One of the most exciting categories of consumer electronics in the last few years has been smartphones.

Inside one of these amazing palm sized devices is technology that allows users to make phone calls, take pictures, play music, watch videos, play games, send text messages and much more.




Unfortunately, while smartphones technological capabilities grow, so does their power consumption. The result is that a high tech marvel like the recent iPhone 3GS can run of power after just a few hours of use.

To address this power shortage problem, Duracell recently released a new line of products under the Smart Power brand which can supply portable backup power for your most-used electronic devices including Smartphones.

Duracell claims the Instant Charger can provide up to 35 hours of backup power to devices with regular USB ports in addition to mini-USB ports. The company recently supplied Digital Home with a sample of the product so we could test out the company's claims ourselves.

The Duracell Instant Charger is a very simple device. In a nutshell, it’s an external rechargeable Lithium Ion battery which stores power until it’s needed by your smartphone or other portable device.

Physically, the charger is very light and about two thirds the size of your average smartphone. It has mini USB port and small indicator light at one end, a regular sized USB port at the other end, a small on/off switch on the side and an LED status light on its face. In addition to the charger, Duracell supplies a short mini usb to USB cable for connecting the charger to your smartphone or portable device.

Before you can use the Instant Charger, you must first charge it by connecting it to the USB port of your computer. A small indicator light beside the min- USB port remains red while charging and turns green once the batter is fully charged. Once the Instant Charger is fully charged, check that the the power switch is turned off and you are ready to go.

When your smartphone or portable device requires recharging, simply plug the Instant Charger into your smartphone using the supplied cable, turn the charger on, and your device will begin charging immediately.

We tested the Duracell Instant Charger with the Apple iPhone 3Gs. In our initial test, we plugged the charger in when the iPhone had 37% power remaining. Fifty minutes later, the iPhone was back up to 99% power. Subsequent recharges yielded similar results.

Once we got back to the office, we recharged the Instant Charger at our PC and were ready for the next trip out. Re-charging the instant charger was typically complete in 30 to 60 minutes. After ten days with the device, we never left the office again without it.
Summary
The Duracell Instant Charger is an easy to use portable power supply which worked as advertised. Digital Home believes the portable power supply is must have item which we highly recommend to all smartphone users.

The Duracell Instant Charger is now available in Canada for $45.