I now have two (active) blogs to run. One is this and the other at work. Will occasionally cross-post from both places. Got a device for review and thought that it’ll get better exposure on the other blog. Therefore posted there first and am only giving a link back from here (for the few people who regularly follow Cutting the Chai).

Solmate Fusion portable charger
Solmate Fusion portable charger

My brother is posted on the Indo-Bangla border and a few days ago a storm conked the electricity supply at his customs post. Even the solitary generator refused to start. Without electricity for two days and drained out mobile phone batteries, he and his colleagues were virtually cut off from the outside world. Only if he had a Solmate Fusion, a portable charger that comes with a solar charging feature.

Portable power is something that we all need. Everyday I see people at the workplace running helter-skelter asking around if someone has a compatible mobile phone charger. Also during long journeys by train or on a bus. Or when exploring the wild outdoors. We cannot afford to be without power that runs our mobile phones, our cameras and our portable media players.

There are a number of portable power packs available in the Indian market, but not many of them can boast of a solar charging feature (and also storage). While solar charging isn’t something that I would expect someone to do for day-to-day usage (given the time it takes for a full charge), it surely is a boon when you are stuck at a place with no power (a situation very likely in Indian conditions).

Solmate Fusion doesn’t depend solely on solar power to charge itself up, but also comes with an USB charge feature, which means that you can charge the device (to later power your other devices) from your computer. It also doubles up as a storage device and comes with 4GB or 8GB of flash memory.

Read the complete review on Pixelated at IBNLive.com »

Categories: Reviews Technology