Before I start my review, I just want to mention that I didn't pay for this unit. I've been offerred this as a review unit and I'm going to put my honest review here, highlighting the good and the bad. Since we're clear with that lets start.
No, I'm not new to PowerBanks, I've had several other powerbanks before and I currently own 4 different ones. However, what made this one catch my eye was its QI Wireless charging capability backed by a 10,000 mAh battery. Since I bought a Galaxy S6 Edge+ with built in wireless charging, I had to get my hands on this one. And just so that we are on same page, I got the MobilePal Gen-2 10000mAh Qi Wireless Power Bank, not the Gen-1 (don't know what's new though).
Like most of my reviews, I'll split this up in following four categories and go through each of them, one at a time:-
- Boxing & Contents
- Build Quality & Design
- Functionality & Performance
- Pros & Cons
Boxing & ContentsNot much to say here, it comes sealed up in a regular cardboard box printed with all of it's specifications on it. The box highlights quite a few features of this unit which you may or may not want to read.[Check the uploaded images].
On opening, you can atleast expect the following items inside:-
- MobilePal QI Wireless Powerbank
- 1 x 2-in-1 Charging cable (Micro USB & MFi Certified Apple Lightning port)
- 1 Anti-Slip Mat
- User Manual
One thing to notice here is, only 1 USB cable (although 2-in-1) is provided in box even though it has 2 USB Outputs. That's pretty much it in this one. Heading to the next section.
Build Quality & Design As soon as you pick this unit up, you would notice its weight. At 263 grams (9.3 oz), this unit is a bit bulkier but it feels very solid and nicely made. The top and bottom surfaces have this nice stiched faux leather texture (made of plastic) with metallic side frame. It'got 5 LED indicators on top surface, a power button on left edge and 2 USB output / 1 micro USB input on top edge.
The 2-in-1 USB Cable provided is of descent quality and doesn't feel cheap like many USB cables that come with other power banks. The inclusion of Apple Lighning port is very handy and one of the big plus about this unit.
Since wireless charging works on induction, plastic would be the most appropriate choice to be used for the surface. And this makes the surface of this unit a bit slippery too even with the textured surface. Specially if you have a phone with a glass back, you might want to use the in-box anti-slip mat provided. I didn't have this problem since I use a well textured SGP case which sits very nicely on top of it, although I probably wouldn't have used the anti-slip mat either way, the powerbank wouldn't look that good if I did. Overall, I personally have no complains with its aesthetics and this product looks and feels really good on the desk. Accepted that it weights quite a bit, but given the 10,000 mAh battery, it's not much different from any other 10,000 mAh battery available in the market.
Functionality & Performance Perhaps, this is the most important section for most of us, so I've taken my time to review the unit (2 weeks) before I started jotting down this review. The
MobilePal Gen-2 10000mAh Qi Wireless Power Bank boasts about its 2 x USB output powered at 5V/2.1A and 5V/1A Wireless Charging capability. Specification also
states that both the output ports carry Smart Charging which means, the powerbank would detect the connected device and the output power would be set
according to the maximum input the connected device can handle. To test these specifications, I've used the following phones:-
- iPhone 6 Plus
- Galaxy S6 Edge+
- Nexus 4
- Asus Zenwatch (To Verify Smart Charging)
The unit has 5 LEDs, 4 of which are blue and denotes 25% of the battery status each. So, if you have 2 LEDs on, you can safely assume that the battery pack
is still holding around 50% of the total capacity. 1 Red LED denotes if the wireless charging mode is ON or OFF.
You would need to know only the following instructions to be able to use the power bank:-
1. To check the power left, press the power button once and Blue LEDs will glow (If wireless mode is on, RED will glow too)
2. To start the cable charging, just connect the device and press the power button once. While charging, the LEDs will remain turned ON
3. The Power Bank supports two charging modes, [USB] and [USB + Wireless]. To switch between the modes, keep the power button pressed for 3 seconds while the charging unit is turned ON.
4. Connect any micro USB Cable in the micro USB input on top edge to charge this Power Bank with a wall adapter (highly recommended) or from your PC/Notebook.
5. Connect any micro USB / Lightning Port Cable to its regular USB output on top edge to charge your USB devices
Following the instructions manual, first thing that I did was charge this unit to full before it's first use. It took almost 3-4 hours to charge it from 2 LED glowing (around 50%) to full using a 5V/2A adapter. Ideally speaking a 10,000 mAh should take 5 hours from 0% - 100% charging using a 2A adapter, but we don't live in an ideal world so its acceptable to me. Mostly because I just leave it on at night and disconnect it in the morning at its full power.
