Your smartphone probably came with a USB wall charger. Chances are you probably need or at least would find it convenient to have more than one. Perhaps one at your desk, one by the bed and maybe one in your travel bag. A quick check shows that the retail price of an Apple USB wall charger is $19. Of course you could get ANY 3rd party wall charger for half that price or less. However, even at $9 for a good quality generic charger you might want to consider a different option. If you’re buying a charger that’s going to have a permanent home under your desk, behind a nightstand, etc. then why not just get a power strip that also has USB ports on it? This way you could plug in your lamp, computer, speaker, etc. and charge your smartphone and/or tablet as well.
I just bought 3 of these for use around the home and home office. So far they’re working out GREAT! Unlike most power strips/surge protectors this one has a longer than average 6 foot cord. It has a lighted power switch as well as 2 USB ports that can provide up to 2.1A of power, which is enough to charge an iPad. Also the fact that it’s a surge protector as well doesn’t hurt. The only downside is that the 2.1A is shared between the two ports. This means that you can charge two devices or one device at the full 2.1A speed. Yes, you can charge an iPad (or other tablet) and iPhone (or other smartphone) at the same time, just not two devices that both require 2.1A each.
Here’s the best part: This power strip is on sale for only $14.99, which is less than the cost of a name brand single port USB charger. Get this one and you can use the charger that came with your phone as a travel charger.
My other favorite USB chargers
For the car, I like this one.
For charging several USB devices at once I like this one.
For a permanent installation I like this one.
For charging while traveling to hotel rooms with limited outlets, I like this one.
It would be good to mention or confirm that all these devices your promoting work with the newly released iPhone6.
To my knowledge (my iPhone 6 Plus arrives Tues or Wed this week) the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus have no special charging requirements. In other words they ship with the same USB power adapter (5v 1A) as the previous models. Therefore ANY of the above chargers/usb ports will charge an iPhone 6/iPhone 6 Plus as they are all rated at 5V 2.1A (enough to charge an iPad). I only buy 5V 2.1 A chargers now because I want whatever I buy to be able to charge an iPhone OR iPad if not both at the same time.
No change in power requirements. Informative article, by the way.
Thanks Matthew for confirming!
I have two of these at home. I got them at Radio Shack, and they’re great:
I appreciate your work to bring them All of these great devices at one place, even I am also using one of them i.e. Multi Port USB charger for my personal and official use for charging my devices rapidly. All these device has great quick charging ability and also device protection features from the over heating, overcharging and circuit protection.
I appreciate your work to bring them All of these great devices at one place, even I am also using one of them i.e. Multi Port USB Charger
for my personal and official use for charging my devices rapidly. All
these device has great quick charging ability and also device protection
features from the over heating, overcharging and circuit protection.