iGo Charge Anywhere

April 8, 2010

Technology Editor Bill Wong checks out iGo's Charge Anywhere. Just what you need on long trips.

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iGo Charge Anywhere

I found the iGo Charge Anywhere to be an invaluable tool while on the road, especially on long plane flights. Most domestic airlines have pulled their on-board power outlets that used to be found on each seat. They have also removed most displays for movies since they are no longer presented. It has been up to individuals to bring their own entertainment and there are a plethora of options. Unfortunately, battery power is required to make everything work short of a real book. This includes my latest book reader, a Motorola Droid.

Actually, reading ebooks on a Droid does not use a lot of power but it is nice to have a working phone when the plane lands after a cross country flight. Likewise, watching movies on the tiny screen eats power definitely leading to a dead Droid unless I happen to have the iGo Charge Anywhere handy.

The iGo Charge Anywhere contains an 1800mAh battery, a battery charger and a pair of USB connectors. The charger is capable of charging its own battery as well as devices plugged into it. Unplugged, it can power USB devices like the Motorola Droid. The Charge Anywhere is about the size of the Droid, weighs 107g and essentially doubles the Droid's battery capacity.

I've been able to watch two movies flying cross country arriving with a significant charge left on the Droid. I have a complete charge if I am just using the Droid for playing music and reading an ebook using FBReader. By the way, the Droid and FBReader make a great ebook reader. Many like e-Ink-based ebook displays and they do have better battery life but having dozens of books in your pocket is very handy.

FBReader.org

iGo

About the Author

William G. Wong | Senior Content Director - Electronic Design and Microwaves & RF

I am Editor of Electronic Design focusing on embedded, software, and systems. As Senior Content Director, I also manage Microwaves & RF and I work with a great team of editors to provide engineers, programmers, developers and technical managers with interesting and useful articles and videos on a regular basis. Check out our free newsletters to see the latest content.

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I earned a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Masters in Computer Science from Rutgers University. I still do a bit of programming using everything from C and C++ to Rust and Ada/SPARK. I do a bit of PHP programming for Drupal websites. I have posted a few Drupal modules.

I still get a hand on software and electronic hardware. Some of this can be found on our Kit Close-Up video series. You can also see me on many of our TechXchange Talk videos. I am interested in a range of projects from robotics to artificial intelligence.