Cheero Ingress Power Cube review

Battery life is a big problem when it comes to our devices. We use them a lot and, as a result, our devices don’t last very long, sometimes dying as early as noon day. Most of the time we’re lucky enough to be only a few feet away from an outlet, but what about the time where we’re not and it’s imperative to have our smartphones on?

That’s where portable battery chargers come in, and Cheero’s Ingress Power Cube seems like a perfect fit. Not only does it have a small form factor for splendid portability, but it has enough juice to charge your smartphone from dead to full four times over, depending on how big the battery is on your smartphone. And that’s just a small part of what this charger is capable of.

I can guarantee that you’ve never seen anything like the Ingress Power Cube.

Design

The design is where the Power Cube excels. It takes on a wicked Ingress theme, which is an augmented reality game from Google’s Niantic Labs.

On the front of the device, there are two USB ports — a 1amp and a 2.1amp solution. Next to the USB ports is a micro-USB input port for charging the portable battery. On the left hand side is the power button to turn the Power Cube’s charging on or off. You’ll know when it’s on because the whole top of the device will light up.

Next to the power button is a small radio button, allowing you to switch between colors while the Power Cube is powered on. On top of the device you’ll see an Ingress logo that illuminates when powered on. There is an indicator on the bottom right showing you how much juice is left in the Power Cube.

While the device is very well crafted, I’m scared of even dropping it because I know it will bust into pieces. It looks gorgeous, it feels nice in the hand, but you can tell durability isn’t the Power Cube’s forte. That’s especially a concern for Ingress players who are out and about with it trying to keep their devices charged while they fight for the Enlightened. And that is the crowd Cheero is targeting, so it is a slight concern, but nothing to worry about in standard use.

Portability

Portability is another area the Power Cube excels at. It’s small enough where it can fit in your backpack or car without taking up much space or being noticeable. It can also fit in your pocket comfortably and easily, which is handy if you’re ever out playing Ingress and need to charge up your smartphone on the fly.

Battery

Here’s where we get to crux of this device. The Ingress Power Cube has a 12,000mAh battery packed inside, which could potentially give you up to four charges from 0% to 100%. That figure highly depends on how big the battery is in your smartphone or tablet.

Either way, it should most certainly give you enough power to get through the day, and in most cases, it doesn’t take very long to charge your device from dead to full. Using the 2.1amp port, I was able to go from dead to full in a little over an hour. If you’re in a rush, and only have a half-hour to throw your device on the wire, it should bring you to 50% no problem. And with it’s excellent portability, you can easily charge in the car on the way to a meeting.

The big downside is that if you’re charging two devices at a time, one out of the 1amp port and another out of the 2.1amp port, the Ingress Power Cube will begin to overheat and turn itself off after just a few minutes. In other words, you’re locked into using only a single port for charging, which is a huge disappointment if you own multiple  devices.

Conclusion

The price is actually really good for the quality you’re getting. At $43.99 from Cheero on Amazon, you’re getting a decent portable charger with a gorgeous design.

The only real big disappointment with the charger is not being able to charge two devices at the same time. But, unless you absolutely the need to be able to do that, I wouldn’t let that minor flaw stop you from picking up the Ingress Power Cube.

If anything, it’s a gorgeous charger, and it’s nice to have on-hand in case you’re just not able to get to an outlet before your device dies or need those on-the-go charging capabilities.

[Cheero Ingress Power Cube]

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