Don't charge it after
midnight.
Following swiftly on from reviewing the Monster Powercard, a
slim-line portable battery charger, we were keen to see what other similar
products were currently doing the rounds. Impressed with how slim the Powercard
is, we wanted to see if anyone did a mobile charger that was even thinner. And
Proporta does, God bless 'em... the Gizmo TurboCharger 1000.
Oh, and you got the Gremlins reference, right?
Weighing in with the same dimensions as a credit card (although with a few extra millimetres in depth) the Gizmo TurboCharger 1000 from Proporta is by far the thinnest mobile power charger we've ever tested - so well done there. Because of that it is even easier to discreet this thing about your person, especially, as you might expect, in a credit card pocket in your wallet.
Inside that brushed metal finish (which is far nicer than
the older model charger from Proporta that we reviewed way back in early 2013)
is a 1000mAh capacity battery with a 5V input and output. The Gizmo is
different to other chargers we've played with in that the USB connector used to
charge it up is attached as part of a pull-out unit. Apart from that the only other
things on the body of the charger is a small LED light to display the amount of
power remaining, and a micro USB outlet. And a weird black square that doesn't
seem to do anything.
Getting the Gizmo full of juice is a veritable pleasure,
thanks to that slide-out USB connector. However, to then charge up your phone or
tablet you need a wire (as expected). However, because the only output is micro USB,
your normal phone charging wire won't work (as that will be full-sized USB to
micro USB). Fortunately Proporta have included the appropriate wire in the box -
and also an adaptor which lets you use your normal wire - but still, that
doesn't seem to make any sense. Surely it would have been better to have a
pull-out micro USB connector on this thing, so you never need a wire to charge
your phone?
Anyway, that logic issue aside, how does it actually
perform? Well, we had a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 down to about 2% power when we
connected the fully-charged Gizmo TurboCharger 1000. Before the Gizmo gave up
and died, the Note 3's battery was at 32%, and for a phone of its size with that
massive screen, that isn't bad at all. It didn't perform as well as the Monster
Powercard, but considering the Gizmo is less than half the price, we can let
that slip.
So, despite some rather confusing design issues with the
pull-out connector, the Proporta Gizmo TurboCharger is a great little pall to
carry around in your pocket - sure to get you out of a pickle when you really
need to make that call.
£14.99
Visit www.proporta.co.uk