- Lithium Polymer 5,000mAh battery pack with low self-discharge design for power that is ready when you need it! The SLIM design fits in your pocket.
- 2.1 amp power with dual USB charging ports allows for charging two mobile devices at the same time, or a tablet by itself.
- Charges by AC / DC and USB! Inlcudes miniBOLT AC / DC charger for convenient power to TwinPort or your mobile device.
- Also Inlcudes MicroUSB and MiniUSB charging cables!
- One-touch design with LED status indicator - press once to check battery level, press and hold to toggle ON/OFF
I am lowering my actual score to 3 out of 5 (marked 4 out of 5 because of the explanations for 2 or 3 low ratings from other people see my original review below), because I have confirmed what I believe another review said, that when device is below 20% (red light status), it will not start charging any devices! This frustrating and should not be an issue.
ORIGINAL REVIEW:
Actual rating: 4 out of 5 (I put 5 out of 5 because I believe others rated this badly because of the quirks -see below).
Quirk And yes, some details are in the manual: The button on the side basically triggers the device to be in 1 of 3 states.
0) By default, the device is off.
1) Taping the button (or not holding down long enough) causes the lights to flash to tell you the charge level -blue: 60%-100%; purple: 20%-60%; red: 0-20%... Then the lights will turn of and it will be in off-mode.
2) Holding down the button for 2+ seconds will cause the device to turn on. The lights will stay on and are a solid color when the device is turned on. While the device is on, holding down the button for about 5 seconds will turn it off.
One reviewer previously stated that his device did not charge and gave it 2 stars. Mine wasn't either until I learned I had to actually turn on the device.
Another reviewer gave the device 1 out of 5 stars because: "When I went to use it the day after, the lights just flashed for a few seconds and then the unit turned off." Sounds oddly like the triggering of state #1 listed above.
Another reviewer gave 1 out of 5 stars because: "I was looking forward to using this charger, but it did not live up to its description. I don't know if my unit is defective or not, but the indicator lights are on all the time and that drains the battery's charge." This makes me wonder if this person did not know you have to hold down the button for 5 seconds to turn off the device.
My use:
* Charged iPhone 4S (confirmed to 100%).
* Charged Galaxy S II (only confirmed from 10% to 35% charge; stopped after that; was done while charging iPhone 4S).
* Charge iPad 1 (While writing the last 25% of this review, its been charging. It's gone up from 55% to 59% and is still charging).
* Charged this device with my Samsonite Solar Powered Laptop Backpack. I bought this battery pack because it was cheap and I didn't want to destroy an expensive battery while I figured out how well the backpack works. Surprisingly, it's doing a fine job of charging this battery pack.
Usage tips:
* I am not sure if the device can be charged while charging another device. Maybe better to charge it while it's off? (Comment on my review if you know more, and I'll update this).
* Make sure you only charge one tablet sized device at a time.
* Make sure it's turned one when you want to charge your device. And turned off when you aren't using it.
Product design improvement advice from a Cognitive Science Major:
* Single button having more than one function without documentation next to the button on the device. Bad idea. I originally assumed that the device was always on and the button was just a battery level indicator trigger. I seriously thought I had a dud like some other reviewers. Then I read the manual and saw the part about "turning it on". I am sure people sent the device back because of this problem.
* Blue & Purple lights are too similar. Try a different set of colors... and make sure you take into account color blindness when deciding on new colors.I travel for my living. Having a back up battery that juices my iPhone (which does not last even 12 hours the way I use it lots of calls, Bluetooth and Wifi) is a life saver. I tried a number of different models in the market, including some that I bought here on Amazon for $69.99, and this one is by far the best. Here are my list of pro and cons:
Pros:
while it does not seem like it has 5000mah capacity (claimed), it has by far the most capacity for its size.
Very light and easy to use
USB charger plug allows me to use my iPhone charger to charge this device
Two simultaneous USB charging ports
Cons:
Like all others in the market, if both ports are used, each port only has 1 Amp current. Meaning, while both ports are in use your iPad can only charge in its standby (screen shut off) mode. Would have been great if both ports could produce 2.1 Amps simultaneously, not combined.
The charging does not start if TwinPort has less than about 30% remaining charge. However, if you start the charging at above this level it will pass all of its charge to the device being charged.
A more granular capacity indicator would be good. It can only indicate one of three levels which is often not that useful.Nothing to rave about... but it did the trick.. I spent several days walking around site seeing on vacation and used it for both my Android phone and my sons iPod Touch. It was worth the extra insurance to have spare juice when i needed it. (GPS Location!)I connected the fully charged battery pack to my phone as it was at 23% battery live. without using the phone it took a little over 5 hours to charge it to 100%. the battery log (Android Battery Widget v1.7 by PARK JINWOO) shows a constant charging rate over all the time. phones battery has 2500 mAh capacity. while the battery packs loading level indicator showed the first 3h blue light (more than 60%) it turned within the fourth hour into red (less than 20%). I had no chance to see the purple for the range 60% to 20%, as I was not checking inbetween this hour. the fact that it stayed in the upper 40% range for 3h and then passed the following 40% within a hour, seems to be a not very reliable level indicator.
a second fact that points more into the direction that the battery pack has only 2500-3000mAh capacity, is the little user guide itself. it says that the pack needs about 5 hours to get fully charged. the ac/dc-adapter that comes with the pack is specified with 500mA output. how you charge a 5000mAh battery with 500mA in 5 hours when all equipment is using 5V ?
the second point is the loading current. product description states that the pack can output 2.1A using both outlets, what means that a single outlet provides ~1A. that it took 5 hours to load my 2500mAh phone battery shows that the port only provided ~500mA. this seems to be reasonable as the AC-adapter that came with the phone is specified to have 1A output and needs around 2 hours to fully charge the battery.
I could not test the loading current when using both outlets, because the USB-to-microUSB adapter I bought (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005FUNYSA/ref=oh_o00_s00_i00_details) to use my 2-to-1 USB-Y-cable, is not working for charging applications.
I decided for a battery pack instead to simply by a second phone battery, to
avoid frequent opening and closing of the phones cover
to have the option to refresh the battery
to re-charge other devices on a trip (like mp3-player or camera)
but with getting barely one complete phone re-charge out of the pack and that it take 5h, a pre-charged spare battery, much smaller in size, looks like the better choice.
I would not buy again nor recommend it to a friend, because it meets only half of it's advertised specifications.
beside this, the pack is well manufactured (not looking cheap or being flimsy) and the dual AC/car-adapter is nice.
it needs a little bit to get used to the function of the power button, and it is misleading explained. (to turn on the battery pack, press and hold the button. when the status LEDs turn on, release the button immedeiately ... as the pack will shut-off again the next second if you keep pressing it, what then looks like the check-functionality).
that there are two LEDs has no special meaning one would be enought as power level indicator. and that they stay on all the time when charging is senseless to in my opinon.
This has come in quite handy as I hate having a dead cell phone! I would recommend this charger.
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