English DT journalist and mobile technology specialist Andy Boxall tested the new Anker Power Bank for iPhone. Here are their opinions.
A power bank is a necessary evil, and even if you don’t consider yourself a “power user” who can drain your phone battery in less than a day, there are times when you’ll need one. And when I have to carry it with me, I want it to be as useful and versatile as possible.
I tested MagGo Power Bank 10K from Anchorwhich means it has a 10,000mAh battery inside, and there are three reasons why I don’t mind it taking up valuable space in my bag.
It has a screen
I never expected to care if my power bank had a screen. After all, all I need is to charge my phone’s battery when needed, and the screen seems relatively overkill for that task. I made a mistake. The Anker MagGo power bank has a small screen on the side that displays much more information than the usual array of LEDs found on other power banks.
There’s a single button on the bottom half of the power supply that, when pressed, lights up the screen to show the current battery charge level. This is already quite useful as I have used many power supplies with three or four LEDs to illustrate the amount of charge inside. This is a viable alternative, but it’s unlikely to be accurate and leaves you with a lot of guesswork. But the screen’s usefulness goes further: when you charge the battery, it also shows how long it will take to recharge.
The power bank uses Qi2, MagSafe’s wireless charging standard, to charge your iPhone’s 15W battery (it’s compatible with all iPhones from iPhone 12). And when you connect your phone to it, the screen displays the exact amount of power remaining in the battery’s battery. It’s a great addition to a power bank and I’d love to see more models with a screen. But it’s not a complete success, which I’ll get to in a minute. Fortunately, this is not the only advantage of the MagGo Power Bank.
Fast charging via cable and cradle
While the screen is very useful and will get the most attention, it won’t charge your phone any faster. Also, while 15W Qi2 wireless charging is faster than the old 7.5W wireless charging standard, it’s not very good. Anker knows this, which is why you can plug a USB-C cable into the power bank port and into your phone to enable 27W fast wired charging.
This is the MagGo Power Bank’s secret weapon; Sometimes you just want to get as much power as possible into your phone’s battery in the shortest amount of time. But its overall usefulness goes beyond charging. There’s a kickstand built into the back of the battery that holds the phone at about a 45-degree angle, making it ideal for desktop use. It also activates standby mode. Since the power bank uses MagSafe to hold the phone, the stand can be attached to it in portrait or landscape orientation. The stand is spring-loaded and stays in place when closed, but doesn’t offer so much resistance that it’s difficult to open.
Thanks to all this, MagGo Power Bank 10K is much more versatile than a regular battery. Yes, this is some pretty heavy equipment, but what big battery isn’t? I’d prefer it to serve multiple purposes if I’m going to be carrying it around, and this one works as a wireless charging pad as well as a wired fast charger.
What about charging performance?
To see how fast Qi2 wireless charging can be, I charged mine iPhone 15 pro max from 50% battery charge to maximum when using a fully charged Anker MagGo power supply. It took about an hour to reach 90% and another 40 minutes to reach 100%. The battery itself went from 100% to 58%, suggesting it could squeeze one full charge and a bit more out of the 10,000mAh battery. Both the phone and the battery got warm, but didn’t get hot, which is what you’d expect when using a fast charger.
I charged the iPhone without a case, which is not necessary, but Anker warns that some cases can affect charging efficiency. The magnets on the case are strong, but if you’re going to use the case on your phone, it needs to have MagSafe built in or your phone won’t charge at all. According to Anker, if you use 27W wired charging, it will take 30 minutes for a depleted battery to reach 60%, which should last a full day of average iPhone 15 Pro Max use. You can also use the wired port to charge the internal battery while wirelessly charging your iPhone.
It is made of aluminum, so it looks very high quality and solid.
Let’s return to the screen, since this is not a complete success. It also displays the time in hours and minutes while charging. When I put the phone on charge, the screen showed 1 hour and 50 minutes, and when charging was complete, it showed seven hours and 44 minutes. The displayed time also fluctuates during the charging process and will always display more or less time. There was neither one nor the other idea about what these times mean, so I consulted Anker. Apparently this is the amount of time the phone can be left on charge based on the remaining battery charge.
My brain doesn’t really count numbers, so it pains me a little when I try to understand how useful it would be to know when there’s a perfectly clear percentage right above it, and I feel like it’s saying essentially the same thing . thing. I would have preferred something more obvious (and useful) like estimated charging time to be displayed, but I find that to be the MagGo Power Bank’s only major flaw.
Is this only for iPhone?
There are three distinctive features that make the MagGo Power Bank more than just a power bank for your iPhone. Currently, the iPhone is the only smartphone to use Qi2 charging technology, but it will be available for Android phones in the future. However, the MagGo Power Bank 10K is still compatible with other phones and charges them wirelessly. Samsung Galaxy S24 UltraHe OnePlus 12He Nothing, phone 2 And Xiaomi 14 Ultra when I tried them. However, it will only do this at the slowest speed.
Now that you know why the Anker MagGo Power Bank is so useful, what about the rest? It’s a rectangular case that’s about two-thirds the length of your iPhone 15 Pro Max, but it’s twice as thick and even heavier at nearly 20mm and 250 grams. However, it is made of aluminum, so it looks very high quality and solid. You know you have it in your bag, but at least when you’re about to use it, the power supply itself never feels cheap or poorly put together.
Anker’s PowerIQ wireless charging system uses an ARM processor and special algorithms to monitor charging speed and temperature to ensure everything is running safely and efficiently. The Anker MagGo power bank with a 10,000mAh battery inside costs $90. If I have to carry a battery with me, I’d rather it not be an extra hassle. Besides the confusing extra data displayed on the screen, the Anker MagGo Power Bank makes more money by doing more than just keeping my phone’s battery charged.
Source: Digital Trends
