Losing battery power on the mobile phone, GPS, music player, PSP and similar portable devices with an integrated battery is something that has happened to every single one of us. The author of these lines always carries a spare smartphone battery precisely in case of that misfortune striking - and it usually happens when you need it the most - and he’s hardly the only one using such tricks to avoid those situations. Well, one potential solution for these problems arrives from Choiix, under the name Power Fort, and to the delight and joy of many users.

It wasn’t difficult to guess which product we’re talking about from the introduction. This is a portable universal charger, compatible with a huge range of devices. A 2700 mAh battery was put in a tiny, elegant casing, providing your device with up to six charges without a recharge. Humble dimensions, first and foremost its 12 mm thickness, combined with a weight of just over 100 g, make Choiix Power Fort an ideal mobile companion. The Advanced version of the device bundles the necessary cables for all electricity networks, mini USB cables and car adapters, which means that you’ll have a hard time finding a device that you cannot charge with this little guy. Two carrying bags are provided as well, one for Power Fort itself, and the other for necessary cables and adapters. These may not be of particularly high quality, but they come across as very practical, safekeeping the device from any scratches and damage, while enabling the user to keep all necessary cables at one place.

The body of Power Fort has a single button, the click of which activates or deactivates charging of a device. Double-clicking this button will turn on a LED flashlight on the bottom of the device. Now, the LED lamp is nothing spectacular, but may turn out as very useful in no light conditions, so there is no reason for us to object its installation. The upper side contains four LED indicators alongside the aforementioned button, notifying the user about battery status, while the side just below those houses two USB ports, one for charging Power Fort itself, and the other for charging all other devices.

The implemented technologies are most interesting, showing a healthy dose of seriousness used when designing this product. Power Fort integrates protection against overcharge, depletion, excessively high temperature, voltage and short circuit, so as not to damage charging devices many times the price of Power Fort itself. One technology that Choiix engineers particularly pride themselves on is the so-called “Bypass design”, which disables any battery damage caused by frequent charging interruptions and depletion. When Power Fort is connected to a power source and charging another device at the same time, two scenarios are possible. If the charged device requires more than 100 mA, all charging activity is rerouted to that device, bypassing Power Fort’s battery, which only starts charging after the connected device is fully charged. If the connected device requires less than 100 mA, the charging of Power Fort and the given device is simultaneous. The main advantage of this technology is that it prolongs battery life for both Power Fort and the device being charged.

Power Fort charges devices using a lithium-polymer battery that keeps 85% of its original capacity even after 500 charges, so we can freely put this device into the increasingly popular “green” category, since its engineers were obviously thinking “green” themselves when designing it.

We tested Power Fort with several devices - Nokia, Blackberry and HTC smartphones, iPod and Creative multimedia players, as well as a Sony PSP console and Mio GPS navigational system. We noted somewhat longer charging times compared to those when devices are charged via a wall outlet, while our own testing results largely match the specifications as declared by Choiix in the accompanying documentation. This means that the number of charges will be directly dependent on the target device’s battery capacity, which translates to the user only being able to fully charge a Sony PSP once, due to its 2200 mAh battery, while smartphones fare much better, being able to fully charge three to four times. Mini USB adapters that are often found on mp3 players will benefit from Power Fort even more.