Wall charger takes one AC outlet, provides juice for five USB devices
By Darren Murph 
posted Feb 20th 2009 5:21PM
posted Feb 20th 2009 5:21PM
posted Feb 20th 2009 5:21PM
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
Awesome product, but Engadget stop trying to be hip with the English words... You just can't pull it off.
What?
George, it's because they used the word bugger.
Samboini, perhaps "British words" instead of "English words" next time to avoid confusion.
How is the use of "bugger" in this description "British" anyway? He's using it as a noun, not a verb.
British term: bugger
American term: thrift store
Po-tay-toe, po-tah-toe.
I say vive la difference!
It is their quippy, clever, nerdy, pun-infested use of English that makes Engadget so appealing and fun.
"Bugger" is used as a noun pretty commonly in American English, as mentioned above, to describe any object or person, very informally but usually pretty affectionately, for example a parent might sometimes refer to their kids as his little buggers.
So basically, Samboini is just wrong.
This looks pretty useful, but then you might be stuck with way too many cables. They should bundle it with retractable USB charger cables.
Looks useful..
Should be built into homes like a regular outlet.
A "friend/associate" of mine has just had a new house built in Milton Heights, and he has regular 10/100/1000 lan ports and usb power ports along side his power plugs and light switches...
He showed me, i tried to act aloof, but secretly wanted it.
Dude, it comes with travel adapters (and auto voltage adjustment). I want one.
Isn't the price a bit steep?
Steep price? Dont worry, my friend Chi Naymayne, will be making some soon for 5.00 each. Will that be cheap enough richy rich?
Is this the new mac mini?
Obviously not, there's no display ports. Instead, it's a brand-new product: The Mac Shuffle.
It can't be the new mac Mini... the fifth USB port doesn't line up with the other four.
Nice device. Why not just buy a powered USB hub and use that just like this device? That's what I've done for 2 years.
I have yet to find a USB hub that will provide power to devices while it is not plugged into a computer. That is something this device will do.
@twist
I just bought a 7port usb hub that powers my phone even with my laptop off.
$26 for a usb charger? How about taking one of the many I already own and running it through one of the hubs I already own? Why are these things always so vastly overpriced?
I wish it would convert into several mini-USBs; I have two devices that charge with mini-USB, and if I could charge both of them with the same wall charger that would be delightful.
USB to Mini-USB cable?
If it was under $15, id go for it. I have a minimum of 3 things that need to be charged at the same time and this would help. The mini-usb is nice for my phone and zen stone.
..........wait any closing comments for MWC? seems like MWC 2009 never even happened......except that it is actually 2009......and counting....
Belkin makes something similar and a little more useful.
http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=400738
Good find. I like the Belkini one.......it double-up as a power adapter too and still accomodates two USB charging ports...and same price ......
I picked up one of those Belkin Mini Surge Protector thingies for my last vacation. I thought I'd charge two iPhones while we were at the airport on layover. One phone would charge and the other would just get power and lose power every two seconds. Didn't seem good for the phone. One would think that having two USB ports would mean that you could charge two USB devices. After reading more reviews, I found out others were having the same problem. A workaround is to power one devices off to reduce the power draw.
Mine went back to the store.
I understand the mini-USB cable to an extent... But I have like 5 USB-to-Mini USB cables just lying around from various devices. Why not just put a 5th female USB plug? If someone needs the mini I'm sure they have the cable. Now you gotta worry about wrapping the cable around the device every time you roam...
Pretty cool. I have a dual USB car charger already. Who doesn't need more USB?
@ Look_Around_You:
Look around a bit; I've seen an AC outlet plate w/ built-in USB. Convenient if you're building or renovating but rentals may not legally allow.
USB in the wall is a great idea that will probably become more common. but if it just puts the walwart/transformer behind the plate, that's a lot of potential wasteful phantom power. houses need to have whole house 5v DC as a standard for this to reach prime time.
why stop at 5 usb ports? were talking about 120v 15a outlet here...it could support like....over 100 devices easily.....it should be a 100 port ac to usb adaptor....that would be awesome
que the nerds that actually know the correct number of usb devices that can be powered off a single 15a outlet....
120V? that must suck for you.
Over here we rock 230V.
well, the important data missing is the amperage of the device being charged, but assuming it's something like a blackberry pearl... try more like around 480 of them at once before you'd worry about tripping the breaker. you'd probably be worried about overloading the transformer long before that, however. stepping down all 15A of that circuit to 5v would make for quite a bulky unit behind the wall- I'd assume the transformer they're using is much smaller.
nerd happy to be of service
yes, Oli D, but typically, you only run on half the amperage as well, so it evens out. Rock all the 230v you want, you're only rockin' a 7A breaker... ;-)
would this work with moto phones since they're so picky about chargers? (in my experience only the Moto branded ones work). Not that I would buy it at this price...
we had the same problem. solution: buy the moto/zune/ipod versions (which are all picky) and they'll work for anything else too. Moto is the pickiest though.
our solution, we replaced that phone last week. the new LG will charge on any USB outlet. (stupid LG doesn't have a mini USB port though. you win some, you lose some).
I have a device that can't charge by USB and there's no way it's going to the 'thrift store' - MY NEW Nokia E71.
THe cord management is still a problem, i like the one that can just take any kind of AC adaptor like this www.cordcharmer.com