Accessories

Replace your batteries with the sun

Solio_1

Have you seen that commerical for Energizer’s AA-powered Energi To Go cell phone charger? The one with the guy skydiving (you know, the most common activity for when you need to make a call)? Anyway, every time I see it—and it’s on every night—I always think of the Solio universal chargerir?t=pocketables 20&l=ur2&o=1 - for some reason we don't have an alt tag here by Better Energy Systems (probably not the goal of Energizer’s marketing team…). It’s been around for a few years and other companies make similar chargers too, but this is just the one I think of.

The Solio runs on solar power, so it seems to me to be the better companion when hurtling through the sky. Why fiddle with alkaline batteries (Energizer also makes a lithium-based charger for audio/gaming gadgets) when you can just plug into the sun? You need to do this beforehand, though, as fully charging the Solio’s internal battery (3.6V, 1600mAh) requires a rather unreasonable 8-10 hours of direct sunlight. The device can also receive a full charge in about 4 hours via the included AC adapter, but that kind of undermines the whole solar-powered thing.

The Solio isn’t perfect, sure, but its compatibility list is pretty extensive and the sun is a heck of a lot cheaper than a pack of batteries.

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Jenn K. Lee

Jenn K. Lee is the founder of Pocketables. She loves gadgets the way most women love shoes and purses. The pieces in her tech wardrobe that go with everything are currently the Samsung Galaxy Note II, Sony Tablet P, and Nexus 7, but there are still a couple of vintage UMPCs/MIDs in the back of her closet.

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