Innovative Phone Charging Solutions

Smartphones are getting better and better all the time, but with this increase in power comes a huge increase in power consumption. As a result, it’s rare that a modern smartphone will last more than a day through average use. Play some games and surf the web for a couple of hours, and it’s unlikely that it will even last that long. For this reason, we’re finding more and more that our smartphones are likely to run out of power in really awkward places when there’s no power outlet available. So what are the best ways of avoiding running out of juice without restricting usage?

• One of the very best ways of keeping your phone topped up is by carrying your laptop around with you. You can think of it as a giant extra battery for your phone. It might be a little bulky, but if you need the power, you need the power. A lot of netbooks are very small anyway, so they aren’t too bad to keep around when you’re on the go.
• Solar powered chargers are one of the smartest new gadgets that will keep your battery going, using the suns’ light to recharge. They do have their downsides of course. When the weather isn’t too great, the power supply won’t be either, so you could be left in exactly the same situation. Similarly, you might need power while you’re indoors, which a solar charger simply can’t give you. Of course, if you’re inside, you are more likely to have access to a power outlet of some kind, whether that is a socket or USB port.
• Wind-up chargers are great in an emergency, because you don’t need anything but yourself to power them. Just wind up, plug in and you’ve got power. The only problem is that you only really get about as much phone time as you do wind time, so forget restoring a dead phone to full charge.
• Your best bet is probably one of the battery/case crossovers. These are specially made cases which have an integrated battery. The case then clips on to the phone as you’d expect, but it also goes into the charging port, so that you’ve got a whole extra reserve of power. They will add some size and weight to the phone, but they are a really good way of making sure that you have enough power to keep you going.
• In addition to the cases, you can also get micro USB chargers from Energenie that attach to the back of any compatible phone. You charge this unit beforehand, and then you can easily attach or detach it whenever you need. It won’t fit quite as neatly as a battery case, but it is more flexible in that you don’t always need it to be plugged in, it’s quick to use, and you can use it with any smartphone that uses a micro USB to charge from. Most Android smartphones use this method of charging.