Does our own self-professed book collector Dan Cooper need an e-reader? No, but he might get one anyway. And do you need a portable charger with 3.6 times the capacity of an iPhone 5? Yes, or at least that's what Darren tells us.
Filed under: Misc, Peripherals
This week, Darren Murph, the man of many bags, is at it once again, trying out a charging backpack we got to handle for just a few minutes back at CES. In addition, we'll give you a peek at Logitech's suspiciously Surface-like FabricSkin keyboard case. Find it all after the break.
Filed under: Misc
IRL is a column about stuff we're using in real life and yes, that sometimes includes neon-green charging cables. It also includes all manner of smartphones, as you know, and this week we've got a short-and-sweet write-up comparing the GS3 and GS4. Is the 4 worth an early upgrade? Not if you ask Jon Fingas, anyway, but that's mostly because he's happy with the camera, performance and LTE radio on last year's model.
No matter what smartphone you have, at some point in time, even if you’ve got a 2,300 mAh battery, you’ll end up needing a juice up. While there are plenty of battery cases available, these kinds of products quickly become obsolete once the format of your smartphone changes. That’s one of the reasons why having an external battery makes a lot of sense.
The TYLT PowerPlant has a 5,200 mAh battery, which comes in a nice, rectangular cuboid shape with rounded edges. The PowerPlant comes with an integrated cable, so that you aren’t fumbling around with cables. The downside is that this cable is quite short, so you can’t operate your phone in one hand while keeping the battery in your pocket or your bag, with a cable trailing out. You’ll need to set your phone down so that it can juice up. Thankfully, the PowerPlant also comes with a microUSB and USB slots, so any cables you have will work with your devices. Charge-ups are pretty fast, too. One full charge up takes about 2 hours for the iPhone 4S. The pack has got four LEDs telling you the remaining charge, and you can easily get 3 complete charges on a typical smartphone using the battery.
The TYLT PowerPlant comes in three different versions. One for iPhone 4/4S, one for iPhone 5 and one for other smartphones. The last model has got an integrated microUSB cable. Naturally, this battery can also be used for any other mobile devices you have, like tablets. The performance of the battery is certainly good, though it remains to be seen if this will continue over time. Most of these battery packs will suffer as the batteries degrade, but overall, it’s a really interesting device that will definitely help keep you powered up when you are in a bind, and no matter if you change phones or models, you’ll be still able to use it, which isn’t the case in for battery cases.
The only negative is the rubber cover the ports. I almost ripped it out the first time I opened it. It takes a while before you realize which side can be easily opened. The PowerPlant costs between $69.99 to $89.99 (USD).
Seemingly made for the urban warrior, the Energi charging backpack by TYLT does precisely what it claims to do. Hosted on Christie Street as a crowd-funded project and shown off here at CES 2013, the bag offers an array of compartments for everyday product storage (as you would assume), in addition to a charging base within its main pouch. The brick is capable of charging up to three devices simultaneously via USB, as well as a micro-USB port for juicing the bag itself. There's also an accessible slit on the lower right side for threading out cords and charging devices on-the-go. It's currently on sale for $169, but look for that price to jump to $189 once the company reaches its $150,000 goal.
Sarah Silbert contributed to this report.
Filed under: Misc
