Griffin PowerJolt dual USB charger for iPhone - accessory review

The Griffin PowerJolt dual USB charger solves an age old problem: you and your significant other have both depleted the batteries on your iPhone and yet your car only offers one charging socket. Who gets to use it? Or worse: you're in the middle of that big family summer trip and not only have both parents worn down their iPhones, all the kids in the back are near empty on their iPod touches as well. Do you get your internet or do they get the movies that keep them quiet and you sane for the remainder of the trip?

While I can't claim the Griffin PowerJolt dual USB charger will save relationships and family trips, this simple adapter will at least hold power hungry creatures at bay for twice as long. Read on to find out how!

The Griffin PowerJolt dual USB charger is different from the PowerJolt Plus I looked at last time, which let you pass through a second car adapter. The PowerJolt Dual is much simpler in a way -- an adapter for the power socket in your car capped by two USB plugs. Just plug in the USB to Dock cable that came with your iPhone or iPod touch and you're off and charging.

In my tests with both an iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS there didn't seem to be any appreciable loss of charging power due to the shared connection. Both iPhones got to 80% quickly and then topped off to 100% in about as long as it takes with the single chargers I've used in the past. (And I'm typically listening to music, using Google Maps, powering videos for the little ones in the back seats, or otherwise working while I charge.)

This is just an adapter, so there's no mount, no built in cable, and nothing else fancy in any way. Since it is simply USB in, you can also use it to charge your non-Apple gear as well, including other phones, devices, headsets, etc. That flexibility really comes in handy for family trips.

If you have more devices than you have charging ports definitely take a look at the Griffin PowerJolt dual USB charger, available from the TiPb iPhone Accessory Store.

Pros

  • Compact
  • Largely invisible when not in use
  • Doubles charging ability of power socket

Cons

  • Only the adapter: bring your own cables
  • Doesn't charge iPad

TiPb Rating

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Griffin PowerJolt dual USB charger for iPhone - accessory review

Georgia

Senior Editor at iMore and a practicing therapist specializing in stress and anxiety. She speaks everywhere from conferences to corporations, co-host of Vector and Isometric podcasts, follow her on Twitter @Georgia_Dow and check out her series at anxiety-videos.com.