Style Power - Product Reviews

Style Power

Style Power

Produced by myCharge

posted by Scott Ertz

3.5 out of 5

Summary

Tease

A small, sleek design, but does it pack enough power to be useful?

The Ups

Small and light weight, with a lot of potential power.

The Downs

An unfortunate power loss and built-in cable that can only be used to charge the battery, not a device.

The Bottom Line

If you are out and need a quick charge, this might be worth picking up, but it should not be your go-to charger.

Where To Get It

Online retailers

Battery Life

As always, our testing was done in two parts: official battery testing and a more practical test. This battery comes in at 2 amps, which means it should be able to charge an equivalent amount of power in other devices.

Practical Test

I took this battery to an afternoon event as way of testing it in the field, and was disappointed at what it was, or in this case wasn't, able to do. Starting at about 25% battery life on my Lumia 635, I plugged in the charger to see if I could survive until my trip home. Less than 4 hours later, having not used the phone at all, the fully charged battery was dead, and the phone was only at 35%. Using Groove Music on my 45 minute drive home, the phone was dead before I arrived. Not the results I was expecting from a battery that is supposed t0 be rated at 2 amps.

Nokia Lumia 620

As with previous tests, we used running our battery test app, with the Style Power attached. On the test without any external battery, the Lumia lasts 10 hours and 15 minutes, fully charged to powered off. Starting with a fully-charged phone battery and Style Power, the average lifespan was 21 hours and 57 minutes. If there was no power lost in the process, an ideal situation that is impossible, the total 3.3 amps should give us about 26 hours. This means that somewhere in the process of using the battery, 4 hours of potential power was lost: equivalent to 25% of the added power lost. Other batteries, from other manufacturers, have averaged around 6% power loss, making this one far above the norm.

This is not the first time we have seen these types of numbers from myCharge, however. This indicates to our testers that there is something inherently wrong with the way myCharge deals with their power distribution. On our previous test we assumed that the loss was due to the fact the battery didn't have a power button, and had an always-on accelerometer. This battery has neither of those issues, meaning the issue is deeper than previously thought. This shouldn't necessarily deter you from purchasing the product, but it is definitely an important piece of information to hold on to.

Build Quality

The design and build of this battery is, for the most part, high quality. The sturdy plastic allows you to keep it in a bag without the fear of it getting crushed by a laptop or other device. Choosing plastic over metal for the body construction might sound like it would look or feel cheap, but it does not. There is even a power button, something not always found on batteries of this size, meaning that the battery is far less likely to drain while not in use. Unfortunately, while most of the design is well thought out, not everything seems to have been. There is a built-in charging cord, which is a nice feature. However, it only works for charging the battery, and cannot be flipped around to allow for charging a device, which means that you still need to carry a second piece to use it. Being able to remove the cable and use it to charge a standard USB device would be far more convenient, or not having it on there at all would lower the overall weight. Either of those choices would have been better than the choice made. It's not a deal breaker for most, but it is unfortunate for a device that otherwise is designed and built well.

Size & Weight

While this battery isn't nearly as heavy as others its size that we have seen, you will still know it's with you. The plastic body helps its weight a lot, but it is slightly offset by the built-in USB cord. The good news is, for its rating, the battery is physically small, making it far easier to carry around regularly. Unfortunately, you will likely need to put it in a backpack or purse, as it will not be comfortable in a pocket.

Compatibility

Based on its physical and battery sizes, the 1 amp output is not terribly surprising. It does limit the usability of the battery some, but not in a way that would really impact its usefulness. Any phone or MP3 player should be supported, as well as some Bluetooth speakers and smaller tablets. It may also charge some larger tablets, but it will not charge fast enough to offset the general usage of the tablet. That isn't what the battery is designed for, though, so if it works it would simply be a bonus.

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