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Charge Card Is A Portable iPhone Charger That Is Shaped Like A Credit Card And Fits In Your Wallet

This Incredible iPhone Charger Fits In Your Wallet Like A Credit Card
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You know the situation: You go out for the night, to a dinner party or a bar, only to discover that your smartphone is just about dead. You're not going to bring a charging cable and wall unit with you -- who can fit all of that in their pocket? -- so you just dim the screen, turn off email and hope that the slim sliver of red battery bar will last you the rest of your evening, or at least until that special someone gives you a call or a text.

The inventors of a new, cleverly-named device called the Charge Card think they have the anecdote to this all-too-familiar modern quandary: It's a portable iPhone or Android charger shaped like a credit card, designed to be slim enough to fit in your wallet. One edge of the Charge Card plugs into your smartphone -- there are versions of the charger that work with Android and both the old and new iPhone chargers -- and a small rubberized strip pops out from the center of the card and acts as a USB charger.

That means you can charge your phone, so say the entrepreneurs behind the Charge Card, in almost any laptop, computer monitor, USB-equipped car, Xbox, point-of-sale cash register, or, realistically, wherever you can find an open USB port. I charged my own iPhone using the Charge Card in a flat-screen television at the Atlanta airport, using one of the USB slots on the back of the set.


A prototype of the Charge Card, viewed from the side. The rubber strip in the center plugs into any USB port, and snaps back into place when not in use so that the charger stays flat enough to fit in a wallet.

The Charge Card gained notice this past year as part of a super-successful Kickstarter campaign that raised over $160,000 for the project, more than triple the $50,000 goal. Now, the Charge Card team -- three California twentysomethings named Noah Dentzel, Adam Miller and Brian Hahn -- are preparing to send the first units to customers, with the goal of shipping by the end of January.

The fledgling startup has already sold 9,000 Charge Cards, Dentzel told me in an interview at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week, and they have begun to take fresh orders at their website. One Charge Card costs $25 and, for now, it is only available online.

That's a pretty reasonable price to pay for what is essentially a really fashionable USB charging cable-cum-conversation piece that also fits in your wallet, though there are some obvious drawbacks. Though Hahn told me that "you kind of gain a USB radar as you walk around" with a Charge Card, it's still true that there are far more outlets on the walls in public places than there are USB ports. You have to be prepared to get creative and courageous, to ask bartenders and maitre d's if you can use their cash register or televisions to plug in your phone if you really need to.

The exposed USB circuitry also gives me some pause -- will this thing stay safe, functional and attached over time -- though Dentzel assured me in our interview that it would. Besides, as Dentzel sees it, carrying around a Charge Card is better than scrunching up a charging cord into your pocket

"At the end of the day," he told me, "cables are just a pain in the ass."

Ready to kick out some of those old loyalty cards and stick something that's actually useful in there? You can preorder your own Charge Card for $25 at the official website.


Charging my iPhone from the back of a hanging television in the HuffPost newsroom. The Charge Card's charger grips the iPhone so that it doesn't fall when suspended from great heights (I hope).

