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David Berlind
Hey road warriors: This gadget will charge you up

David Berlind
Executive Editor, Tech Update
Monday, November 25, 2002
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How many power supplies do you or your favorite road warrior have to carry around? One for the laptop, one for the PDA, one for the cell phone? Throw them all away.

Of all the cool gear I saw at last week's Comdex Fall 2002, the device I want most is Mobility Electronics's iGo Juice.

Mobility has come up with a single power supply that can charge virtually any notebook, PDA, or cell phone. Even better, it can charge any two of the three simultaneously. Plus, it works with any power source--the plug in your wall, the lighter in your car, or the outlets offered by some airlines.

BEST OF ALL, Mobility has managed to squeeze this device into a package no bigger than the dedicated power supply that comes with most notebook computers.

Both the input side and the output side have their own universal interface. This way, it's easy to switch the input cable based on your power source--wall outlet, car, plane, or even boat. It's just as simple to switch the power plug on the output side, depending on the device that it plugs into.

The outbound power for the notebook computer supports 14 snap-on tips that will work with the majority of notebook computers. In addition to matching the various notebooks' power ports, the tip is responsible for correctly throttling the power to a level required by the particular notebook.

To simultaneously power a cell phone or PDA, Juice's outbound cable forks into two cables: one that accepts the notebook-specific tip, and one that takes a PDA or cell phone-specific wire. Mobility calls this the Peripheral Powering System (PPS), and it supports a variety of popular PDAs and phones. The list of supported handhelds includes all Palm devices, HP's iPaqs, Handspring's PDAs, and Sony's Clies. It also works with phones made by Motorola, Nokia, Nextel, and Sony/Ericsson. Support for Kyocera's SmartPhone 7135 is in the works.

AS MOBILITY'S executive vice president Jeff Doss convinced me of Juice's versatility, my pupils began to swell at the prospect of lightening my load. Then I started to worry that Juice was going to cost me an arm and a leg. I was mistaken. Doss said the street price will be around $100--an incredible value. The PPS cable is sold separately and costs approximately $20 per device.

Mobility packages two versions of iGo Juice. Each has a different set of seven out of the 14 tips. If you suddenly find that you don't have the tip you need for your notebook, the company will send it to you free of charge.

I suggested to Doss that it would be really cool if Juice could retain some power and act as an uninterruptible power supply for my notebook when I have to change batteries on the airplane. This way, I wouldn't have to power down my notebook or put it into hibernation mode. Smiling, Doss said, "Stay tuned."

Mobility will be sending me a device soon so I can try it out for myself. I can't wait to get my hands on it. If you want one too, Juice will be available in the first week of December. Check out the company Web site for more details.

Are you tired of lugging around multiple power supplies? Is Juice just what you've been looking for? TalkBack to me!

Read more by David Berlind at ZDNet's Tech Update.

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