IDAPT i4 Universal Charger Review

So, you know how it is. Charging your phone can be a pain. You’ve probably got more than one charger, and there’s bound to be tangled cables everywhere.

This is the IDAPT i4 Universal Charger. It’s called the i4 because you can charge 4 devices at once. It consists of a standard two-pin electric input, so no big charger sticking out of your wall.

To begin with, we’ve got the usual “quick hit” – a hands-on video 🙂

The main base unit has three sockets, and this is where you stick the adapters or “charger tips”. The guys from Idapt are working on new “tips” all the time, so you can charge other phones or batteries. In the box we received there’s a selection of “tips” as you can see here. We would’ve perhaps liked a couple of microUSB ones from the start, mainly due to the fact that all mobiles have to have this socket. Anyhow, the tips retail for £5.99 in the UK if you choose to buy them separately.

If you go to their website you can buy one of these for £39.99 and it’ll include six tips. The six tips we have in our box are as follows..

– Nokia 2
– Sony Ericsson 2
– Samsung 4
– iPod-iPhone
– microUSB
– miniUSB

Now, I had a look round and managed to find a couple of old phones for my Samsung and Nokia charging tips. The tips click neatly into place and connect with two electrical strips at the bottom of each hole. You can pop the tips back out again by pressing down the buttons at either side and they’ll spring out.

Now, if these 6 tips don’t sound suitable, you can choose a “custom pack” of 4 tips. As we mentioned before there’s a “charger tip” which will charge AA / AAA batteries, iPod, Nintendo chargers and a whole lot more besides. For me, I’d get 4 microUSB tips.

It’s only when you actually start plugging devices in that you notice some are backwards. Don’t worry – it might look a little weird in these pictures but Idapt also offer an inverted micro USB tip so that devices don’t have to face the opposite way. I’ve seen microUSB sockets in phones facing forwards and backwards, it depends on the manufacturer of the phone.

Power the whole thing on with a rocker switch at the back and you’ll get an LED on each tip to show you what’s charging.

Let’s not forget the fourth option – a standard USB cable. Plug your USB lead into here and charge anything that you’d normally charge via a USB port.

Conclusion

If you have a lot of devices and choose the correct charging tips at the point of order, this is a rather excellent idea. You’re going to have to have a number of devices – not just phones – to get the full use though, as I’ve been using my charger under the bed for years withouth too much fuss.

That said, I’m not my wife. She’s the one who goes mad about “all those cables” and this, I must confess, sorts that problem right out. One central point, all the family mobiles – charged and not dotted all around the house.

A fair price, a good quality product, and room for expansion thanks to the expanding range of hot-swappable charging tips.

Link – Idapt.com