Powermat and accessories

Enjoying the freedom and convenience of charging without plugging and unplugging and the tangle of wires is simple!
Upgrade your favourite gear with a Powermat Receiver or use the Powercube Universal Receiver. The Powercube works with hundreds of devices and is the perfect accessory for your Powermat.
The Powermat Wireless Charging System provides a simple, fast and efficient way to keep all of your favourite personal electronic devices charged. Enabling your devices with Powermat Receivers allows you to Drop and Charge them on any Powermat Mat to experience wireless charging.


The first thing to admit on this review is that I am not that good with new technology, I will have a play and then resort to the instruction book on new gadgets and when I opened the parcel containing my powermat and accessories I was a little nervous and ready to shout my husband to work it out!

Anyway, the three packages I received included:
• Powermat 2x
• Nintendo DSi back panel
• Powermat Powercube
• Travel plug adapter

The powermat is the base unit which will charge the devices attached and has a power supply. The power supply had a plug for overseas fitted and therefore had to plugged into a travel adaptor.

The Nintendo DSi back panel fits onto the back of the DSi, with a connector that fits to the DSi where you attach a mains charger.

The powermat Powercube attaches to the powermat and has 8 separate connectors which attach to a number of different devices including DSi tip, anything which uses a mini USB; LG tip, DS lite tip; Nokia tip; Samsung 2 tip; Sony PSP tip and a Sony/Eriksson tip.

I first tried charging my own LG phone – the LG tip did not fit my phone but the micro USB tip fitted my phone. This attached to the Powercube, which then fitted magnetically to the power plate and the powermat activation sound sounded and the light indicator shone to show correct position and that charging had commenced. The phone charged in a similar time to if it had been charged using the phone charger.

I then tried charging a Nintendo DSi. I attached the DSi back panel, which fitted directly onto the powermat, the activation sound sounded and the light indicator shone as before. I think the DSi charged quicker using the powermat.

After testing the above items I found the following advantages and disadvantages to the system:

Advantages

• Possibility to charge two items using only one power socket
• It was easy to set up
• Small and compact unit
• Both activation sound and light confirmation that device is correctly positioned and the unit is charging
• The powermat will not overcharge any device – it automatically stops charging when the device is fully charged

Disadvantages

• The powermat having a power supply for overseas and therefore having to use a travel adaptor in the socket – I was worried that someone would knock the plug out of the adaptor.
• The need to attach my phone to the Powercube via a wire and adaptor. One of the selling points of the Powercube is wireless charging however I had a wire to the plug socket and then another wire attaching Powercube to my phone and there was a chance of knocking the wire or phone off.

In conclusion I can see the advantages to the powermat and I do like the idea of being able to charge two items using one plug, meaning fewer wires over work surfaces etc. I would however like to see a few modifications before I used it instead of other chargers. The main one being the use of a UK power plug and maybe also having a mini USB connector on the actual powermat instead of having to have the Powercube and then a connector as well.

In summary, the powermat is a great idea and I think for people who use lots of devices which need lots of chargers, this is a great idea and space saver.
Thank you to Holly from Skywrite PR and Michael from the School Run Forum for sending me this to review.