Are we in the POWER BANK future yet?
Say Nigeria, Power banks have become an essential part of every smartphone setup.
Let’s face it – most of us are addicted to our smartphones. When your battery dies, you feel your heart drop in your chest.
The thought of having to interact in the world without your smart phone is nerve-wracking. Seriously though, our society loves smartphones.
For that reason, it’s important to have a high quality external battery to keep it up and running when you need it most. Today we’ll be checking out the QIUB, which is a new power bank that is on indiegogo now.
The QIUB Has 3 Functions
How is the QIUB any different than other external batteries? First, it is compact, so it can travel with you anywhere. It features a 1500mAh battery. The battery is small, so this definitely won’t be your main power bank, but it’s portability is great. Featuring a built in cable, the product is available in 2 versions: Micro USB and Lightning. I had the Micro USB version for testing. The QIUB also features a Micro SD card slot, where you can pop in a Micro SD card and plug the USB end in to your computer.
Functionality
It has a maximum output of 1.2A, so it doesn’t offer Quick Charge. While this is annoying, the phone slowly but surely charges. I started with the QIUB at 100%, and it died in 1 hour. After 1 hour of using the it, I saw a 30% increase in battery life. This isn’t amazing, but it’s about what I would expect out of a 1500mAh battery. Quick Charge doesn’t work when you use the QIUB as a cable either. I plugged the USB end into my Quick Charge 2.0 brick and the Micro USB end into my phone, and it still was not fast charging.
Originally, I thought the Micro SD card reader was for your smartphone, but I later found out it is for your computer. This is disappointing as I’ve seen many external SD card readers for Android. It would be nice if it would function on both your smartphone and your computer. The functionality on my computer was as expected. I wish the QIUB featured a full size SD card slot as most of the time that is what I need. When I’m offloading files from an SD card, it is almost always from my DSLR, which uses a full sized SD card. I think other photographers and filmmakers would feel the same about wanting a full sized SD card slot. Having a Micro SD card reader is a nice touch, but adding a full sized reader as well as functionality for Android phones would really go the extra mile.
Is the QIUB Worth It?
Yes! I genuinely have enjoyed my time with the product. It’s easy to stash anywhere when you need an emergency boost of power. While I don’t recommend the QIUB as your primary power bank, it definitely serves as a great backup. The built in cable and Micro SD card reader give you everything you’ll ever need for emergency juice. I think of the QIUB as a “grab and go” battery. It can’t provide a ton of juice — in my testing it can’t even fully charge a phone (with me getting 30-35% out of the QIUB), but it’ super convenient for when you’re running out of the house and need that quick boost. I use it in my everyday life for that exact thing! If you have an iPhone, you will enjoy QIUB even more, since it will charge your iPhone at great speeds. If you’d like to get the QIUB when it’s just $30 you can get one on at Indiegogo.
Comment;
do you think this is the future tech?
April 29, 2018 at 08:15PM
