Keeping Your Smartphone Charged With CulCharge

Carry a smartphone is the norm these days and if you are without one, you are in trouble because of a lack of connection. They are far more than making phone calls, but rather a connection to the world with email and social media. But, they continue to lack the kind of battery life which is necessary to sustain them for days. As a result, you must be prepared and carry around a USB charging cable as one of those requirements for continued use. But, carrying around those long USB cables or a charger is not want any of us really want to do. But, the CulCarge USB connector breaks that mold and provides you with an ulta-small USB charger for your smartphone. And the picture here shows you just how portable it really is.

The CulCharge is on the verge of being shipped in November for all the current orders they have in place. Shortly after that, we expect to see it appearing in the usual places where you can get your own CulCharge USB charging cable for your smartphone. This one looks like it is going to be well received and be the one to have. They are going to be providing various models to support the Apple 30 pin connection, Apple Lightning connection. MicroUSB and MiniUSB connections to charge up your smartphone. I have too often forgotten to take my long USB charging cable with me and with this, it gets added to my key ring and I will no longer have to remember.

Coming in at just 2,3 inches long, this is a great size for a keyring or pocket. And being this small, the CulCharge is bound to generate conversation when people see one. It is strong enough that you can plug it into a USB port and let your phone hang down from it. And, if your current USB cable supports charging and data exchange, the CulCharge will provide you with a charge, data exchange and sync capabilities.

The current estimates show the CulCharge retailing for under $10 when it comes to market making this very affordable. It is expected that the Apple Lightning connector will be more expense, but until they come to market, it is not known how much more. This company has really thought things out as they have been working to get distributorships from the start so that their product is represented everywhere. And they already have CulCharge boxes ready for distributors to place in stores for sale.

Portable Battery With Different Charge Output - Zendure

Ultra High Capacity Batteries in 3 different sizes.

In the world of portable battery chargers, there is a lot of competition right now to convince you to buy their products. That is because of the very poor battery life of our smartphones which quite often does not last a full day. So, we have to carry around chargers or a portable battery charger in order to make sure that our smartphones are always usable when we need them. With that, there is a continuing flow of new portable battery chargers coming to market. The latest one has a number of different features which we like and is called the Zendure. One of the big features they are pushing is that of the cases containing the battery are crush proof and that is a great feature to have when carry one in your back pocket. But, that is not the feature that we are seeing on the Zendure which really makes this one unique. Read on.

This week's KickStarter projects is the Zendure Crush Proof External Batteries. This is an active KickStarter funding campaign with 12 days to go with a goal of $30,000. They have already seen pledges of over $79,000 showing that there is immense interest in this coming product which is estimated to ship in November. But the real value for this is beyond the crush proof cases they are talking about.

The big value that we see in the Zendure is the two (2) different USB ports at different wattage output. This is unique and I have not seen one like this before. We have seen the Pratical Meter which helps you find the highest output port on your computer for watts. And that is a great tool to have for charging up a portable battery. But, having one on your portable battery charger is something new and worth taking a look at. There is a blue and a black USB port put on the Zendure. The black one outputs at 1 amp and the blue one outputs at 2.1 amps. You may not consider that to be a big deal, but for some it is. With that, you can charge two different devices and the blue USB port gets the priority in charging. So, you can be charging up your smartphone on the blue side and another device on the black USB port.

The output from the Zendure is what makes this different. They are claiming a circuit efficiency of of 95% as compared to that of others at 90%. That means that you will get more of a charge out of the battery. And they have included the ability to charge your battery and at the same time charge your smartphone. Not all portable batteries can do that. You can check out the number of times you can charge a device from the ultra high capacity Zendure on the KickStarter page.

With three different models of the Zendure, you can get the one that meets your needs. The A3 is a 9,000 mAh battery, the A4 is a 12,000 mAh battery and the A5 is a 15,000 battery. The sizes are great for these at 3.8 by 2.5 by 1 inch (A3), 4.5 by 2.8 by 1 inch (A4) or 5 by 2.9 by 1 inch (A5). They are pushing the crush proof case where they ran over it multiple times and it withstood that beating. That is a good thing, but not the only reason that we buy a portable battery charger.

