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Philips USB rechargeable Power Pack – SCE4420

sce4420

Update 28.6.2009: I just got my iPhone 3GS and Iplugged it in and nothing happend. It appears that apple changed something on the power management so the iPhone 3GS can not be charged with it. Crap!

Today I received my external USB Power pack from Amzon. I got it because my phones battery is crap and the iPod Touch does not get through a day of wifi and gaming either. I am currently charging it for the first time so I can not report on the devices performance, but I read in reviews that it is capable of completely recharging an iPhone up to 2 times. The charging it self takes a qutie while. I have it hooked up to my computer for about 4 hours now and it is still not done, but I guess that this kind of charging will increase the overall lifetime of the battery inside. I find this kind of powerpack more convenient that the ones specifically made for the iphone and Ipod Touch since I can charge every gadget that takes power via usb and most other cellphones as well.

Pros:

  • small form factor
  • looks quite nice – I generally like the appearance of philips products
  • low price 24? at amazon, the kensington one costs about 40?
  • comes with a ton of adapters ( Nokia,Samsung, Motorola, Nintendo DS, Sony Ericsson,Blackberry and mini USB)
  • has 2 ports, one for charging the device and one standard USB jack to plug in your gadgets
  • is advertised with 30 hours of battery life( I will test that and post)
  • Retractable cable, no additional cable clutter !!!!
  • for simple LEDs indicate the level of charge
  • comes with a small black cloth bag to keep verything together

Cons:

  • charging takes quite some time
  • nothing else really

Update 3.6.2009 – Battery performance

the battery works really well. I was able to charge my ipod touch 2 times with one charge. I could charge my girlfriends ipod nano without even noticing a decline in charge.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, May 28th, 2009 at 14:38 and is filed under Ideas, Tech Questions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  1. Adrian July 27, 2009 at 21:53

    Hello Christoph,

    I’m thinking of buying this device for my google phones but I’m not sure how long does it take for a full load.

    By my calculation your ipod touch has a 1000maH battery and according to philips especifications it provides 500mAh so, did it take 2h to charge the touch?

    And it was 2 charges of the touch + how many bars in your philips device left? :)

    Thanks a lot for the review, I hope you can let me know.

  2. Christoph Peter July 27, 2009 at 22:27

    HI

    charging the touch was rather quick, I never really took the exact time but I would say 2 hours or a bit less sounds right. I also never encountered a situation where I completely charged the ipod two times in a row but from my experience after two charges its pretty much empty.

    I should also note that if you leave it plugged in for the entire night (the ipod plugged into the philips device) it will constantly drain power from it and there for the ipod will be full in the morning but the external battery will be gone. This is probably due to bad power management since the ipod thinks it is plugged into a permanent power source like a computer does not go into power saving mode. hopefully google phones are smarter.

    Anyways it makes me really sad that it does not work with my iphone 3GS and I had to sell it alongside with my ipod touch (which I did not need any more because off the iphone, I loved my ipod), but for everybody how has a device capable of charging from it, I really recommend this device. I was just on a longer trip and I could charge many different phones ( from friends who were amazed that such a thing even exists), mp3 players etc…

    apple just wants everybody to buy “these amazing new chargers, that will ship today for only 34.99, isn’t that amazing” thank you steve … I will wait and see if philips updates the device so it will work with iphone 3GS as well.

  3. Adrian July 28, 2009 at 00:46

    Yeah, thanks for your reply. I was looking for such a device for the g1 and g2 phones (htc should have worked more in the battery drainage issue) and I’ve seen several.

    Today I had the 3 philips devices in front of me and they looked great. I’ll buy one of them, not sure which one yet but probably this one (the bigger one is bulky compared to the 88g of this).

  4. Anders Holm September 7, 2009 at 02:55

    It works !!

    I just got the Philips Powerpack SCE4430 for my iPhone 3GS. Without the supplied Philips USB male/female connector, the powerpack isn’t recognised. (Nothing happens as you describe). I have tried it on all 3 iPhones 1g, 3G and 3GS the 3G seems to work without the usb-connector (most of the time) – all work with the connector.

  5. Christoph Peter September 7, 2009 at 11:39

    ah man, I did not think the adapter would do anything so I already sold it. I might just get a new one since the device is really handy. thanks for the info.

  6. Joey December 31, 2009 at 19:32

    Does this device charge the Itouch second generation?? Thanks.

  7. Christoph Peter January 5, 2010 at 13:58

    I do not know for sure, but I think it does.