May 102013
Anker® Astro 5600mAh High Capacity Portable Power Bank Backup External Battery Charger with built-in Flashlight for Apple: iPad mini, iPhone 5 (Lightning Cable not Provided) / iPhone 4S, iPad 2, iPod; Most Android Phones: Samsung Galaxy S4, S3, S2, Galaxy Note 2, all Samsung Galaxy Series Smartphones; Motorola Droid Razr, X2, Bionic; HTC One X, One S, Sensation, EVO, ThunderBolt; Nokia N9 Lumia 900 800; Blackberry Z10; Sony Xperia Z; GoPro
- High Capacity, 5600mAh; 2-3 full charges or add 22 hours talk time to your iPhone 4S / 4G / 3GS; 1-2 charges for Samsung Galaxy S3, 200 hours + audio playback, or 200% – 300% to the battery life of most mobile phones
- Compact, portable & stylish design; Easily fits into your bag to provide instant power; PERFECT for long plane flights, road trips, or whenever you need to charge your mobile devices wherever you are.
- Samsung Grade A cells high quality Lithium-ion battery ensures reliability; 500 + recharge cycles over the life of the battery
- Convenient flashlight updated to prevent accidental activation: lights only after pressing the power button for 2 seconds; 4 LED indicators reveal the battery level; Input: DC 5V 1A, Astro charges via standard USB or AC adapter (not included)
- Package includes: Anker External Battery / 3 connectors for most phones / 2 extension charge cable (70CM and 15CM) / 1 user manual / 1 convenient travel pouch
About Anker® Astro:
Anker® Astro is a line of portable external batteries designed for our modern mobile age. High capacity power and compact designs make these batteries a reliable power companion on the go. With affordable prices and great Anker customer service, never get stranded without power again.
Thanks to our customers, Anker has 5 products listed in the top 10 of Amazon’s top-rated Cell Phone Batteries category.
Popular Compatible Models:
Apple: iPhone 5, iPad mi
List Price: $ 0.00
Price: $ 29.99
This is great device!!!,
Customer Video Review Length:: 8:58 Mins
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5600mAh?? More like 2300mAh. (READ THE UPDATE AS WELL),
I’ve done an extensive research on this product before buying it. I’ve also read many feedbacks here.
I purchased this item along with Anker’s 1700 mAh battery for Droid Incredible.
Now, if you do simple math and consider this product to fully supply 5600 mAh to your battery you will see that I’m suppose to be able to fully charge my phone 3 times with this charger; 1700+1700+1700=5100 and the charger is still suppose to have 500 mAh left. That’s after I fully charge the charger using the AC power adapter.
However, when my phone has a few percents of battery left and I connect this charger to it, it takes the charger 2 and at times 3 (out of 4) blue lights to charge up my phone. Be advised that before I do so I fully charge the charger using the power adapter supplied and while it’s charging my phone I’m NOT using my phone.
When my phone discharges almost completely and it’s time to charge it up again, the charger wouldn’t provide the full charge because it has only 1-2 blue lights left after the previous charge. It doesn’t make sense. How come simple math doesn’t apply here? The charger can’t even provide 2 full charging cycles. However, it take about 5-6 hours to fully charge it up. I don’t understand this.
Besides, the charger came with no instructions. I mean, you don’t have to have a PhD to figure out how it works, but at least some hints on how this device is suppose to work properly would’ve been appreciated.
By the time of writing this I have fully discharged the charger twice thinking that maybe it should take a few full (dis)charging cycles in order for it to perform at its advertised (5600mAh) level just like with many phone batteries but again there were no instructions with it so I don’t know. Puzzled and disappointed. If someone could give me some hints I’d be greatly appreciative.
UPDATE, APRIL 13. HTC REZOUND with 1620 mAh battery.
Initially I gave this product 2 stars. I am adding 1 star for the exceptional service of the seller. They offered me a new replacement and I received it in 2-3 days after they got the bad unit from me.
I am adding another star for the usefulness of the product. If it’s fully charged (or even if not, as long as it’s calibrated!), it can really save you if you’re away from the wall charger.
I’m adding the fifth star because the replacement unit works as explained to me in the comment to my original review. I wasn’t aware of the 30% attrition power thing and therefore I didn’t know that in reality this backup battery wouldn’t provide 3 full charging cycles to my phone battery. However, I still stand behind what I wrote Laptopmate in my email that when people read the product description and see “5600 mAh” hardly anyone would consider that the attrition power factor here would decrease the actual charging capabilities of this battery. Naturally, people would do a simple calculation and assume that a 1700 mAh battery would be charged 3 times with this external battery. Hopefully, people would read everything that I wrote here so that they are not misled.
