switch to our native feed URL http://the-gadgeteer.com/feed/ in order to ensure continuous delivery.

Charging your devices while traveling is a pain – a small one, granted.  Remembering to bring the right “wall wart” for each device is something you generally think about when you check into the hotel.  The problem only gets worse at home – with every device having its own power adapter, you quickly develop dangerous octopus connections around your outlets.  Just Mobile has heard your anguished cries and has presented the AluPlug to handle some of your pain, provided your device uses a standard USB type A connector.  Does it really take away your pain, though?  Let’s find out…

The AluPlug is a stylish multiport charge adapter for devices which use a USB type A plug on the outlet side.  It is a strong adapter made from aluminum which is both a plus and a minus.  More on that in a minute.  It is about 3 inches across and 6 inches deep, which means when it is plugged in your standard US power outlet it will not block anything else from using the other outlet.  The prongs which plug into the wall outlet also fold into the base, making it easy to throw into your bag on the way out the door.  You can see the prongs in the folded position below.

And here you can see the USB type A connections.  A device plugged into either port will light the LED.

The question is: what kind of devices can you plug into this and how much can it handle?  The answer is that each port will charge a tablet with 2.4 amps output (most tablets like an iPad or a Samsung Galaxy Tab require 2.1 amps).  Although it does not state this anywhere, I plugged two Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 devices in simultaneously and while this particular model of tablet does not support rapid charging, each went from about 20% to 100% in around 3 hours.  My wife’s iPad was even better, going from nearly drained to 100% in about 2.5 hours.  My brand new Galaxy S8+ (which supports fast charging) came back from about 40% to 100% in less than an hour.  It would appear the AluPlug supports smart and/or rapid charging.

This is a great little device which will attract attention, but there is a small downside to it.  As with any electronic device the more load you put on it, the more heat that is generated.  Plugging in the two tablets at once caused the unit to get pretty hot.  Being made from aircraft aluminum, heat also dissipates rapidly but be warned that if you are trying to beat the hotel checkout deadline you might not be able to unplug this charger and toss it into your bag for 5-10 minutes.  Plan accordingly.

At $29.95 retail this is on the expensive end of the spectrum for chargers.  The design and execution are worth the cost in my opinion, but your mileage may vary.  Personally, I would also love to see LED’s for each of the slots so I know when a device is fully charged, but that is a very small concern.  Overall, if you want a charger that will make a statement, this is the one to go for.

Source: the sample for this review was provided by Just Mobile.  Visit their site for additional information and Amazon to order.

Filed in categories: Reviews

Tagged: Batteries and Chargers

Just Mobile AluPlug USB wall charger review originally appeared on on May 13, 2017 at 9:00 am.

Note: If you are subscribed to this feed through FeedBurner, please switch to our native feed URL http://the-gadgeteer.com/feed/ in order to ensure continuous delivery.

Who doesn’t need an extra power supply?  The devices we use every day suck down energy almost as fast as we can replenish it.  I’ve been testing these QQC Corp Q-Swap mobile power supplies for over a month, and really put them through their paces.  How did they fare?  Check this out.

This mobile power supply comes with a nice, velvety carrying case, two rechargeable batteries, a charging ‘ Q case’, and a USB charging cable.  The dimensions (in the charging case) are: 1.8 x 0.7 x 3.7 inches.  It’s very light, too, weighing in at just 5.1 ounces, which is about the weight of a deck of playing cards.  For such a small size and weight, the power capabilities are pretty good.  Each battery holds 5,200mAh, giving you a total of 10,400mAh of backup power.  It is also legal to take these on planes, as the batteries are less than 100-watt hours (38.5, to be precise), which is in alignment with International Air Transport Association regulations.  Here are the main features of the device:

• Swap and Go.  I rather like the design and creativity of these batteries.  The Q-Case design allows you to hot-swap batteries with no issues at all.  And the USB port allows you to charge the batteries, or power your devices with ease and convenience.  The design also helps prevent cord bending and breaking, because you hold the cord against the case, making it much more stable.
• Easy Read Display.  If you touch the battery on the corner opposite the indicator light, it will give you a green, yellow, or red LED, which tells the remaining power level in the battery.  There is a LED on each side of both batteries.
• BAM!  No waiting for recharges.  You can use one battery to power your devices, while the charger and other battery are plugged it getting juiced up.  Once one battery dies, just pop the other battery in, charge the dead one, and you’re back in business in about 10 seconds.
• Convenience.  As I mentioned before, the batteries are very lightweight and portable.  You can always have extra power when you need it.
• Scalability.  Q Swap sells additional batteries separately, so you can add or subtract as many batteries as your day will require.
• Easy swap.  The batteries are slightly angled so that they will only fit in the Q case a certain way.  This makes sure there are no mistakes or burn-outs when charging.  The case also holds the battery in via little clips on each side, so you just pop them in and out.  Also, the batteries are Panasonic, in case you were wondering.
• Safety, reliability, security.  The charger comes with a multi-protection circuit, and automatically detects the power needs of your device and charges them accordingly (works on 1-amp devices).