Next, I connected my Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+ via USB and used a USB amp meter to check the current drawn. Even though it says that the output is 5V/2.1A, my s6 Edge+ could only draw upto 5V/1.76A and this is when the power bank is full charged. Now, S6 Edge+ is powered by a 3000 mAh battery and when I connected my phone, it had 20% battery left. So basically, the challenge for it was to charge 80% of 3000 mAh which is about 2400 mAh. It took almost 90 minutes to complete that challenge which is approximately what it should be taking at the rate of 5V/1.76A (ideally it should have been 82 minutes). I won't say I'm highly dissapointed here since 90 minutes ain't that bad for a power bank to bring a phablet from 20% - 100%.
The real dissapointment came when I connected my iPhone 6 Plus to the other USB Port simultanously. The USB Amp meter reading of the current drawn by S6 Edge+ (on other port) dropped to 5V/0.93A. I tried disconnecting the iPhone and the current reading went upto 5V/1.76A again. Trying vice versa, when I checked the current drawn by an iPhone, while S6 Edge+ is still connected to other port, the reading was 4.88V/0.94A and once I disconnected the S6 Edge+, the reading went upto 5.12V/0.99A. Similarly, when I connected a Nexus 4 along with the S6 Edge+, the Edge+ tends to draw power at 4.88V/1.22A. Unless my review unit is defective, it looks like charging multiple devices at once is affecting the output of each port. It is very much likely that the user will use 2-ports quite often to charge multiple devices simultanously and that is why, this was a big bummer. And frankly, this is the biggest negative factor that I'll consider while rating the product. I definitely saw fluctuations in other multi-port power banks on parallel charging, but not upto this extent. One good thing among all this is, even after 2 consecutive charging from 20% - 100%, the third charging rate wasn't any different from the first two charges which gives a vague idea that the power output isn't falling off all that much with decrease in charge which I've seen in my past Power Banks.
Coming to the unique feature of this unit, the wireless charging works pretty well. The charging is definitely slower than USB Charging but it took almost same time as any non-oem wireless charging pad. I got from 22% - 100% in about 3 hours charge time which roughly comes to around 0.78A charging rate while being left with 2 Blue LEDs glowing. I'm still happy with it as long as I can keep it on my desk and I can just place my phone on top of it to start the charging, all wirefree. I was able to charge my phone twice easily while on wireless mode although I didn't try the third time (1 LED was blinking after 2 charges). If you're worried about the case, it is important to mention that wireless charging worked fine with my SGP Neo Hybrid Case and another cheaper TPU Case.
To verify the Smart Charge feature of the unit, I connected my Asus ZenWatch and the current drawn was just 5V/0.20A which is exactly what it draws with its OEM charger. So, the Smart Charge isn't just a marketing gimmick afterall and this Power Bank is safe with any of the USB chargeable devices.
The Power Bank also features auto-off system. So if no device is detected to be charging within 100 seconds of turning it, the Power Bank shuts itself off which is a nice feature to have.
About the battery life, I was able to charge my device S6 Edge+ twice from 20% - 100% and once from 19% - 91%. Simple maths would tell that the efficiency of the battery is 6960 mAh, which is approximately 70% of the battery size. Please note that these readings were taken while charging only 1 device through USB Cable and Wireless Charging mode was disabled. The efficiency would have probably drop further if I had been charging wirelessly.
One of the coolest feature of this Power Bank is, it can be used with wires or wirelessly even if while the Power Bank itself is charging. In other words, it can replace a desktop charger (with 2 USB Outputs) and a Wireless Charging Pad simultanously and, whenever required, it can just be popped out and taken along for on-the-go charging.
While reviewing the unit, I also went through some of the negative reviews on Amazon so as to focus my review on those particular points too, but I didn't find most of them with my unit. Like the Power Bank didn't make any high pitched noise, the wireless charging feature didn't turn on/off frequently or the battery didn't die early as mentioned by any user. So, I'm assuming they either received the defective units or these were the problems with MobilePal Gen-1 QI Power Bank but definitely not with my unit.
Pros & ConsPros:-
- Wireless Charging
- Good Build Quality & aesthetics
- Big Battery Size
- Can be used as desktop charger
- Can be used as QI Pad
- 3 simultanous charging output
- Smart Charging
- 2-in-1 USB Cable
Cons:-
- Power fluctuation while parallel charging
- Lower output than mentioned
- 1 in-box USB Cable
Overall, if you're looking for a high capacity Power Bank with Wireless Charging capability, currently this is the best product you can get. Backed by 1 Year warranty and MobilePal Quality assurance, you really have nothing much to worry about.
Please visit following url for quick video review:-
https://youtu.be/ndkdMSZwTTA
