What’s a Power Bank / Portable Battery Charger?

(Last Updated On: January 24, 2017)

When you’re on the go and without an outlet nearby and your phone always in use, the problem of having low battery power is always present. Even with today’s newest smartphones boasting large capacity batteries, the ultimate fate of a phone being heavily used is for the battery to die out and rendering the phone useless. Since constant movement will always stay constant and the need to use the smartphone will always be necessary, the current and best solution is to use a Power Banks, also called a Portable Battery Charger.

Portable chargers are chargers that you can take with you nearly everywhere because of their compact size and clever designs. Portable chargers have only one purpose and that is to charge. Charging can be for a smartphone or possibly for any other compatible device that the portable charger can work with.

There are plenty of portable chargers that come in different sizes, colors, features and most importantly capacity of the portable charger.

How is the capacity of a portable charger measured and why is it important?

Portable chargers come with different capacities and it’s measured through Mili Ampere Hour (mAh). When a portable charger is 1000mAh then it can supply power for 1 hour.

Not only is it important to know the capacity of a portable charger but it’s also very important to know the battery capacity of the phone that you use.

Let’s use the iPhone 6s for this example: The iPhone 6s has a battery capacity of 1715mAh and although that’s quite a lot, you wouldn’t want a portable charger that is 1000mAh because it wouldn’t even charge the phone fully if the iPhone6s were at a low battery power. This is why it’s always good to have a portable charger that is well above the battery capacity of the phone you’re using to ensure that you can use it many times and that the portable charger stays useful.

Another example would be the Samsung Galaxy S7 with its 3000mAh battery capacity. The Galaxy S7, no doubt hold a boastful battery capacity but once again, you should look for a portable charger that is either 3000mAh or beyond that point to charge your Galaxy S7 multiple times just in case. The worst scenario for your phone is to have no options of staying on.

Lastly to reuse a portable charger once it’s used all its power is to use the Micro-USB output slot to recharge it. Does this mean that you will need a Micro USB charging cable to recharge a portable charger? Most likely.

One thing that is very true about portable chargers is that they are very helpful to use.

The EasyAcc Monster 26000mAh is a portable charger that holds a massive charge and with it, comes 4 USB Ports to charge 4 devices at the same time. All the ports hold Smart Technology charging from EasyAcc. It’s a truly a great example of what a portable should be.

What other great qualities to portable chargers have?

As noted before how Wall Chargers are truly the innovative front of the charging world, so are portable chargers.

• The first thing to mention is that portable chargers are increasingly getting into higher and higher capacity sizes. Something like a 1000mAh portable charger that we mentioned just doesn’t logically make sense to buy because of the capacity of modern smartphones.

• Sizes of portable chargers are beginning to become smaller and becoming more stylish. Stylish meaning that that portable chargers are able to look aesthetic by the way they look with their smaller physical sizes and easy to carry designs.

• Just like Wall Chargers, portable chargers now have great technology implemented within them to make them a greater asset. Many companies have put their Smart Charging technology into portable chargers and Qualcomm Quick Charge is very well implemented into portable chargers for super fast charging on the go.

• Most portable chargers feature LED lights to indicate power amount so you know when energy is running out on it. Recharging a portable charge is easy with just a Micro USB cable. The compactness is becoming more compact as the power capacity becomes greater. Also, power banks have small touches of amenities such as LED flash lights, as you can see above.

If you’re thinking about getting a power bank and worried if it’s really worth it; It is very worth getting a portable charger because the quality they are at currently is very good and can only get better.

Different forms of portable chargers?

Portable chargers come in a few different designs but it’s important to remember that a portable charger is just meant to hold energy and charge a device that needs power.

Solar Portable Chargers

Solar portable chargers are your normal portable chargers that have USB outputs and also a Micro USB output so you can recharge the solar charger to it’s fullest. Features such as LED lights for the battery gauge will most likely be present on a solar charger as well.

The main difference from a Portable charger to a Solar portable charger is that the Solar charger has solar panels implemented atop of the charger so the portable charger can recharge via solar energy from the sun. Solar portable chargers are also built more rigid because this way someone can easily take the charger with them if they were to go camping or hiking where there is a higher chance of damage to the portable charger.

 

In some ways, solar portable chargers are better than normal portable chargers because:

• Charging the portable charger can be done through the Micro USB port or via the sun

• They are built for better protection from fall damage, dust and water damage.

One of the flaws of a Solar charger though are the Solar panels that make the portable charger solar. Solar panels are not very cheap and in order to capture sunlight energy, solar panels have to be good at what they do. Since the solar panels are expensive, it tends to raise the price of a portable charger that makes it solar.

Battery Cases

Another sect of portable chargers is called a Battery Case and although a Battery Case is a form of a portable charger, it would better to understand it under a different post. Learn about Battery Cases here.