Customer Reviews

Kensington K38036US Rechargeable Pocket Booster for Mobile Phones

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I tested this item with my Verizon Droid phone. My phone was down to 20% battery. This charger was 100% charged with stock batteries(brand new batteries, not old). With my droid turned on, but not in use and with screen off, it was only able to bring me up from 20% to 40% charge before the charge stopped.

A similar product made by duracell I also have. With the same test, it brought my droid from 20% up to 50%, so a little better(and it costs less).

These products are very useful, and for older phones, mp3 players, and other devices that can charge off a USB, that don't require much power, this product will be very beneficial. For smartphone users, it is a good thing to have in case of emergency, but it won't fully recharge your phone even once, if you need something that will do that, buy one of the larger, more expensive backup batteries.

I ordered this product thinking that (a) it would be about the size of a memory stick, and that (b) it would actually charge my blackberry curve (since the product description talks about charging blackberries.) First off, it's much larger than I expected, and its size makes it hard to have anything else plugged into a usb port on your computer, since it blocks adjacent ports. But more importantly, I charged it up a number of times, even tried replacing the rechargeable AAA batteries with new AAA batteries, but it just wouldn't actually charge my blackberry. The charging sign went on, the unit got hot, but the battery percentage never increased. Definitely not worth your time or money.

This POS was working (keeping my Droid battery afloat but not really charging it) for few days. Then all of a sudden it stopped working. I called Kensington support and according to the model number this product is out of waranty.

Pros: None.
Cons: POS.

I saw this "booster" and immediately went for it: can charge AAA rechargeables (included) by USB, you can also use store bought AAAs, somewhat compact, compatible with all USB devices, so not only my iPhone, but my Creative & Motorola players and headphones), what else would you want?
Great idea, but:
- as someone else mentioned, it doesn't charge a smartphone all the way (maybe 40% on an iPhone 3GS, which is not all that bad)
- the USB plug is a little bulky, so it would block adjacent USB ports
- it was always overheating when charging my phone, especially in a pocket (shirt or backpack)
- after about 3 weeks (basically about 4-5 uses), it would ONLY overheat when connecting to a phone, without charging
- Kensington, as always, has excellent customer support, although they initially required too many replies (did you check with another phone, another computer) for what they must have known to be a problem of the series (it's discontinued now on Kensington's website). In the end they replaced it with an iPhone Lithium battery booster, which so far has been flawless and costs about the same (but is far from the versatility of the 38036 model)