I’m out in Salt Lake City for a short conference and while passing some time I wandered over to the local Walmart and found that they had the Powermat for Droid X in stock for $49 (cheaper by $10 than Amazon).

I’ve used Powermat in the past on my iPhone. The concept is that you attach either a new case or back cover to your device. Then you use an included charging mat that when the device is placed on the mat will immediately start to charge your phone.

Powermat has introduced several new charging backs – including models for the HTC EVO 4g, BlackBerry Bold 9700, iPhone 4G and the Droid X. Unfortunately there’s an ugly secret that you won’t learn until you take your Powermat out of its packaging.

Unfortunately what the box won’t tell you — and even the online photos of the product aren’t terribly clear – is that you must replace your back battery cover for your Droid X with a cover that includes a protruding dongle which is ideally suited for snagging on your clothes as you put the Droid X into your pocket.

The promise of the Powermat is that once you’ve installed the custom cover – and use it in conjunction with the supplied charging base – you’ll never need to worry about plugging or unplugging a charging cable connector again.

I’m sure in theory this sounded like a great design. In practice it’s just awkward. Within a few minutes of using my Powermat for the Droid X I could tell the protruding connector would be uncomfortable to hold. I can’t imaging anyone wanting to risk snagging the connector on their pants pocket or jacket when they remove their Droid X to actually make a call or use the phone.

Instead of the awkward connector I’d much rather have seen Powermat produce a replacement battery as they were originally announcing about a year ago. As the Powermat exists now I can’t imagine using any of the replacement backs that also require an additional plug to deliver the charge. So far as I know all the new Powermat models require a protruding charging plug (dongle) with the exception of the iPhone 4 which uses more of a slide in case.
Before buying the Droid X Powermat give some thought to whether the protruding connection will be a problem.

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Woot! has this 8000 mAh rechargeable battery on sale for $39 today (8/11/10) only. Add in $5 for shipping and you’re still about $40 cheaper than the best reputable price I could find on Amazone.

They advertise this as a notebook battery backup – however I’ve been using mine for about the last year as a “super extended” battery for my iPhone, BlackBerry and Android smartphones. In the time I’ve used it during lengthy day trips I’ve never been able to completely drain the battery to empty.

This ships with a large assortment of interchangeable tips so you probably can connect to just about any device you own.

What I’ve done is use my regular smartphone cable and plugged it into the USB port on this battery backup device. Works like a charm!

I’ve largely used this to recharge smartphones — so I cannot vouch for how well it will recharge a netbook computer (which is one of the things it’s advertised to do).

As a super extended battery backup — I recommend it. If you have kids who take their iPod Touches in the car on long car trips this can save you from having to drag a power cord from the front seat of the car into the back.

Remember – this deal is up for 8/11/10 only.

http://goo.gl/uyHM

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Google has just added a spare OEM Nexus One battery to their web site. Listed at $25 the battery is a 1400 mAH battery replacement with talk time: Up to 10 hours on 2G, up to 7 hours on 3G. There is presently a limit of 5 batteries per customer. Users of the Nexus One may want to take advantage of the spare battery. While the smartphone is advertised as usable for up to 10 hours on 2G or 7 on 3G my real world testing unveils a need to re-charge my Nexus One generally by noon.

Nexus One Replacement Battery – $25

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Powermat has all of their receivers on sale for this weekend only (offer expires midnight Sunday February 7, 2010). The Powermat system allows supported devices (most newer BlackBerry as well as iPhone/Touch) to charge simply by laying them onto a matching Powermat. The charging system — the receiver and the mat — combine to re-charge your device without any cables. This system is slated for an update according to this post on Gizmodo – and the next generation will use a special replaceable battery instead of a bulkier door. It all works very well and the recharge time is virtually identical to what you’d see with regular power adapters. The iPhone and Touch Powermat are especially useful for anyone who uses their device in bed and doesn’t want to fumble with a power cord. If you’re interested in Powermat be sure to visit their site before the weekend’s over and score 25% savings on their older style receivers (Mats not on sale).

Powermat

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The first time I attempted to use my new Zagg Sparq charger on my Google Nexus One I thought something must be wrong. I plugged the superphone into the charger when it showed about half a charge. Upon waking in the morning my Nexus One battery was completely discharged. Thinking the cable must have disconnected I tried it again the next night.

Surprisingly I had the same exact results.

The new dual USB charger/battery backup from Zagg appears to actually REMOVE power from my Google Nexus One superphone – as opposed to charging it as it’s supposed to.

Here’s a few quick photos captured over the course of about two hours. Notice the phone starts with a 30 percent charge. After a couple hours it’s drained to 13%.

You can follow the times based on the phone’s clock.

When I start charging the phone shows 30% battery life remaining.

In about 30 minutes the phone is down to 25% charge while still connected to the Zagg Sparq charger.

Finally, after about 2 hours the phone is showing only 13% power remaining. Remember, this has been turned off and connected to the charger the entire time.

I’m in the process of returning this device. I don’t think I’ll opt for a replacement as several other MacRumors Discussion Forum members report similar problems with their devices.

