We’ve discussed the importance of carrying a mobile battery for those dire moments when your smartphone is limping along with a 12% or 15% battery life, just daring you to check your messages so it can take a well deserved nap. With the recent popularity of tablets and the juice required to keep most of them operational, your typical mobile battery simply will not provide enough charge to return it to a reasonable battery level. Lots of people are opting to go the route of tablet rather than laptop when traveling or going to class. A dead battery can bring your plans to a screeching halt, leaving you looking like someone straight out of the stone age. Who uses a pen to take notes, anyway? Because of Lepow’s U Stone battery, the simple answer to that is, “Not you.”
There’s certainly nothing wrong with carrying a mobile battery rated around 3,000-4,500mAh, but in the immortal words of the not-at-all-creepy ‘Tim the Toolman Taylor’ character played by Tim Allen, “We need more power!” (insert stereotypical grunts as you see fit). In order to get more power you need the Lepow U Stone battery — or, hook your phone up to a car battery* like the aforementioned Toolman would do.
*NOTE: Don’t do that.
Beyond the obvious reasons for avoiding the car battery option — most explicitly the possibility for death, which will probably ruin your weekend — is that you don’t need the car battery. The U Stone is packed with 12,000 mAh of power; more than enough for any of the tasks that you’ll need it for. Most tablets operate with a battery running on anywhere from 4,000mAh to 10,000mAh, meaning that with consistent use and typical battery discharge, you’re going to need to recharge them at least once within 48 hour period, more if you’re using it more (that’s called common sense). For example, the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 holds a batter of 4,600mAh, the Google Nexus 7 7,000 mAh, and the Applie iPad 4 a whipping 11,666mAh. Clearly, unlike the people here in the United States, not all tablet batteries are created equal, though I highly doubt tablet batteries have to worry about NSA surveillance. Still, the U Stone’s 12,000mAh is enough to completely recharge even the beefiest of tablet batteries.
The downside, albeit a small one, is that the battery itself doesn’t necessarily fall into the category of “mobile battery”. It’s big. Like, “give me your money or I’ll hit you with this,” big. It weighs only about 200g and measures about 6.5”x3.15”x0.75”, which doesn’t mean you’ll be toting around a behemoth of a battery, but compared to other devices that fall into the mobile battery category, this is Andre the Giant of batteries. Despite suffering from the gigantism disease, Lepow has engineered the U Stone to be quite simple in design. Four bright, blue lights act as indicators for battery level, but beyond that it’s devoid of any distracting artwork or branding besides a simple “Lepow” printed on it. One end is rounded off, while the other houses two ports, one for charging the battery, one for charging your devices. With the grey minimalist design, it legitimately looks like a stone — which surely helps against false advertising lawsuits — though other color options are available.
Though it’s priced significantly higher than most mobile batteries, retailing around $80.00, it’s worth the expense. Imagine leaning in for a romantic kiss, the warm glow of your iPad casting a wondrous shadow upon your significant other. Without your tablet there to light the way, you might end up with your tongue in a nostril, and nobody wants that. Though it takes an exceptionally long time to charge the Lepow U Stone, the resting discharge of the battery is minimal, meaning when you need it, it will have enough of a charge to power your tablet or phone, even if you haven’t charged it for weeks. Though you’d be hard-pressed to fit it in a pocket or carry it with you, if you have a messenger bag or a purse, this is ideal for your travels.