Review: iClever BoostCube 3-Port USB Travel Charger

  So I’ve been using a 3 port mobile charger from iClever during this week, that they call a “BoostCube”. I tested its purported claims, though being a charger, there isn’t much more that I can do with it. That being said, I think I found my new “daily driver” for my charging needs.

The charger I was sent came in smooth and slightly reflective white plastic, and has the company logo on one of the broad sides, in a light gray coloring. Even though this adapter takes up to three different USB cables concurrently, this “wall wart” still fits in one’s hand or pocket, with room to spare in both. It’s somewhat much larger than what I’ve seen come with a tablet, and about twice the size of what comes with modern smartphones.  It’s rectangular in shape, with three USB ports running down one of the elongated sides, and the pair of blades on the opposite side. What’s nice is that the blades are able to fold down (as a single unit), to rest flush with the rest of that side, thus making this unit very portable. Without having the blades protruding, it’s quite easy to slip this into a bag or pocket, travelling with it sans poking. While not a “killer” feature, it’s definitely a nice touch, especially for those that travel frequently, which is something they mention on their page as well. I’m already planning on taking this with me on the next family road trip, to keep all my devices humming along nicely. The  inside of the adapter lights up in blue. Again, while this also isn’t the major selling point for the adapter, it does make it easier to identify any open ports in low lighting; very little of the light is visible when all three ports are occupied, which is nice when drifting off to sleep.

  The main feature of iClever’s three port charger is the amperage. Unlike other adapters that I’ve used, the number of devices that are drawing charge off of this adapter doesn’t impact the quality or rate of charge. For example, I’ve owned both the 2013 and 2014 Moto X, stock. They include cylindrical chargers that have two USB slots on the end opposite of the blades that are plugged in to the wall. When charging a single device with Moto’s adapter, it juices up nicely. Whenever I plugged in a second device, both handsets still charged, but much more slowly. What is nice about iClevers is that they designed the adapter to maintain 2.4 amps of charge for each port, regardless of whether or not the other ports are in use. I tested this, to a degree. I gave my phone (stock Nexus 6 on 6.0.1) and my tablet (stock NVidia Shield, LTe, on 5.1.1) charges that were right around thirty minutes each, to establish a baseline. The phone has a 3,220 mAH battery, and it added ~22% during the half hour it charged alone. I did the same for the tablet with its 5,200 mAH and it went up ~19%. I charged them again the next day, only this time they were both drawing juice from the adapter, at the same time. I gave it another ninety minute window, and found that the charge that they received was similar to what they were drawing when charging separately, again the phone was ~22% and the tablet was around ~19%. Even overnight, I’ve noticed that all three devices (the third being my watch) charge up nicely. I was gaming on my tablet Tuesday night, and had it on the charger at 5% last night, with my watch almost as low and my phone below 40%. Everything was back up to a full charge Wednesday morning, several hours later. On the whole, I’ll give this charger an 8. I like how it maintains good amperage with multiple devices, travels easily, and it’s not a bad asking price at $16.99.