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UPDATE 1/15/10: I recommend you avoid the Zagg Sparq. Please read my updated comments at the end of this review. A few weeks ago I noticed an interesting new external battery from Zagg called the Sparq. The company is primarily known for their high end screen protectors (InvisibleSHIELDs) and has recently released this combination  charger and portable battery supply. The premise is very interesting. Use the Zagg Sparq to supply power for up to two USB cables (which most devices ship with). While you’re powering your devices the Zagg Sparq recharges an internal 6,000 mAh lithium polymer cell that they claim can be recharged more than 2,000 times before losing capacity. Another interesting claim is they “guarantee 4 iPhone charges”. So how do the claims hold up? UPDATE January 15, 2010:

One of the first things that I noticed when I opened the package was that the Zagg Sparq requires a 9 hour initial charge. Subsequent re-charges take the same amount of time. This was a let down because if you are traveling it’s sometimes not possible to be near a plug for 9 hours.

On the plus side what the Zagg Sparq does away with is those nasty power bricks that you would otherwise have to lug around to re-charge an external battery. As you can see from the picture below Zagg have designed the charger so the prongs are built into the battery. It’s very similar in size and style to the power adapter that ships with Apple’s MacBook Pro.

It’s a little tough to see in this photo below but the Zagg Sparq provides for dual USB outlets to recharge two devices (you supply the cable) simultaneously. That’s a neat idea and coupled with the ability to ditch a bulky power adapter that other batteries require I thought the Zagg Sparq was onto a winning idea.

These two USB ports function both when the Zagg Sparq is plugged into the wall (where you’d use it as a regular AC Adapter) and when you’ve unplugged and are using the Sparq as a battery.

Everything pretty much works as you’d imagine with this power supply – except it didn’t last for anywhere near four charging cycles. More accurately I was able to retrieve about two full recharges out of the Sparq – though I did not test it only on an iPhone – and was using it to re-charge my Verizon Droid as well.

I tested this both out and about while on the road and in the office. Using it while on the road was great. The device is compact and because the Zagg Sparq recharges itself with the built in electric connector – I didn’t have to worry about lugging around a cable to re-charge the battery.

Is the Zagg Sparq worth the money? I guess that it depends on how long you need the battery to perform for. I’m still going to run my device (which I paid for myself and is not a loaner or manufacturer gift) through a few more charging cycles to see if the battery life is extended.

Although I know that the conventional wisdom is that batteries need a few cycles to really reach their capacity – I just have never found that to be true with any modern day device I’ve owned. So while I’ll report back on any extension of life offered by putting the Sparq through a few more charge cycles I’m still going to say that it’s disappointing that I received about half of what I was expecting for battery charge time.

Would I still buy the Zagg Sparq if I had to do it over again?

My sense is that this is going to be convenient enough (due to the built in charging prongs) that I probably would recommend it to someone. I also like that in a pinch you could use this charger on the road to recharge devices via the AC outlet in your hotel room. Then when you throw everything into your briefcase you’ll have a fully charged 6,000 maH backup battery.

For heavy duty road warrior use where you don’t mind lugging a bulky AC Adapter to re-charge the battery – check out this Energizer XP8000 which is small and compact and although it lacks the dual USB charging ports (it only comes with one) it does have  a coiled USB adapter cord with a few gazillion charging adapters supplied.

My Initial Pros And Cons Of Zagg Sparq

UPDATE 1-9-2010: My Zagg Sparq has suddenly stopped providing any charge from either of the 2 USB ports whether the battery is fully charged ( as indicated by the status lights ) or plugged into the wall. I’ll update the post once I return this device and test another.

UPDATE 1-15-2010: I’ve had absolutely awful results with my Zagg Sparq.

The list of issues seem to mirror what other users are reporting in this Zagg Sparg Review discussion on the Macrumors forum.

The device takes 9 hours to recharge per the manufacturer, it appears in both my testing and those on the Macrumors forum to drain inordinately fast.

On several occasions it has showed battery power but refused to charge anything.

The kick in the crotch is the Zagg Sparq that I have when used overnight ACTUALLY DRAINED MY GOOGLE NEXUS ONE phone not once but twice. That’s right when I woke up in the morning the Zagg Sparq still had a charge – but my Nexus One did not.

I recommend avoiding this gadget at any price.

The Good

- No charging brick to carry around – the recharging connection is built in
- Doubles as a USB charging adapter for two cables (use your own cable)
- Fairly lightweight
- Reasonably priced at $99 (on promotion – normal price of $129) – periodic deep discounts may further lower the price by 50%

The Not So Good

- The advertising promises 4 iPhone re-charges – and was only able to get through two on my first try (after charging the battery for 9 hours) – albeit I did recharge my Droid and Google Nexus One instead of the iPhone.
- 9 hours is a long time to wait for a re-charge if you’re constantly on the road
- Cheaper alternatives are widely available although they require a separate bulky charger adapter – I use this Energizer XP8000 which I found on closeout at my local Marshalls store for about $50 and have yet to exhaust its power reserve)
- The Zagg Sparq twice drained the battery on my Google Nexus One.
- Poor Zagg Sparq word of mouth from other users experiencing similar problems

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