However its not norm these days to have this feature outside of anything Samsung. So if you need some additional power then you need a power pack. Especially for extended stays away from home when travelling etcWe looked at the 2 currently on offer for decent money on Amazon, firstly the...
Anker® Astro 5600mAh Portable Power Bank
Excuse the name as we laughed like teenagers, however this pocket sized power supply is very handy. It has a single port on the top, and is about the size of a standard casino playing card in height and about half the width. Its not very heavy and can be placed into a jacket pocket or even your jeans etc without too much of a hindrance.The top of the unit has the LED displays telling you how much charge you have left on 25% lumps, and it also has an LED for torch use which is very handy, this is activated pressing and holding the button on top of the unit until it lights up.
It takes a while to charge, mostly because its only rated for 1A input, from an empty standpoint it took around 6 hours to charge fully.
When connecting to our Sony Xperia Z1, which has 3,000 mAh, it took around 3.5 hours to charge the handset which is longer than the wall charger - down to that pesky 1A output speed - took a slightly shorter time to charge when the phone was off or in airplane mode.
It certainty can give you a trickle charge in the event of being cut short or for an over night stay in the outback or something where you wouldnt be using the handset.
We tested on an older phone like the HTC One S and the Astro blitzed through that in 2 hours.
So overall great for an older handset that doesn't need 1.5A and above if you want to keep using the handset still. If you dont mind the overnight wait or need emergency power, then this will most certainly be worth your cash. Currently on Amazon for around £17.
Anker® Astro3E Mobile Battery Pack 10000mAh
Now onto the bigger of the two, the Astro3E is newer and of course bigger than the Astro Pocket and while bigger it manged to be pocket sized for inside a jacket or something. Its the size of a current gen 5 inch mobile phones or ruffly like the HTC One, Samsung S4 etc.
The main difference between the two here other than physical and capacity size is that this unit has two USB ports.
One for Android and one for the other lot.
Both are rated at 3A output (rather than the 1A) and the kicker here is its fast to charge - it charged the Sony Xperia Z1 in 2 hours, yes that's 3,000 mAh in 2 hours dead. The HTC One S was the same as the other Astro.
We expect there is a ceiling on input charge on the HTC (?!)
We havent tested it on the iPhone 5 yet but it does say it will charge both at the same time at the same rate, not sure that's accurate but we will give that a go.
From a standing empty position, the unit took around 9hrs to pump up to the max. So while you could get three charges from this then you would need an healthy overnight charge up again. Just make sure you have a fast charge unit, anything DC5v 2A and above, anything less and you will have a long wait !
Like the Astro Pocket it scratches real easy, so leave the top layer on as they have left that on, the bottom layer isn't so bad so feel free to rip off the protection layer.
It does come with a custom fit tool but we had no need to use it, although someone could find it useful.