Do you have enough battery capacity for your smartphone or tablet? If yes, then we are very happy for you. But if you regularly find yourself in a situation where “it's still only 19:00, and the smart is already at zero,” we recommend buying an external battery. What they are, what to look for, and how to choose the right battery - read our article.
Some 10 years ago, any mobile phone without any problems kept a charge for up to 10 days, and situations with a "sudden" discharge were rare, and as a rule were the result of a faulty battery. Today, the owner of a smartphone that can live more than 10 hours in active use is looked at with admiration and envy, and the habit of carrying a charger with you, or keeping a few (at home, in the office, and in a car) looks just as normal. like your morning coffee. Yes, progress. Yes, new technologies. But how many times have we been left without communication at an important moment due to the fault of a discharged smartphone?
Of course, you can continue to use the archaic "dialer" from Nokia or Philips, which needs to be charged once every 2 weeks. Or you can buy yourself a magical and irreplaceable device for the owner of a modern phone: an external battery.
External battery, what is it?
External battery, or PowerBank is a portable power source capable of feeding all your gadgets. Structurally, it resembles an ordinary battery of a portable device: batteries, of which there can be from 2 to 10, are connected to the controller board. On the same board there is a connector for connecting a USB cable from gadgets. And all this is wrapped in a solid (or not so) case. Compatibility with all possible devices is achieved through the use of a universal USB 2.0 port, to which you connect a cable from your smartphone, tablet, mp3 player, camera, and any other device that supports USB charging.
The principle of operation is simple: first, you charge the PowerBank itself from a 220V network (you can also use USB from a computer, but from the network it will be much faster), then connect your smartphone or tablet with a cable to the battery. PowerBank starts to transfer the accumulated energy to the connected device. At the exit, you get a charged smartphone / tablet.
There is an even less common modification - the so-called battery cases. They are put on the device and also perform a protective function. But they have a big, as for me, disadvantage - they are made only for a specific smartphone model, and are more expensive than their portable counterparts.
Advice: don't buy very cheap PowerBanks. They, as a rule, not only do not correspond to the capacity declared on the packaging, but are also collected very carelessly. This means that their life span will be very short.
How to choose the right external battery for phones or smartphones?
In order not to waste your money and buy a good PowerBank, you need to be guided by three main characteristics of these devices when choosing.
Total battery capacity
The most important parameter that determines the lifespan of the battery from one charge. The larger the capacity, the more energy the rechargeable device will receive. Capacity is measured in milliampere-hours (mAh, mAh), and is indicated both on the packaging and on the PowerBank itself.
Advice: For comfortable use, the capacity of the external power source should be at least twice the capacity of the battery in your device.
For example, the Samsung Galaxy S5 has a 2800 mAh battery. Accordingly, for this device it is worth choosing PowerBank with a capacity of 5600 mAh and above. So you are guaranteed to get 1-1.5 full charge of the smartphone.
If you have not only a smartphone, but also a tablet, you need to focus on the total capacity. For example, a smartphone - 2000 mAh, a tablet - 4400 mAh. The total capacity is 6400 mAh, which means that the capacity of the external battery must be at least 10000 mAh.
Current supplied to the USB connector
As a rule, this parameter is indicated on the included charger from your device. For smartphones, players, and cameras, the standard current is one ampere (1A), for tablets - 2A. This does not mean that you will not be able to charge your smartphone from a 2-amp plug. You can, charging will even be faster. But it is better to follow the manufacturer's recommendations to avoid device failure.
Advice: when choosing an external battery, give preference to the one with a current strength of 2A. Even if you don't have a tablet now, this does not mean that you will not have it, say, in 3 months.
There are some models that have 2 USB connectors on the case at once: one for 1A, the second for 2A, respectively. If you have found such an option, and the build quality / manufacturer does not cause concern - feel free to buy.
Size, weight, appearance
Everything is simple here. The larger the battery capacity, the greater its weight and dimensions. Choose PowerBank for your use case. If you need additional power only periodically, for example, in urban conditions, if you forgot to charge your smartphone before leaving home, then you should have enough battery for 2-5 thousand mAh (depending on the battery capacity of the smartphone). If you travel regularly, carry your entire fleet of gadgets with you, actively use resource-intensive applications, then we recommend paying attention to the monsters of energy from 10,000 mAh and above.
Advice: Do not believe the declared high battery capacity in a compact device. This, of course, is from the category of fiction, and you will simply be wasting your money.
Portable batteries have many more advanced features: built-in flashlight, solar charging pad, rugged housing, etc. These "buns" for everyday use are not so necessary, but you will have to pay a lot for them. Therefore, pay attention to their presence only if you cannot live without them.
What is the minimum cost of a good PowerBank, or how not to get paid?
The cost of any product consists of the cost of components, the cost of assembly and packaging, logistics, manufacturer's margin and seller's margin. External batteries are no exception. The average cost of a factory PowerBank is +/- $ 20. Add in the logistics costs, the seller's interest, and we get a price tag of $ 40. Of course, there are also much more expensive copies, but $ 40 - average cost high-quality external battery.
Advice: When ordering a battery from eBay, AliExpress, or other similar international marketplaces, resist the temptation to buy a 20,000mAh battery for $ 19.99. This is 100% cheating. If you're lucky, there will be about 5000 mAh in there. The same applies to manufacturers unknown to you, and famous brands at a very low price.
