Get powered up on the go with the Portable Power Station
I was so impressed with the Samsung Q1 UMPC after testing it out for a week that I purchased one for myself. I recently sold a few older devices I had that I wasn't using and was able to purchase the Q1 with no additional out-of-pocket contribution. The Q1 solves my portable Tablet PC and media center needs and I look forward to taking more trips with it very soon.
The only major concern I had with traveling with the Q1 is the rather short battery life that would not let me use it on the plane for longer than a couple hours. Another online mobile enthusiast, James Kendrick, recommended checking out an external power pack solution from Battery Geek. I contacted the very friendly people down in Oregon and just received a Portable Power Station to try out. The Portable Power Station delivers from 3V to 28V with its 130WH Lithium Ion capacity. It comes in glossy black and perfectly matches my Samsung Q1 and Sony PSP. The Power Station is about the size of the Q1 UMPC, but a bit heavier and more dense. Specifications state it takes 6 to 6.5 hours to charge the battery pack and I will be testing it with different devices to see what kind of battery capacity I gain from the unit. A bonus with this battery pack is that you can use your device while charging, unlike some other solutions where you use the battery pack to charge a powered down device.
The Portable Power Station comes in a nice carrying case with the A/C adapter, two cables to connect to devices, and 32 accessory tips. These tips allow you to connect to and charge a huge number of devices, including iPods, mobile phones, PDAs, laptops, MP3 players, headsets, etc. They are working on a tip for the new MacBooks and will send the tip out to all those who purchased the product when it is completed. One tip is a miniUSB tip that many of my devices now use so this is the perfect travel companion. There is only one DC out port, but there is a 5V USB port so you can use this with something like a retractable USB charge cable to charge up your mobile phone at the same time as you are charging your UMPC. The Portable Power Station is available for US$299.99.