A team of designers recently put forward plans to develop a series of portable USB rechargers. You’ll never have to worry about charging your phone again.
How many times has it happened where you leave the apartment with what looks like a full charge on your phone and suddenly by the time you get downtown you notice that you have less than a bar left? Where did all the battery juice go?! It’s even worse when you’re expecting a call and your phone suddenly gives up the ghost on you.
I’ve started to see charging stations at coffee houses and the like, where people can drop a few bucks to to use one of the chargers there for a few minutes, just to get that battery back to life but, really, who wants to stop and guard their phone for 20 minutes? I’ve found myself glad that these kiosks exist, but it doesn’t change the fact that they are not the most convenient solution to resuscitating your phone when you’re in a rush.
According to Dornob, one team of designers has recently put forward a solution to this problem: portable USB chargers. It’s like having a power pod that you seen in all those sci-fi movies and video games, only instead of charging some funky futuristic device, you use it to charge up your phone or other personal electronics.
The device is called Continuance and it was recently unveiled as an iF Concept Design 2011 entry. Essentially, it’s a battery sized, well, battery with a USB port on the side. Along with a cable, you can plug your phone into the side of the charger and never fear about having your battery die again.
The device is small enough that you can keep it in your pocket. It’s hardly large enough to prevent you from charging and using your phone at the same time as well. Worst case, you can hook up your device and let it charge in your hand bag or backpack.
Unfortunately, these things haven’t gone into development yet, but here’s hoping that they make the jump to consumer electronics one day. I assume there’s a demand for these, so I’d be on the lookout for them hitting stores at some point.
Be sure to also check out this other cool charger, the XD Design Solar Window Charger by XD Modo. Also, be sure to scope out the Aurelia LED Lamp by Qis Design.
