Hasta La Gadget!

For the most part, battery packs have become what CD cases were in the late 90s — generic and utilitarian. Nokia’s new DC-18 portable chargers dare to be different. The sharp, tile-like designs house a modest 1,720 mAh cell, retractable micro-USB cable (that doubles as a a switch,) plus an LED battery level indicator that lights up when you extend the aforementioned appendage. It’s available in four colors (red, white, yellow and blue), but only in select regions right now. No word on when and for how much, but color-coordinators can keep pinging the source to find out.

Filed under: Cellphones, Peripherals, Mobile, Nokia

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Via: Gizmodo

Source: Nokia

Although Mophie isn’t the first to have an iPhone 5 battery case, there’s no doubt that some have been waiting for the company’s take — and it might justify the patience. The just-launched Juice Pack Helium slides a 1,500mAh secondary battery on to the back of Apple’s flagship in a protective frame that’s 13 percent thinner than earlier Mophie cases, but still promises a hefty amount of extra runtime. Mophie estimates another six hours of cellular calling and data (seven on WiFi), or about enough to push through an all-nighter or a long airport layover. Color-coordinating black and silver versions of the Helium are shipping from the 14th onwards for about $80. That’s lot for something so model-specific, but it’s possibly the sleekest way to extend an iPhone 5’s charge.

[Thanks, Nik]

Filed under: Cellphones, Peripherals, Mobile, Apple

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Source: Mophie

If you thought Mophie was planning to keep its smartphone Juice Packs exclusively Apple-based — we’d have probably agreed with you. But then we got to take a look at this pair of cases crafted for Samsung’s Galaxy S III. Yep, the battery-packing cover (which looks likely to fit all the current iterations) promises to give “over double the battery life” of your un-augmented handset. This was just a brief peek — but expect the (as-yet unpriced) cases to appear in stores around the end of October, early November.

Continue reading Mophie readies Galaxy S III Juice Packs, coming very soon

Filed under: Cellphones, Peripherals, Mobile

Mophie readies Galaxy S III Juice Packs, coming very soon originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 31 Aug 2012 13:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Believe it or not, EV battery life is still something of a Pandora’s Box, even for automakers: they can tell you the battery pack’s current and voltage, but not how it’s really performing under pressure. Ford, GE and the University of Michigan are uniting to unlock that mystery through a new ARPA-E project. In its role, GE is developing a minuscule sensor array that will track the nuances of battery cells that existing technology misses; it will promptly hand the baton to researchers at the University of Michigan, who plan to both prove that GE’s data is on the mark as well as develop tricks for predicting behavior. Ford handles the last mile, almost literally: it’s planning to fit the GE sensor technology to one of its cars and test in a more realistic environment. Before you fantasize about knowing the lifespan of your Focus Electric’s battery down to the minute, however, the new alliance is stressing that it’s only just getting started — there’s another three years and $3.1 million to go before the project wraps up. If all goes according to plan, though, we’ll have electric cars and plug-in hybrids that can not only tell when they’ve seen better days but can eke out extra miles through smarter battery designs.

Continue reading Ford, GE and University of Michigan team up on sensor to track EV battery life, keep us on the road

Filed under: Transportation

Ford, GE and University of Michigan team up on sensor to track EV battery life, keep us on the road originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 05 Aug 2012 12:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Whether it’s a tropical vision quest, or a summer jaunt in Europe, the well-traveled gadgeteer faces one eternal scourge — power. Timbuk2 hears this, and has partnered with Joey Energy to bring you two new travel bags (the Power Commute and Power Q) with internal chargers. Okay, you don’t need to have the crunch of sand underfoot to benefit from one of these, in fact, dashing across town will also be a much more liberated affair, knowing that you don’t need benevolent weather, or have to pack a dedicated device. The power supply has been designed to deal with the rough and tumble of the outside world, and claims to power pretty much anything that charges over USB. The Joey T1 claims to be able to provide about two full mobile charges, and both of the new bags come laden with all the tech-hiding covey holes you’d expect, costing $199 when they launch in October.

Continue reading Timbuk2 Power Commute and Power Q bags will juice your tech from here to…

Timbuk2 Power Commute and Power Q bags will juice your tech from here to… originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 08 Jul 2012 11:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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