Before You Go

iPhone 5 Battery Life Tips
Get Rid Of Push Notifications You Don't Care About(01 of11)
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This is especially important if you're someone (like me) who gets really excited about new apps, downloads them, and then never uses them again. "Push notifications" are notifications sent by third-party apps straight to your phone through Apple's servers. When you have lots of them enabled, they can wear down your battery. If you don't need your phone to constantly check for updates from, say, your Stocks app, or that new social network you never use anymore, turn off the app's ability to send you notifications:1. Touch the "Settings" icon.2. Touch the "Notifications" bar. This should be the third bar from the top.3. Look at the apps that are "In Notification Center." If you can do without up-to-the-second updates from any app you see there, touch that app's bar to be taken to the next screen.4. Switch "Notification Center" from "On" to "Off" for each app you don't need notifications from. (credit:The Huffington Post)
Go Into Airplane Mode When Your Signal Is Weak(02 of11)
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As I mentioned above, according to testing done by the scientists at iLounge, when your iPhone is using 4G LTE with a solid signal, its battery life is superb. But when it's using an older, slower network -- 3G or (gasp!) the EDGE network, it's likely using up battery life much more quickly. If you're experiencing super slow data speeds, it might be better to turn your phone to Airplane Mode, which shuts off all data transfers and generally means your iPhone isn't doing much. And when your iPhone isn't doing much, it isn't using much power. You follow me? If you're not getting much reception -- or if you can go for an extended period without your phone -- you should set it to airplane mode. 1. Open the "Settings" app. 2. Switch "Airplane Mode" (it's the first setting!) to "On."Note that with Airplane Mode, you won't be able to send or receive phone calls, emails or text messages. For more on Airplane Mode, click here. (credit:The Huffington Post)
Turn Down The Lights On Your Screen(03 of11)
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A super-bright screen is also a super-battery-sucking screen. Decreasing the brightness on your iPhone (and, really, anything with a screen) can help increase the amount of time the battery stays alive. If you can live with a dim screen, your iPhone will live for longer, too. (You might also want to turn off Auto-Brightness while you're there.) 1. Touch the "Settings" icon.2. Touch the "Brightness" bar.3. Move that bar to the left as far as you can handle it. (credit:The Huffington Post)
Lock Your Phone(04 of11)
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When you put your phone down on the table, or in your pocket, the display probably doesn't need to be illuminated. iPhone owners should practice locking their phone when it's not in use (by pressing the slender silver button on top of the phone). You can also set the auto-lock feature to kick in after a shorter amount of time, which will (surprise!) lock the phone and turn off its display light sooner. 1. Touch the "Settings" icon.2. Touch the "General" bar.3. Touch the "Auto-Lock" bar.4. Choose 1 Minute or 2 Minutes. This will save you battery life and perhaps also prevent a few butt dials. (credit:The Huffington Post)
Turn Off Location Services For Apps That Don't Need Your Location(05 of11)
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Does Facebook really need to know where you are all the time? How about Shazam or Pandora? You can choose which apps have access to your location in the Location Services section of the Settings: 1. Touch the Settings icon.2. Touch "Privacy."3. Touch "Location Services." 4. Don't turn off "Location Services" at the top of the screen. That stays "On."5. Go through your apps one by one and determine which ones have to know where you are to function properly. Note: Most apps that request access to your location, like Yelp or RunKeeper, really do need it to do their jobs. Facebook and Twitter, meanwhile, only need your location to put a GPS stamp on your posts, which not everyone is going to find useful or desirable. Of course, if you're uncomfortable with disabling location on any of the apps listed, then don't disable location. But if you see that Fruit Ninja, or something similar, is using your location, it's probably safe to slice Location Services right out. (credit:The Huffington Post)
Temporarily Disable ALL Location Services(06 of11)
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If you're down to a tiny sliver of battery life, it's probably best to disable all of your location services in one fell swoop. To do that, just follow the instructions from the previous slide, except switch the big "Location Services" slider to "OFF" at the top of the "Location Services" screen.1. Open the "Settings" app. 2. Touch "Privacy."3. Touch "Location Services."4. Switch "Location Services" to "OFF."When you've charged your iPhone, you can switch Location Services back on. Your iPhone will save your previous preferences if you've hand-selected different preferences for certain apps. (credit:The Huffington Post)
Turn Off Siri's 'Raise To Speak' Function(07 of11)
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When the iPhone 4S first came out, many owners reported that "Raise to Speak," a Siri function that allows users to lift the phone to their ears to activate Siri, was causing battery drain. Unless you use it often, or find it useful (most don't!), you can turn it off for good:1. Touch the "Settings" icon.2. Touch "General."3. Touch "Siri."4. Slide "Raise to Speak" to the "Off" position. (credit:TechBlend)
Fetch, Don't Push, Your Email(08 of11)
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You probably don't need to read each email the second it reaches your phone (unless you're a super important, time-crunched businessman or woman). When "Push" is enabled for your email, it does just that, forcing email from the servers onto your phone immediately. You can switch it to "Fetch" so that your phone is checking for new email less frequently. As the iPhone setting says, "For better battery life, fetch less frequently":1. Touch the "Settings" icon.2. Scroll down to "Mail, Contacts, Calendars." Select that screen.3. Touch the "Fetch New Data" bar.4. Turn off "Push." 5. Choose a schedule for how often you want your email refreshed. The longer you wait, the less battery you'll use up. If you choose "Manual" and leave it up to your own brain to remember to check your email, you'll be saving lots of battery life (especially while you sleep). (credit:The Huffington Post)
Stop Checking For Wi-Fi All The Time(09 of11)
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If you're walking around and not actively looking for a Wi-Fi hotspot, then turn Wi-Fi off in your settings to save a little bit of power:1. Touch "Settings" icon.2. Touch "Wi-Fi" bar.3. Switch "Wi-Fi" to off. (credit:The Huffington Post)
Update Your Operating System Already (10 of11)
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Whenever Apple pushes out an update to iOS -- the operating system that's running on your iPhone -- it usually includes features that will help your phone use battery life more efficiently. If you are on an older version of iOS, you may not be getting as much battery life as you could if you updated. In order to check for an update: 1. Touch the "Settings" icon.2. Touch "General."3. Look for Software Update. If you see a number next to it, you have an update. 4. Follow the instructions here. For users with newer iPhones, iOS 6.0 is the version you want. (credit:The Huffington Post)
Download A Battery Improvement App(11 of11)
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As a last-ditch effort, there are several apps in the App Store that claim to help with your battery life and guide you through the process of extending the time you get from a full charge. My favorite is BatterySense by electronics giant Philips: It's free and you can download it right here. BatterySense essentially analyzes your usage and shows you which settings are killing your battery and which ones you can tweak to make things last longer.Other popular options include Battery Doctor Pro and Battery Life Pro; the intriguing Carat app, from the AMP Lab at UC-Berkeley, is also worth a look. (credit:AMP Lab)
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