Quick review
The good
The not-so-good
Travelling with an iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods or AirPods Pro means needing the cables for each, too. Journey’s Glyde could make life a bit easier with a 4-in-1 charger complete with a power banks.
Australians sure do things differently, and that’s good news for people looking not just to stand out, but to have a different take on tech in their lives.
From headphones that help your hearing to unique takes on microphones and cameras, Aussie ingenuity is being showcased more and more lately, and some of it in unexpected ways.
Take Journey, an Australian peripheral company that has been impressing us with interesting approaches for accessories for the past year. To date, the company has delivered a desk mat that can charge your phone, a laptop sleeve that can do that, too, and a classic wallet with a MagSafe stand.
In its latest gadget, however, Journey is going remote and unencumbered. Gone will be the cables, and in its place a bank to charge from.
The Journey Glyde is one of the more intriguing power banks we’ve ever seen, and while it’s a little on the pricey side, it offers iPhone-owning travellers a way to take their chargers on the move that makes life a little easier overall.
What is the Journey Glyde?
If you’ve ever seen a power bank — and you’ll have definitely seen a power bank — you’ll know instantly what the Glyde is: it’s a power bank.
What makes the Journey Glyde a little different is how capable a power bank it is. We’ve seen power banks cover wireless charging, and even cover the Qi2 standard before. We’ve even seen power banks include an Apple Watch charging pad before. All of this is pretty normal, even if it’s not as common as your stock standard bank. Fine fine.
Where Journey flips the script is by bringing it all together in a desk- or bed-side charging station that doubles up as a power bank.
What does it do?
Looking a little like any other bank, the Glyde 4-in-1 is a brick of a bank that has two always exposed wireless charging ports covering a raised Qi2 spot and a rectangular standard Qi wireless recess.
Slide the entire panel of these to the side and you’ll find an Apple Watch charging pad on a small hinge underneath.
That covers three chargers, so where’s the fourth?
The USB-C port on the back can also be used as a wired charger, allowing you to plug in a cord and quickly plug another device, be it a phone or pair of earphones.
That’s four devices from the one system, complete with a 10,000mAh battery bank inside. Granted, the four devices only works as four when the device is being used from a charging bank; it’s either three devices with the USB-C plugged into the wall, or four devices when the USB-C port is being used to charge another device.
Does it do the job?
It’s about as complete a power bank as an iPhone and Apple Watch owner could possible want, covering every need they may have. It is perfect for travel. Utterly perfect.
For instance, if you’re an iPhone owner with an Apple Watch and a pair of AirPods, every charger you need can be found on the one gadget. Bundle in a USB-C cable and charging brick, and it not only doubles as a power bank, but also a bedside charger. That’ll cut back on your cables.
If you need to charge more than three devices, unplug the USB-C cable from the power brick in the wall, and instead plug it into another device.
It’s a clever carry for anyone living in the Apple ecosystem.
What does it need?
What it probably needs is more juice.
While a 10K power bank is handy enough, shared between three to four devices will see this bank depleted relatively quickly.
On the one hand, you’ll see all your devices charged relatively quickly. Yet on the other, the power bank itself will also run out of charge fairly efficiently, too.
It’s not that 10,000mAh is a small amount of power, but rather a choice of three or four devices is a lot of devices, the likes of which we typically see 27,000mAh covering.
We’re not shocked that the Glyde isn’t a 27K power bank. While that large amount of power would be handy, it would also be hefty and heavy. Size matters, especially for a compact carry like this gadget. Just look at the Targus Hyper 27K bank if you’re unsure about how meaty these things can get.
But we’d also hope for a little more, maybe even 12K or 15K. Just something to keep these devices going for that little bit longer.
Is it worth your money?
Perhaps to most useful aspect of the Glyde 4-in-1 is that it’s two gadgets in one: a desk/bedside charger, and a power bank. It’s a little like that Belkin power plug with a power bank inside, but with more capacity and capability.
The problem is you pay for it.
At $229.95 in Australia, the Journey Glyde isn’t inexpensive, and feels more like it has been priced as a desk charger than a power bank.
Above the $200 mark is normally the domain of of the larger laptop-style 20K+ banks, while multi-chargers covers phone and watch also occupy this price. Journey covers both in the Glyde, so the price makes sense, but it’s still expensive all the same.
However, it’s not bad value at all.
While $230 for a power bank seems like a lot, the fact that Journey has made such a clever take on the power bank helps the value. The Glyde isn’t just a power bank, but a handy charger for next to the bed you can take on your travels. That makes it all the more worth it.
Yay or nay?
If you are someone who lives in an iPhone world and can’t leave without your phone, AirPods, and Apple Watch, the Glyde makes a lot of sense. It seems perfectly suited to travelling with.
In one gadget, you can keep most of the important devices charged, either beside your bed, on your desk, or taken to go. It’s a little expensive, sure, but if you live in an Apple world, it could well be worth it. Recommended.
