I learned the hard way how very important it is to have a back up charger for your cellphone. A couple of years ago I had arrived at the airport near my home very late at night (red eye flight). I had car service coming to pick me up but I couldn’t find the car no matter where I looked. I had the service’s number but my cellphone battery was dead. Ugh! I ended up having to call my husband collect from a cellphone and have him contact the car service for me. It’s was a mess! Thankfully I was able to locate him and get home.
That situation taught me a valuable lesson – always make sure you have a portable charger for your cellphone because you never know when it would come in handy.
A recent week long trip to Los Angeles confirmed that. A portable charger is a must when you need your phone to tweet on Twitter, post Facebook updates and check your e-mail.
I recently received a RAVPower Wireless Filehub / Media Drive to review. This is the ultimate in back up power sources because it’s so much MORE than just a charger. It serves five different uses all in one portable unit.
The unit it’s self is very lightweight. Its the same length as an iPhone 4S and just a wee bit wider. In fact my iPhone 4S in it’s case weighs MORE than the RAVPower unit.
The RAVPower Wireless Filehub / Media Drive offers the following functions;
- SD Card Reader
- 3000ah Backup Battery / Charger
- Wireless Mobile Storage with Media Sharing capabilities
- WLAN Hot Spot
- NAS File Server by RAVPower
I’ll be honest and say that I have NO CLUE what the NAS Filer Server is. I asked my husband, a computer tech, and he wasn’t sure what it is either. I won’t be able to give you my feedback on that feature.
I have also not had the opportunity to try it out as a WLAN Hot Spot for WiFi on the go either. My husband and I are still trying to figure out how to set that up. I can be “technologically challenged” at times, but eventually I figure stuff out.
I have tired out the other features.
The unit makes an excellent charger for your phone and other mobile devices. It uses a standard USB plug and it can be used to recharge multiple devices such as a phone, iPad, iPod, tablet and other devices.
A charger is a must whether you are running errands or traveling across the country. The last thing you want is your phone to run out of a charge – especially in case of emergencies. As someone whose car has broken down on more than one occasion having a working phone is a must in order to call for help.
I know many people who rely on their iPads and tablets for work. Having a backup power source is imperative especially if you need the device for work.
As someone who found out the hard way having a backup power source is something you should always have on hand. With the RAVPower Wireless Filehub / Media Drive it’s small enough to fit in your purse, backpack, pocket, briefcase and gym bag.
I’ve used this a few times to power up my iPhone and it recharges fairly quickly which is another plus.
I love that this is a SD card reader. I take a lot of photos when I travel and I usually have to wait until I get home to share them with family and friends. That is because I never had a computer small enough to take with me. With this unit I can pop the SD card out of my camera and upload the photos on to the filehub. The unit is synced with my phone which means I am able to pull up all the photos on my cellphone so I can easily share them on my social networking sites. I can also save them on the filehub for added protection, should anything happen to my camera.
Anything you can save on to a SD card can be uploaded and shared on the RAVPower unit.
I plan on taking this with me whenever I travel, not only as a backup power source but also so I can get the pictures from my camera and share them right away.
Another cool feature is that the RAVPower unit is a filehub with allows you to store – and share – files with up to 5 devices.
For example, if my kids wanted to watch a movie while we’re traveling in the car via their cellphones they can pull up any movie we have uploaded to the RAVPower unit. Up to five devices can stream the same movie at the same time. It’s also great for listening to music. I uploaded a lot of my music files to my hub which allows me to listen to any of my favorite songs whenever I want. I just have to access the hub from my phone.
In a way it’s a lot like an external hard drive with the added bonus of being able to share what is on the unit with up to five devices. That means I can share photos and documents with my husband quickly and easily through the filehub.
I never realized just how handy a filehub can be until I tried out the RAVPower unit.
The unit retails for $79.99 but Amazon.com currently has it for $44.99 plus free shipping. For the amount of “bells and whistles” you get with just one small unit it’s so worth the price.
This would also make a great gift.
To learn more about this and other RAVPower products visit www.RAVPower.com. You can also find them on all the major social media outlets (Facebook, Twitter…). Those links are found at the bottom left of their home page.
Kimberly
*I received a free product sample in order to do this review. There was no compensation. The opinions expressed are my own and not influenced in any way.