In fact, there are now even more factors to consider when buying a new phone. While those tips cover the various decisions for smartphone purchases, another almost inevitable purchase will follow the accessories. Screen protectors, armored cases, and even power banks are the top accessory choices for every prospective smartphone owner. Since many phone batteries can still run out of power before the day ends, let’s take a look at three factors if you don’t know how to choose a power bank. Unfortunately, most of us do not know what is a power bank and how it works. Even the manufacturers or sellers do not feel the need to educate the buyers on this necessary information. There are some points to be taken care of while choosing a good power bank depending on your device. Pondering over these aspects, I felt the need to compile details of such precautions and technicalities and the result is this article.
How to Choose a Power Bank?
We all know how irritating it feels like when you need your very own smartphone so much on the go and the power goes off like a betrayer and you are left with nothing but a feeling of frustration and irritation. But to get rid of such situations, there has been a cool gadget, power bank with which you can charge your phone or tablet on the go and remain tension free. Okay, now you got the solution, but the question might be popping in your mind that which one to go for and more importantly what features you should look for while making a selection. To get more clarified on this, let’s start with the points that you need to keep in your head while choosing a power bank.
1. The type of power bank
Marketing full of different types of power banks, you can choose as per your requirements and budget. Nowadays, power banks aren’t just blocked with cable ports for charging. They all come in all shapes and sizes. Protective charging cases like the MiLi Power Spring 5 offer both protection and an extra battery’s worth of power. These can be attached to iPhones and are not as cumbersome to carry, compared to other models. In other cases, you might need bigger models if you plan on keeping them in your homes or offices in case of emergencies like typhoons and power outages. These usually have higher amperages for long-term use. Some of these bigger models also offer several USB ports for charging multiple devices at the same time, perfect for those with many gadgets.
2. Capacity
Capacity plays a big role when it comes to the power bank. If you go to any online store for power banks, you may turn up with loads of variety of power banks having typically 2600 mAh, 5200 mAh, 10400 mAh or even greater. The very common sense might say you when it comes to the capacity, why not go for the biggest one, but hold on, bigger capacity power bank might always provide you better charging options but the bigger the capacity, bigger is the size and so higher the price. So it is wise to first understand your need and proceed accordingly. let’s say you have the smartphone with a battery capacity of 2000 mAh and you would be happy enough to be able to charge your smartphone fully thrice with one full charge of the power bank, in that case, an 8000 mAh would do just fine. Mind that is not 6000 (20003) mAh rather 8000 (20003/0.75) mAh. Here 0.75 defines the average conversion rate (75% in this case) of the power banks in general. Let’s say that you’re a heavy gamer and you also go out a lot. You’ll then need a right power bank that is compact and can be carried in your purse or pocket. On the other hand, when you are a person who relies on your smartphone to do business, you might opt for a bigger power bank that can be stored in your carrying case. Sharing emails and files, approving documents while on the go, and even making important calls to clients are sure to drain your phone. To offset this, the recommended power bank capacity is around 10050 mAh. This is to ensure that your phone’s power can last up until you get home.
3. Fast charging
The higher the capacity, the longer the time it takes to charge. Usually, these charging times can take from five hours for lower capacity ones to as much as 22 hours for higher capacity ones.
4. Number of USB ports
A number of USB ports come into consideration for mostly the higher capacity power banks (usually having a capacity greater than 10400 mAh). This point must be your concern if you have multiple devices to charge with, be it two smartphones or one smartphone and one tablet. With this feature of the power bank, you would be able to charge two or more devices simultaneously.
5. Pass-through charging
Did it ever occur in your mind that whether it is possible to charge your smartphone with the power bank while charging itself? The answer to this is negative in general except for the power bank that features with pass-through charging facility. For example, Honor 13000 mAh power bank, which comes with such an option letting you charge a mobile while it is connected to an already self-charging.
6. Input Rating
Powerbanks majorly come up with either 1A or 2A input rating. Now why you should be bothering about this is because the input rating of the power bank signifies the amount of time the power bank might take to self-charge itself. To cite a typical example, the popular Mi 10400 mAh power bank almost takes around 10 hours to get charged when connected via 1A charger but only takes around 6 hours when connected via 2 A charger. The additional point to note here, not all power banks come up with a 2A input option. So to be on the safest side, it is advisable to go for a higher input rating if you do not want a lazy self-charging power bank! Again, who wants that.
7. Output power rating
In the same way, the output power rating affects the charging time of the device that you are connecting with the power bank. In this case, also, the commonly available options are 1 A/5V and 2.1 A/5V. But here is a small thing to reckon, as the charging capacity of the power bank is not the only thing that matters, your smartphone or tablet (though the most tablet has 2A power snatching ability) must also have high power drawing ability in order to get charged fast.
Conclusion
To wrap up, choosing a power bank is not that difficult when you find the exact need of yours at the same time keeping the above points in your mind. Additionally, you can get here, a list of best power banks as well from where you can select one for your need conveniently. So try to establish a daily habit or a weekly habit of charging your power bank to guarantee a steady supply of power for your device. If you don’t fancy waiting for long periods of time to just charge your power bank, then just opt for a smaller capacity one that you can charge faster or more frequently.