With the various charging options, ultra high capacity and crush proof case, this is a very different product and one that is worth a look. If you want to be among the first to receive one, you should go and make a pledge of at least $45 to be able to get yours. As the amounts you pledge go up, the better the size or even multiple Zendure portable batteries. The choice is yours.

Improve Charge Times For Your Smart Phone With uCharge

For those of us who charge our mobile devices via the USB port, you know that not all USB ports are created equal. Some seem to charge faster than others. So, the question of what can you do to improve the charge speed of your smart phone when charging it through a USB port comes to mind. Using a charger plugged into an electrical outlet is going to be faster than using USB, but it is so much easier to just plug it in to your laptop to get it charged. And that is especially true at work. What if there was a device you could use which would improve the charge times for your smartphone when plugged into a USB port? Would you consider buying it? Well there is one and it is called the uCharge and it is reasonably priced to meet your needs.

The uCharge from Satechi is a small device which plugs into your USB port which you then plug your smart phone USB cable into. And with that, you are able to improve your smart phones or tablet charge times. Unfortunately, it does not work with all smart phone or tablets, so you will have to check it out to see if it will work with yours. With most things, Apple products are supported along with the newer Samsung Galaxy line which is great. There are also some HTC, Motorola and Blackberry products which you can use the uCharger with to improve your charge times.

The chart below from Satechi is interesting if you take a look at it for the uCharge amd compare times. The improvement for the listed smartphones with the uCharge shows almost a 50% reduction in charge times as compared to ordinary USB charge times. And what is more impressive is the reduction in time for tablets as compared to charging using an electrical outlet. Seems almost unbelievable.



In looking at this, I saw the warning "Do not use with a USB hub" in multiple places, so there is obviously an issue there and probably comes from how they are enhancing the charge to get the battery fully charged much faster. The uCharge is available for $15.99, though you can probably find it for a cheaper price if you look around.

Improve Your Smart Phone Recharge Time - Practical Meter

KickStarter Friay - Practical Meter charges your phone faster

We all have the goal of having a smart phone which will only require charging every 3 or 4 days. But, until that happens, we want to get our phones charged up as fast as possible. It seems that we can guess how long it will take and over time we become accustom to what it takes. Having some practical device to be able to help know how long it will take is a desire and it appears that we are going to be seeing one very soon. And there is more than just letting you know the time, but there will also be new USB cables which will improve the charging speed and time. This is coming as the Practical Meter and fast charging 3-n-1 cables.

This weeks KickStarter project is the Practical Meter project which has over 1300% of the goal. Impressive with less than 6 days to go, they are at over $136,000 of the $9,999 goal. Odd number for a goal, but the response continues to be fantastic given what they are offering. And it is the product offering that has collected the big interest.

One of the unknowns is that different USB ports may well be putting out different wattages and the higher the wattage, the faster your device is going to be charged up. There are 5 lights (bars) in the Practical Meter and with each one being lite up, it means that your smart phone is being charged faster. Or with less time if you want to look at it that way. In reality, each bar represents 1 watt of power flowing through it, so 5 bars is 5 watts. Just by trying different USB plugs you can find one that will charge things up much faster. More watts means a faster charge.

And the Practical Meter is not all they are offering. They are also offering the 3-n-1 cable which is supposed to optimize the charging rate going to the smart phone. This comes with a 30 pin iPhone, a Micro USB and a MiniUSB connection. We have to believe that they will come out with a new iPhone lightning connector very soon given how popular this project is.

You still have time to contribute to the Practical Meter project and get both the Practical Meter and the 3-n-1 cable for a contribution of $19. And the estimated delivery is set for September. Something worth taking a look at. The company already has their Power Pot site up for the thermalelectric generator and are preparing to add the Practical Meter. Once the KickStarter project ends, you might be able to pre-order from the company site.