Digital Home Thoughts - News & Reviews for the Digital Home

Virtually no electronic device I own has battery life that impresses me, so the hunt for new ways to keep them powered is never-ending. The ECOSOL Powerstick, with it's small size and simple operation, intrigued me so I requested one for review. I wanted to test the Powerstick in a worst-case scenario, so I completely drained the battery on my HTC Touch Diamond. I then charged the Powerstick fully, and connected the Touch Diamond using the included miniUSB cable. About two hours later, I noticed that the charging circle on the Touch Diamond wasn't pulsing any more - sure enough, the Powerstick was completely drained. The Diamond showed 60% power - which is about right given that the Powerstick battery is 750 mAh and the Touch Diamond has a 900 mAh battery. There's always a bit of efficiency lost when one battery charges another, so I'd guess that the Powerstick would only fully charge a battery that's 700 mAh or less in size. Read more...

If you're a gadget freak like me, you carry lots of electronics with you most of the time. My new car has only two power outlets. So what do you do if you're on a long trip, your GPS unit's power supply is taking up one of your power outlets, and both your cell phone and your companion's cell phone need charging?

Proporta comes to the rescue with their Car Power Supply with Dual USB Sockets ($14.95 USD). Many new devices use a USB cable for charging, so Proporta's supply is just the ticket in this situation. It features 2 USB sockets flanked by the ubiquitous blue LEDs on either side. I've grown to rely on quality materials and construction from Proporta's products, and the power supply lives up to those expectations. Read more...

External batteries either work or they don't, and the Lil' Sync USB Mobile Power Pack from PPC Techs works. But how do you decide between this battery and another one? You look at power capacity, size, price, weight, etc. When I want to use a small, portable device battery, I use the excellent Proporta Mobile Device Charger, so that's what I'm going to compare the Lil' Sync USB Mobile Power Pack to since I think that's its main competition.

First and foremost, it's all about the power. The PPC Techs unit packs an impressive 4400 mAh of power, which is 29% more than the 3400 mAh that the Proporta unit supplies. Equally important is how much juice the battery kicks out - the PPC Techs unit manages an impressive 1000mA of output. This is enough to charge my Zune 80, which is something the Proporta battery can't do because it tops out at 700mA. So from a power perspective, the PPC Techs Lil' Sync USB Mobile Power Pack wins hands down. There's more to consider though: price and weight. The PPC Techs unit costs $69 USD, the Proporta $44.95. The PPC techs unit is thicker and a bit heavier but shorter (2.75" L x 2.10" W x .86" H, 4.3 ounces) while the Proporta unit is wider and longer, but thinner and lighter (3.9" L x 2.4" W x 0.6" H inches, 4.2 ounces). Read more...