We are becoming ever more reliant on battery power and are prepared to find ourselves in places which have few or no power sources. Whilst our devices are becoming ever more power efficient there still comes a need for some where full day battery life isn’t enough. If you find yourself in circumstances like this then its a good idea to get hold of an external battery that can give you top up charge for your devices.
Camping
I’m writing this article in a field somewhere in Somerset without access to a power source as I’m camping. It’s for this reason I have a New Trent external battery on hand to keep things like phones and iPads alive. Already I’ve managed to charge an iPhone 5, Nexus 4 and have an iPad 3 getting a boost.
Capacity
The capacity of the battery is such that it will not be able to give the iPad a full charge but will give it enough until I can get it to an outlet. It is supposed to be able to fully charge an iPhone 3 times so this could probably see you good for a week (depending on how heavily you use your phone).
When looking for an external battery keep in mind it’s capacity (bigger is better but probably heavier too) and charge rate. I’d always recommend looking for batteries that have a 2A output as these can charge iPads and other tablets that much quicker.
USB
The beauty of the New Trent External battery is that it has two USB sockets so that you can charge two devices simultaneously. One seems to get priority over the other in this instance so it is worth keeping an eye on the devices to see which is getting the most juice.
Overall
So if you are out and about and find your self wanting for more juice then looking at external batteries is a great idea. You’ll find that they add weight to your bag but will give you an extended range that currently is not available with the current crop of tablets or smartphones.
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