Portable backup batteries for your iPhone or Android phone aren’t an especially new thing, and they’re very useful — they’re a lifeline for a smartphone that’s about to die far from a wall charger. Just about the only problem is that they themselves are not especially quick to charge, potentially stranding you in a difficult spot when your iPhone is out of juice and your backup battery is just as dead. The ASAP Dash solves exactly that problem.
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The Dash doesn’t do anything special when it’s actually charging an iPhone or tablet or Android phone — that part runs at the usual 5 volts, 2.4 amps, charging your device at 12 watts. It’s the other side of the equation — charging the portable battery itself at a massive 40 watts (19 volts, 2.1 amps — similar to a laptop’s charger), filling its 5000mAh capacity in 15 minutes flat — that is impressive.
There’s a good reason behind this, in my experience. I always leave the house with a fully charged phone battery — that’s a given. And I always take a portable USB battery as a backup, just in case I use my phone a little too heavily and need a top-up. But I don’t always check that my backup battery has a full charge — at three or four times the capacity of my phone, it’s usually an overnight charge rather than a quick one.
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The ASAP Dash’s quick charging makes it convenient to top off your backup battery whenever you remember to — if you plug it in and go and make a cup of coffee, then drink it, it’ll probably already be done when you get back to it. 15 minutes is short enough for that “oh crap, I forgot to charge, can I quickly fill it up?” last minute dash that we’re all familiar with.
The ASAP Dash has almost cracked US$100,000 on Indiegogo, and the company says it’ll ship units to backers in June this year. Considering it’s already producing early samples that work as advertised — I’ve got one in my hands right now — I’d say that’s a pretty realistic target. [Indiegogo / ChargeASAP]