Here are some more pictures of the actual batteries and the Q case.  You can see the USB charging port, the charging connectors, the little clips/divots that hold the batteries in place while in the charging unit, and the LED lights on the batteries.

The packaging is clear and easy to understand.

It’s elegantly designed, with simple, informative graphics and instructions.

This picture highlights the trapezoidal shape of the battery.

And this one shows how the Easy Read Display operates, where to touch, and what the colors of the LED mean.

You can see below that the device fits very well into your hand.  The first picture demonstrates part of the safety functions of the device:  The USB cord plugs into the Q case very close to the case itself, so any downward or inward force on the connector is well-mitigated.  You can also see that the USB cable has a thicker, flexible end towards the plug.  This helps the cable withstand bending and breaking better.  The cable also conveniently wraps around the device while in your hand so the cable is held securely against the Q case, making breaks less likely.

You can see below, that the Q-Swap mobile power device has completely charged my Samsung Galaxy S5 (yeah, it’s time to upgrade).  Also, please take this shot for granted.  It was not easy getting the battery and phone to stay upright like that!  Sure, it would have been simpler to take ‘looking down’ shot… but you guys deserve the best!  And I’m here to give it to you.

And yes, it can charge large devices, like the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.1″.  Can you tell whether I like oceans or not?  Well, I like them NOW.  Until I was four years old, I was SEVERELY allergic to drowning.  Hehe.

OK, blah blah blah.  How well does it WORK?  So I’ve been using these batteries for about 45 days.  I mainly used them on my Galaxy S5, but also used them a few times on my Galaxy Tab S.  Typically, I would let my S5 run down to about 15% power remaining in its own battery, then I would start recharging with the Q-Swap batteries.  On average, the Q-Swap battery would fully recharge my S5 from 15% to 100% in an hour and a half.  Pretty sweet!  Comparable to having it plugged into an AC power source!  The quickest I got it from 15 to 100% was an hour and 23 minutes.  The longest it took was an hour and 38 minutes.  I estimate that this was caused by variance(s) in the level of “15%” juice left in my phone battery.  By the way, this was with the screen OFF for the vast majority of the time.  I was pretty happy with these batteries for the S5 phone.

Regarding my Galaxy Tab S 10.1 tablet, though…it has always had more staying power than my phone.  It has a physically HUGE battery – I’ve replaced it, so I know.  How did the Q-Swap’s handle the needs of the tablet?  Again, I started at 15% battery power remaining in the Tab S.  After two-and-a-half hours, one of the Q-Swaps charged it from 15% to 57%.  That’s the nice thing about having TWO instantly swappable batteries.  I popped the fully charged new battery into the Q-Case, and continued charging – again, with the screen off.  After 3 hours and 5 minutes, the second Q-Swap battery tuckered out, but it had charged my Tab S to 99%.  So, all-in-all, it took roughly five-and-a-half hours to charge the tablet from 15% to 99%, and two Q-Swaps did the job.  It’s good that the Q-Swaps get charged from an USB port faster than they can charge a device.  That way, you’re sure to always have that 2nd battery ready to go.

My overall impression of the QQC Corp Q-SWAP mobile power units is mostly positive.  I would recommend giving them a try.  They’re not “mega batteries”, like a 32,000mAh portable power supply (together, these are 10,400mAh), BUT, they’re also not as bulky either.  Here’s a picture so you can see for yourself.  Slightly smaller in width and length, but 1/8″ thicker than the deck of cards.

These would easily fit in your pocket(s) and satisfy most of your charging needs between the two.  They charge impressively fast (in my opinion) for what you get back from them.  Once one is done discharging, the other one is ready for a 3-second replacement swap.  Super easy.  Great for on-the-go power, very convenient, and you can always add additional batteries.  It has 22 reviews on Amazon, ALL of which are 5-stars.  Give them a try!  “Swap” your old portable battery supply.

Source: The sample for this review was provided by QQC Corp, and can be purchased on Amazon.

Filed in categories: Reviews

Tagged: Batteries and Chargers

QQC Corp Q-SWAP mobile power review originally appeared on on May 9, 2017 at 9:00 am.

Note: If you are subscribed to this feed through FeedBurner, please switch to our native feed URL http://the-gadgeteer.com/feed/ in order to ensure continuous delivery.