Portable charging device jump-starts your dead smartphone battery
By Alex Magdaleno From Mashable
Van Halen has likely been on repeat in the Native Union offices after the smashing success of the Kickstarter campaign for its new product Jump.
It’s an answer to the frustrating issue of the dead smartphone battery and, over the weekend, the Jump campaign surpassed its $40,000 goal, almost quadrupling the initial goal. At time of writing, Native Union had crowdfunded $153,000 with a little over 3,000 backers and 29 days left.
The Jump charging device differs from traditional battery life solutions (battery jackets, cables, power banks) with its AutoCharge feature. AutoCharge is a circuit prioritization system developed by Native Union that detects when a smartphone is completely charged and will then charge its 800 mAh internal battery. Meaning, when you connect your smartphone to Jump, Jump will charge your phone until the phone’s battery is full. After that, it will start to charge its own battery, giving your phone a jump-start whenever you choose to connect the phone to Jump again. In doing so, Jump provides an iPhone 5/5s with an extra one-third battery life, which Native Union estimates will equate to an extra three hours and 50 minutes of talk/web browsing time.
“Jump is a solution that goes about addressing peoples’ everyday power needs from a holistic standpoint resulting in a device that fits into your everyday routine and does not become one extra thing to think about powering up and lugging around,” senior designer Chris Place told Mashable. “We have been conditioned by the portable power industry that bigger capacity is always better. With Jump we took a risk by going against the status quo.” “We have been conditioned by the portable power industry that bigger capacity is always better. With Jump we took a risk by going against the status quo.”
Its compact size — a 1.9-inch square weighing in at 40 grams (1.4 ounces) — would presumably make Jump easier to carry around then traditional portable power banks, often about the size of an iPhone. It could fit discreetly in a pocket or bag, and according to Native Union, its cable management system will preclude a tangled mess later.
Native Union started developing Jump last February and finished its first working prototype in December. After the Kickstarter ends on Feb. 13, the device will head into its testing phase throughout March and halfway into April, when the it is expected to go into production. Backers can then expect their Jump to be shipped by May.
Donating $40 to the Kickstarter campaign will net you one Jump in either the Lightning adapter or micro USB version. Place told Mashable that when Native Union ships the device for retail, it will cost $50.
“We are offering this 20% discount for those who believe in the potential of Jump so much that they are willing to help us make Jump a reality,” said Place. “In return, they will be able to help shape the development of Jump, and come May, be the first to receive the product.”
Native Union doesn’t have an estimate for when you could expect to see the device in stores, as its main concern is getting the product to backers who have made the crowdfunding campaign such a success.
“We have some big project milestones to meet along the way for this to happen, although we are confident that we have prepared for every eventuality,” said Place. “Although right now it is impossible to say when we will have Jump in stores, we will certainly not focus attention on rolling this out until we have the last Jump in the hands of the backers that have believed in us.”
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