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The Power Fort is supplied in an attractively designed packet that is decorated in an orange, green and white colour scheme to match the Choiix Brand identity. The front of the packet has a vacuum formed plastic section which houses the battery itself, letting you see how big it is without opening the box. We think this will look great on the shelves in a retail store. The reverse of the box contains some more detailed information about the battery itself.
Inside the box there are a number of bundled items. Aside from the battery itself, we find a handy carrying bag, a mini USB charging cable, a Micro USB charging cable and a few promotional leaflets. Unfortunately there is no plug-in power adapter included which means the Power Fort can only be charged from a computer or another plug in USB charger.
The form of the Power Fort is ideal for a backup battery. The unit itself is reasonably thin and no larger than a small mobile phone in any dimension. This means it can easily be slipped into a bag or a pocket without causing discomfort. The top of the battery is curved, giving it an attractive visage that should appeal to a broad spectrum of customers.
This curved surface is finished in beautiful gloss black plastic which will look great for a while but in the long run it will probably mark easily.
The device's two USB connections are located on one end, one mini USB port for charging the battery and one full size USB port for charging your devices. Although Choiix only include two USB cables for micro and mini USB, those who want to charge an Apple device can do so with the usual charging cable. Most of the latest smartphones on the market use micro USB connectors for charging so there shouldn't be any compatibility issues. Older phones with proprietary connections aren't supported, though.
We tested the Power Fort with our HTC Desire smartphone which uses a micro USB connector for charging and has a 1400mAh battery, just a little smaller than the 1500mAh battery in the Power Fort. Unfortunately this didn't result in us being able to charge the Desire to 100% as we only achieved a 75% charge before the Power Fort ran out of juice.
Granted, the phone was on and using power while the battery was charging but we would have liked to see the Desire's battery charged to at least 90%. The Power Fort took around 1h 45m to charge the Desire to this level.
If we consider what the Power Fort is designed to do, it does it very well. It is designed to be a backup battery for when you need to use one of your portable devices in an emergency so it isn't necessarily essential that it charges these devices fully. The Power Fort managed to extend our Desire's battery life by about a day which should be more than enough time to find a power socket. Ideal for businessmen on the move who might not always have access to a power point.
For the majority of people, the most important part of this product is the price. We weren't actually able to find this specific version of the Power Fort available to buy in the UK but we were able to find the more capacious 10Whrs version that has almost double the capacity of our review sample. This can be yours for a shade over £20 at Ebuyer which makes it a worthwhile buy if you need to charge your devices up on the go.
KitGuru says: A very useful product with a modest asking price.
