TravelCard Charger is the battery you'll always have with you
Samsung's recent "wall hugger" TV ad is, unsurprisingly, quite misleading. Many of Samsung's smartphones get their extra battery life not from better design, but from replaceable internal battery packs. In the iPhone world, those battery packs are external, so to be safe from "wall hugging" you need to make sure you always have a battery pack with you -- just like you'd need to have a charged internal battery pack in your pocket with a Samsung smartphone. Well, in the iPhone world there's a new battery pack that you can always have with you called TravelCard (US$45.00).
Specifications
Dimensions: 3.58 x 2.44 x .16 inches (9.1 x 6.2 x .4 cm)
Weight: 1.5 ounces (42.5 grams)
Connector: USB to micro-USB for charging, built-in Lightning cable for output to iPhone
Capacity: 1500 mAh
Design Highlights
The TravelCard Charger is designed to fit into a wallet or purse easily. Although the company's website says that it is "credit card sized", the card is actually a bit longer, wider and thicker than a standard credit card.
It comes in a variety of colors: black, silver, red and blue. The color is on one side and in a metallic finish, while the other side is white or black plastic. There's just one button on the TravelCard that's used to start the flow of electricity to your iPhone -- when pressed, a small blue LED turns on.
To charge your iPhone, there's a Lightning cable that pops out with a push. The TravelCard is also available in a micro-USB format for non-Apple smartphones.
Functionality Highlights
How much juice can a small battery like this provide for your iPhone? According to the TravelCard folks, it will charge an iPhone 5s up to about 51 percent. That's not a full charge, but can give you the added power you may need at the end of a day.
TravelCard is definitely something you can drop into a wallet for that emergency power, and I love that the Lightning cable is built right in so I don't have to carry a separate cable around.
Conclusion
The TravelCard is very compact and can be carried in a wallet easily, the cable is MFi-certified, and it has enough capacity to get you through an emergency. On the negative side, there are a number of not-as-compact external battery packs that are half the price of the TravelCard. It's up to you as to whether or not the extra portability of this battery pack is worth the premium price.
Rating: 3 star rating out of 4 stars possible
