Every new device you buy seems to come with its own charging brick and cable — which is good, until you have a drawer full of them in your office, or wind up having to pack a dozen of the things before you so much as go to the library with your laptop. Thankfully, most of them are interchangeable and even if they’re not, it’s easy to trade a handful of cables for a single charger instead. Here’s how.
You don’t usually think to buy a portable charger until you find yourself really needing one. In my case, I didn’t realise how much I needed one until Angus suggested that I take DroidAX’s PortaCharge with me on a two-week trip to Western Australia. It didn’t take long for it to become a necessity along with the sunscreen and bottled water.
Leaving a charger plugged in to the wall for your mobile phone can seem convenient, but it has two disadvantages: you can end up with a bunch of chargers lying around and looking tangled and ugly, and your chargers will draw a small amount power even when there’s nothing connected. Belkin’s Conserve Valet charger station is a neat way to solve both problems.
Mobile phone manufacturers selling in Europe had previously agreed to follow a common charger standard, and now those specifications are being put into place in 2011.
We’ve long been advocates of taking a powerboard on the road, but the bulky size of many chargers means you can’t always utilise every slot. The Powerhand eliminates that issue by offering five linked outlets on individual short leads, meaning you can easily charge multiple devices no matter what size is involved.
If you’re tired of having a dozen cables this simple hack will help you par down your nest of cables to a streamlined bundle.
