Last year’s night stand phone and watch charger was handy, but it missed out on charging AirPods wirelessly, too. This year, that’s been added in, but USB has been taken out.
The more devices you throw in your life, the more cables you’re going to have to recharge them. That’s the way life is at the moment, it seems, because if you have a phone, a watch, and some way of listening to your tunes while you walk about, you’re probably going to need a way of charging all of them.
We’re finally coming around to more universal charging across the board, and that’s helped by the likes of USB Type C and the Qi wireless charging standard, the latter appearing as the way you typically charge most devices barring the Apple Watch, while the former can be found on so many devices. Type C USB is used to charge laptops such as the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, headphones like Sony’s WH-1000XM3 and the Bose 700, not to mention cameras from Canon and speakers, too. It’s everywhere, and even found on the iPad Pro, the only iPad sporting the Type C connection.
Apple’s devices tend to work a little differently, and rely on the Lightning cable Apple is so fond of, the same one that charges an iPhone. That’s not bad, it’s just a thing, and it’s something shared on other Apple devices, even though with Qi wireless charging built inside. As a point, you can charge the iPhone 11 Pro Max and the AirPods Pro with either a Lightning cable or a Qi wireless charging adaptor. You can’t charge the Apple Watch either way, and need the specific Apple Watch charging connection.
This can leave you with a mess of cables on your desk or nightstand, which understandably you might want to clean up, and is where combined products come in.
Charging stands offer this combination, and you find them from a variety of manufacturers. While they’re typically made for the iPhone, they can charge other devices, provided the parts work with those other devices.
Belkin’s latest certainly focus on the iPhone owners first and foremost, but you’ll find compatibility for other devices, too.
The latest Boost Charge Portable Wireless Charger & Stand is one of those highly compatible devices, sporting a wireless charging bank with 10,000mAh of power, and connecting with a special base stand so you can stand the phone up. It means you can either keep the charge bank as a way of charging lying down, or stand it up and have it work on the desk, making the whole thing a bit more portable.
As a 10,000mAh wireless charger bank, it supports the Qi wireless charging standard, which means the iPhone 8 and above, and just about any and every wirelessly charged phone, including those from Samsung, LG, and others. At $129.95, it could be a useful carry around, before using it at home and docking it as a night stand for your phone, complete with an extra port for charging other devices with the standard cable.
For a more desk or bedside-based approach only, the Boost Charge 3-in-1 looks to replace last year’s Belkin Boost Up Wireless Charger, our favourite accessory in 2019. Last year’s variant offered a stand-up phone charger and Apple Watch charger integrated in the one unit, with a USB port out the back so you could charge your earphones.
In 2020, Belkin’s approach is to kill the USB port at the back, and instead integrate a small Qi charging pad at the back to wirelessly charge the AirPods Pro and the AirPods in the Wireless Charging Case. At $219.95, it’s a slight improvement, though it’s one that comes with features that are only an improvement if you have earphones with a wireless charging case. If you don’t, the removal of a USB port won’t actually benefit at all.
For iPhone owners with an Apple Watch and AirPods Pro, this stand reads like a good choice for the nightstand, though there are other options out there, so it’s always good to look around. One catch may be like in the previous model: you can’t change where the phone sits, and it’s always positioned on the left.
If you don’t mind that, the Belkin Boost Charge 3-in-1 can be found for $219.95 in stores across the country.
