Fuel: Tiny Package, Powerful Punch

Ever since the unfortunate early demise of my PowerSkin case, I find myself running the battery on my phone in the yellow more days than not, and on more than one occasion it has gone completely dead. Luckily, on those days I already had a ride on his way, but what if I didn’t? There I would be, miles from home, with no way to call for help. Because, as we all know, you can’t find a pay phone for love or money these days. And it’s not always possible to have access to a power outlet to charge your phone even if you desperately need one. I’ve been trying various and sundry portable chargers over the last several months, and this one looks like it might be worth a shot.

Fuel is a very tiny emergency phone charger shaped like a gas can. As you can see from the pictures, it’s small enough to be carried on your key ring, or tucked into a pocket. Which can also make it easy to lose, but you can attach it to something else using its handle to help avoid that. Now, don’t be under the impression that this is going to fully charge your battery. Instead, it really is meant to be used in an emergency: It will give you just 20-30 minutes of talk time. Of course, that typically should be plenty of time to get in touch with someone who can come rescue you from the side of the road, and only so much power can be stored in something the size of a quarter; Fuel measures 1.3 inches tall, .9 inches wide and half an inch thick.

There are three LED lights, which indicate whether Fuel is charging, fully charged, or on. It also has an on/off switch, which becomes important when you know that leaving it on can drain its charge, making it useless to you in an emergency. I have to wonder how easy it is to accidentally turn it on… me, I’d probably end up putting a piece of tape over the on/off switch just to be safe. It charges through a micro-USB, and charges phones that have a micro-USB port. It is supposed to be able to hold a charge for 1-3 months before you need to charge it again (assuming you don’t accidentally turn it on).

If you’d like one, you can pledge $18.00 US on Kickstarter. I suspect this is one of those things that will easily reach its funding goal, so look for Fuel in stores sooner rather than later.

Source: Gajitz