Over the river and through the woods to grandmother’s house we go. It’s that time of year when you may be taking a trip over to granny’s house for a holiday dinner, so that means that you’ll be packing up much of your gadget gear in preparation for this trip.

If you’re rocking any kind of portable electronic device, you’ll probably want to have a spare battery or two kicking around. At the same time, you’ll want to have your wall charger in tow as well. Wouldn’t it be so much more convenient if you could marry these two functionalities? That appears to be the motivation behind the Technocel PowerPak. Instead of being just a wall charger or just a portable battery, it’s both.

Retailing for $49.99, the Technocel PowerPak is quite the affordable option for road warriors, especially since it boasts the dual functionality described above. It’s also very noteworthy that Technocel has included a huge range of adapter tips, so most mobile devices should be supported.

There is are standard wall plug prongs in the back (which fold into the body when not in use) and then there is a standard USB 2.0 port in the bottom. There is only one USB port, however, unlike the Mophie Dual USB Wall Charger. If you’d prefer to use your own charging cables, most will work with the PowerPak. If it’s a data-only cable, of course, the charging aspect won’t be very useful here.

This is being marketed as the “ultimate universal charging solution,” partly because it comes with a wide array of charging tips. There is a system USB cable and then you can screw in one of the tips to charge your device. Looking inside, I found tips for everything from HTC to BlackBerry, Nokia to Samsung. As mentioned, you can use your own cable instead if you prefer.

It is interesting that you screw in the charging tip to the system USB cable. I guess this is meant to provide a more secure fit than a simple plug system. By offering a range of short tips, it means that you can use a single cable instead of having to bring along a number of different cables.

When the Technocel PowerPak is plugged into the wall, it will simultaneously charge its internal 100mAh battery and any device that is connected to its USB port. With nothing plugged into the USB port, the PowerPak took about 90 minutes to fully charge its internal battery.

There are four red indicator lights on the front that indicate the level of charge for this battery. The lights stay off, even when the device is plugged into the wall, to help conserve power use.

For me, I think it’s a little unfortunate that the internal battery is only 1000mAh. For most smartphones, this is not enough to provide a full recharge. On my Nokia E71, the standard battery is 1500mAh, for example.

With a slightly textured and almost “soft” surface, the Technocel PowerPak offers great build quality and the feel of a premium product. Charging up the internal battery was reasonably expedient and having this dual functionality is a major bonus. The huge array of included tips really makes this a universal charger too.

As convenient as it is, the biggest downer is the smaller internal battery. I’m using a portable battery pack from Proporta currently and it comes with a 3500mAh battery; that’s a lot bigger, but it lacks the quad indicator lights of the Technocel.

The official product page says that the PowerPak will give you up to three hours of additional chatting, so you can use this as an emergency backup battery to tie you over until you can reach another wall outlet.

Overall Rating: 7.5/10

UPDATE (12/03/09): I just got an email from the PR rep informing me that this was part of a first sample batch and it has one notable difference from the final production version: “One of the LED lights will turn red when it’s plugged into the wall to indicate that it’s receiving power.” Aside from that, it should be the same.

The post REVIEW – Technocel PowerPak Universal Portable Battery and Home Charger appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

One of the newest products to hit the block is the Mophie Car & Wall International USB Charger. Why invest in a separate wall charger and car charger when you can have both in one convenient package? This particular product is designed to work with the International Adapter Travel Kit so that it can work no matter where in the world you may find yourself.

Two Chargers for the Price of One

I certainly enjoyed the Mophie Dual USB Wall Charger that I looked at last week, but it was only useful for when you found yourself next to a wall outlet. As you may recall, the idea is that it would transform a standard wall outlet into a pair of powered USB ports. These ports could then be used to charge your iPod, iPhone, or any number of other USB devices.

The Wall & Car International USB Charger only offers a single USB port, but it comes with dual functionality. If you look around to the back, you’ll notice that it has the power prongs that flip out for connecting to a wall outlet. Along the side, however, it has the 12V adapter for charging in the car.

The overall build quality is good and the swinging arm for the 12V adapter can rotate 270 degrees. This way, it should be able to fit in just about any car dash configuration. On the downside, this charger is much bulkier than what you would find with a standalone wall adapter or a standalone car charger.

Traveling All Around the World

The regular flip-out power prongs on the Wall & Car International USB Charger are fine for when you’re hanging out in New York or Vancouver, but what about when you take that trip to Paris or Hong Kong? Those prongs just won’t do.

That’s where the accompanying Mophie International Adapter Travel Kit comes into play. You get a basic carrying bag along with three adapters to work with a number of international locations. It’s not completely comprehensive, but you should be covered for most global destinations.

They look like the regular travel adapters that you can buy from any number of electronics accessory stores, but these adapters have a little something extra. There is a small tab that fits into a slot on the Wall & Car Charger, clicking in place so that it doesn’t accidentally fall out. The Wall & Car Charger then has a release tab so that you can take off the adapter as needed.

A Handy Accessory for Power-Hungry Fanatics

Most people will say that they are perfectly happy charging their iPods and iPhones through their computers, but that USB port won’t always be available to you. Sometimes, it’s just more convenient to have a regular wall or car charger and this Mophie package combines the two into one simple solution.

The Mophie Wall & Car International USB Charger ($24.95) is certainly handy and it is designed quite well, but I find that it is a little too bulky for my tastes. It’s almost as big as those power inverters that you can get for your car, converting a 12V outlet into a wall outlet. The International Adapter Travel Kit ($14.95) seems like a nice addition as well, but you can probably find cheaper generic adapters elsewhere.

I applaud Mophie on combining a car charger with a wall adapter, but I think future iterations could be much more compact. Having a second powered USB port would be helpful too.

Overall Rating: 7.0/10

The post REVIEW – Mophie Car & Wall International USB Charger appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

It’s so much better if you can find a charging dock station that is integrated with your wall outlet, keeping your iPhone or BlackBerry off of the ground. That’s the idea behind this DIY project as posted on Make: Online.

Basically, you cut up a used shampoo bottle and use it as a holster of sorts that mounts up with your wall socket. I wouldn’t use this for anything too heavy, since you are placing some strain on those prongs, but it should be fine for a cell phone or something similar.

The best part is that the whole contraption will effectively cost you nothing if you have all the right tools and parts laying around the house. Check out the link below for complete instructions.

Source: MAKE

The post DIY: Charging Dock Made from Empty Shampoo Bottle appeared first on Mobile Magazine.