Review for use with Nexus 7 Tablet, Samsung Galaxy 7.7 Tablet, and Samsung Galaxy Nexus cell phone, and SanDisk Sansa Clip+, August 11, 2012

By 

Ali Julia (boston, mass) –

  

  

I tested PowerGen Dual Port USB 2.1A 10W AC Travel Wall Charger with Nexus 7 Tablet, Samsung Galaxy 7.7 Tablet, and Samsung Galaxy Nexus cell phone, and SanDisk Sansa Clip+ player.
I received PowerGen wall charger for testing from the manufacturer to write an honest and unbiased review and you will find both pluses and minuses of my experience in this review.

I am attaching a collage of 5 photos labeled with numbers 1 through 5 under customer photos that I will be referencing in this review.

The first thing I noticed that this wall charger is fairly small, it takes up only one slot on the extension cord. Photos #1 and #4 show this plug on two different power strips.

The plug has two ports labeled “A” and “NA” which stands for Apple and Non-Apple devices. I own all Android devices but I tested both ports to see their behavior with my devices. The charger comes without a USB cord, so tested it with the USB cords that came with my devices.

I used Battery App to determine how each device recognized the external battery pack. ‘AC’ status means the charging is at full charging rate. ‘USB’ status indicates charging at a lower charging rate. ‘Discharging’ status means that the charging rate is below the power that the device is consuming so it slows down the discharge rate but does not re-charge.

The key findings:
(1) Samsung Galaxy 7.7 cannot be charged with this wall charger with either port
(2) “A” port provides reduced power for some non-Apple devices and does not work for others

The table below summarizes my findings:

Nexus 7 Tablet (photo #4 and #5, note that the left port is labeled “A” and the right port is labeled “NA”)
————–
A port — discharging
NA port — AC

Samsung Galaxy Nexus Phone
————————–
A port — USB
NA port — AC

Samsung Galaxy Tablet 7.7
————————–
A port — discharging
NA port — discharging

SanDisk Sansa Clip+ MP3 Player
——————————
A port — charged at USB rate
NA port — charged at AC rate

The behavior with Nexus devices was consistent and good on “NA” port. Samsung Galaxy Nexus Phone was more forgiving and worked even in Apple “A” port at USB rate.

The behavior of both Nexus 7 and Galaxy Nexus plugged in at the same time was the same as when they were plugged in individually. This means if you want to recharge both Nexus 7 Tab and Galaxy Nexus phone at the same time there is only one combination that works:

Nexus 7 Tablet and Samsung Galaxy Nexus Phone at the same time
————————————————————–
NA port — Nexus 7 Tablet — AC rate
A port — Galaxy Nexus Phone — USB rate

Samsung Galaxy Tablet 7.7 did not work (was discharging) in both ports.

The MP3 player worked in both ports, but as USB rate in “A” port and at “AC” rate in in “NA” port. When I charge Sansa MP3 with a standard AC charger (photo #3), the MP3 player goes into charging mode, displaying the charging animated icon, the MP3 content is not played. When MP3 was plugged into the PowerGen plug (photo #3) it continued to play the content. I listen to books on my MP3 player so this caused me to move forward in my book and I had to manually reset my position by a few chapters to get back to where I was when I started charging. The positive side of this, is that is possible to continue listening while MP3 is recharging.

To summarize:

I liked:
———
1. Good behavior with Nexus devices.
2. Solution for MP3 player with built-in battery
3. Can charge two devices (but one at a reduced rate for non-Apple devices)

I did not like:
————–
1. Did not work with for my Samsung Galaxy tablet
2. For non-Apple devices one port has less power or does not work
3. For non-Apple devices the less useful plug takes up a little extra room

If you own two Apple devices that you want to use with this plug, this is what manufacturer states: The NA port is not designed for Apple device, however, it charges the iPhone at 500mAh. When charge the IPAD and iPhone at the same time, plug the iPhone first (NA port) and then the iPad (A port) to avoid the iPhone report the charger as incompatible.

Overall, I recommend this plug for people who own Apple devices more than people who own only Android devices. If you don’t own Apple products than an port with two non Apple ports would be better as you get reduced usefulness on “A” port.

Ali Julia review

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