Apple Watch charger is usually „glued” to one place, user’s room, and it stays there all the time with some exceptions. Its cable can be too long when it comes down to getting it outside, be it a trip or a stroll, when the battery nearly dies. Fortunately, Pitaka has a remedy for that „issue”, Power Dongle will help no matter where you are.
Box contents
- Power Dongle
- Quick start guide
Design and build quality
Its main build material is plastic, and the Power Dongle has „two” pieces, the main of which is the charger and a lid held by two magnets on each side of it. It protects the USB-C port, which protrudes right from the usual Apple Watch charger.
For me, it looks like they (Pitaka) used usual charger, cut the cord and added a case and USB-C port but thanks to that it gained more mobility compared to the original. The case cannot be fully open, so the user is not able to look at everything inside.
The casing is transparent, so we can see just a little, but the most important thing is invisible because it has an unusual dummy case underneath the Apple Watch charger. Thanks to that, no-one will be able to see how Pitaka created its accessory and theoretically there won’t be anyone who can copy it.
All in all, design wise it looks good, thanks to transparency, but I’m afraid it’s going to get a lot of scratches during usage for longer periods. It looks sturdy enough to withstand more than it should, but I would not try to toss it around or into a backpack, there’s a slight chance for it to break.
Charging
The main task of the Power Dongle is to charge any Apple Watch model. Thanks to the built – in USB-C, we can connect it to any device which has it. It can be a powerbank, a laptop which is Surface Laptop 3 in my case or a smartphone. With this in mind, during the test period, I used the Blitzwolf powerbank, the Huawei P20 smartphone and the aforementioned Surface Laptop 3.
The first two devices are classics, but I was positively surprised by the fact that the Huawei P20 could turn into a “battery” for the Apple Watch SE.
I noticed that each of the devices did not charge the watch faster compared to the original charger, the charging time is the same. I haven’t had the slightest problem with this, but most of you may be disappointed in this fact.
Charging is undoubtedly the most important aspect of the product, but it is followed by the mobility that the original charger lacks. Someone will say that the same can be done with the factory charger, although it has a cable. I suspect that over time the cable could get damaged, and when using the Power Dongle, we don’t have to worry about it.
For me, this is a better solution, the more that Apple products are usually more expensive, and it would be difficult for me to justify buying another one so that it would be in my backpack and used when travelling. Unless it was a third party charger.
Is it worth it?
Until now, I didn’t think a product like the Power Dongle would turn out to be a very good idea. I know that the watch’s battery is charged every 1.5 days, or a maximum of 2. Theoretically, the Pitaka product is not needed in such a situation.
On the other hand, it is worth having it, in particular when you do not want to carry the original charger with us, and we are constantly on the move and from time to time we have to recharge the Apple Watch.
I am closer to the first option, but during tests I noticed that it is worth having a Power Dongle even when you use it for a relatively short time, so the Pitaka product will stay in my backpack for good.