As for Laptopmate, I am still strongly suggesting you to mention the attrition power nuance in your description wherever you’re selling your backup batteries at from now on. Don’t expect that people would be aware of this technical detail. You will save yourselves a lot of time from having to explain the same thing to each dissatisfied customer (and maybe you’ll have less returns that way too!).
Other than that, 5 stars.
Also, if Laptopmate doesn’t mind, I decided to copy-paste their response to another “dissatisfied” customer as it clearly explains the 30% attrition factor.
“Sorry to hear that this external battery does not satisfy you. The input from AC or laptop to external batteries is 5v, while the output from external batteries to phones is 5.3v. Boosting from 5v to 5.3v and the external battery itself consumes power (about 30%). Therefore, the actual power that can be used to charge other devices is 70% (5600×70%=3920mah). So, this external battery is supposed to be able to charge a 1700mah battery for two times and a little more.”
P.S. Don’t forget to fully calibrate the external battery! Discharge it completely and charge it up to the fullest. Repeat this step 4-5 times and only then you’ll see the usefulness of this product.
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Superb powerpack,
I live on my Droid X2 phone. Charge it overnight and keep it on charger in the car and, when I remember, around the house (I am retired, so no workplace to charge it at).
Constant use for phone, text, email and internet – - the Droid doesn’t last long when not on the charger despite power saving apps. So, I have taken to carrying a rechargeable battery pack.
My first one was a Radio Shack Enercell. It was a weak contender. Fully charged, it could only raise the phone battery 20% (e.g., 50% to 70%). I lived with it, until it died after 8 months (I will have to take that up with Radio Shack, later).
Today, I received this unit – - ordered after I read the positive reviews.
It came well charged, three out of four bars. I charged it for three hours, until all four bars lit solid and plugged it into my Droid which was at 40%. An hour or so later, the Droid was fully charged and, yet, the Anker still showed its four bars. Of course, I knew that it must have used some power to resuscitate the Droid.
However, I immediately plugged it in to my wife’s LG Cosmo which was down to its three out of four bars and was due for a charging. To make this second event even more challenging, I turned on the flashlight function while the phone was charging.
Then, I began writing this review.
While the phone continues to charge, let me tell you a bit about the included cables and adapters. There are two cables, a 6 inch and a 24 inch (measurements are nominal) and seven adapters. The adapters include the male micro that is needed to charge the Anker and, coincidently, the Droid X2. The other adapters would be useful in charging a plethora of devices. I recognized a male mini adapter, an older Motorola adapter, the adapter that fits my Garmin, a circular input adapter plus others that I did not recognize.
The cables and adapters are all white and I assume this is a marketing strategy to match some of the intended devices’ original wires. Weird, as the device itself is an attractive shiny Black. I would prefer black cables and adapters, but that does not detract from the unit.
I already entered an Amazon order for black cables that do not require adapters. I selected both 6 inch and 12 inch lengths, which I feel are optimal for my intended mode of use. I already have numerous examples of any other length(s) I might need on a frequent basis.
The supplied cables and adapters, however, will be kept close at hand for those inevitable occasions when family,friends or strangers need an electronic boost for devices other than those using the micro connection. I think I will be the hero quite often! Maybe, at some point in time, I will need them for an oddball device of my own (but, not for my Kindle as it uses the same micro connector).
Just under an hour since I started charging the LG (with the flashlight consuming power, as well) and two things happened virtually at the same time:
The LG showed fully charged
The Anker display dropped to only three bars
The flashlight remained bright throughout.
I am thrilled with this initial performance. Extrapolating from these results, I estimate that I could get AT LEAST two complete charges for my Droid (as a retired teacher of mathematics, I love making these sorts of imputed calculations) which would last me 24+ hours of use between tethered charges (in the real world) that would be at least two days assuming the phone was not used in any way while I sleep.
Alternatively, I could use the phone normally and as a night clock for a day and a half on a camping trip or during a power failure.
Physically, the unit is compact and not unattractive (not that I care). It seems well built and seems durable.
Its only shortcomings, as far as I can see is the horrible insert that serves as an instruction sheet. Good thing that its use is intuitively obvious and relatively trivial (old math explanation for something that you don’t want to explain in a proof).
Also,there are two variations of this unit on the market with different capacities and designs. You should investigate all of them and pick the one that seems to meet your projected needs.
Five Stars and worth them!!!
AFTER THREE MONTHS:
WOW! Continues to amaze, I am never without power. What more can I say?
Had a technical question and customer service provided, not only an answer, but great support.
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