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Hydrogen Fuel Cell Phone Charger 'Upp' Launches in UK Apple Stores
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Let me package this will all the subscription-ware companies are trying to sell me and it will only cost me $500/month to lead a more productive life. The future is now folks!
It's not quite like that. It's a) not a weekly fee, and b) it doesn't stop working a week after you've bought it.
It's basically the same as an external battery pack, except instead of charging that pack from the wall, you buy a cartridge that contains enough energy in it to charge a "nominal" device" for normal use continuously for a week. If you use it as a back-up for when you are, say, out camping, at a festival, going mountain-biking through the National Parks, etc, not near a handy mains socket, the cartridge will last a lot longer. That energy isn't going anywhere! If you're using your phone as a sat-nav through the day, having a back-up that is not reliant on having a mains socket isn't stupid, it's common sense.
The £5.95 per cartridge isn't bad. It's the initial price that needs to come down to get wider adoption, but can only happen over time as this sort of thing becomes more widespread. The idea of being able to hand in your old cartridges for new will also help wo keep the costs down, as they'll be able to re-charge them and put them back into the supply chain again and again.
The stated capacity of a $9 replacement fuel cell is 25 Watt-Hours. The capacity of a fresh $1.25 Energizer D battery is 31.5 Watt-Hours. The replaceable fuel cartridge alone is considerably larger than a D cell.
Rayovac makes a AA battery powered USB charger for $10.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Rayovac-PS73-4B-Rayovac-7-Hour-4-AA-Alkaline-USB-Charger/26359020
Four AA batteries ($1 to $4, depending on quantity and merchant) provide 16 WH of power and are readily available almost anywhere.
I cannot think of an angle to play here that makes the Upp device look anything but foolish.
Rayovac makes a AA battery powered USB charger for $10.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Rayovac-PS73-4B-Rayovac-7-Hour-4-AA-Alkaline-USB-Charger/26359020
Four AA batteries ($1 to $4, depending on quantity and merchant) provide 16 WH of power and are readily available almost anywhere.
I cannot think of an angle to play here that makes the Upp device look anything but foolish.
It's NOT a weekly subscription/fee! It's a per cartridge fee. If you only need to use it occasionally, you may find you only need 5 to 10 cartridges a year, maybe even less.
I'd rather see an atomic battery powered power bank that lasts about 20 years before you trade it in.
Hmm... an expensive explosive way to do something I can do a LOT cheaper if I use the conventional way without the risk of explosions and that doesn't ban me from aircraft?
Count me in!
/s
Count me in!
/s
Interesting Technology
But why would you ever want to buy one of those for that price and the need to replace cartridges for additional money when you could just get one of these.
http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=108&cp_id=10831&cs_id=1083110&p_id=10392&seq=1&format=2
For the price of the Hydrogen solution you could get 10 of those. My phone can last about 3-4 days using this external battery to recharge. Your really not gaining anything over existing solutions and paying 10X more.
But why would you ever want to buy one of those for that price and the need to replace cartridges for additional money when you could just get one of these.
http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=108&cp_id=10831&cs_id=1083110&p_id=10392&seq=1&format=2
For the price of the Hydrogen solution you could get 10 of those. My phone can last about 3-4 days using this external battery to recharge. Your really not gaining anything over existing solutions and paying 10X more.
YEP:
"What's That Sir?"
"A Hydrogen powered battery."
"A what?"
"A Hydrogen powered battery."
"Sir if you wouldn't mind stepping over there. You can call your family and tell them you won't be on this flight, while I confiscate everything in your possession, and add you to the NO FLY list."
This is a tech in its infancy and it needs people to start using it to begin the cycles of evolution that will see a hydrogen powered tablet at some point in the future.
My understanding is that it's actually got 2 parts to it. It has a battery that can be charged from the mains and a fuel cell that can be used to top up the battery?
To get the maximum 'life' of the product they recommend you charge the battery at home and then use the hyrdrogen to once the battery has depleted.
My understanding is that it's actually got 2 parts to it. It has a battery that can be charged from the mains and a fuel cell that can be used to top up the battery?
To get the maximum 'life' of the product they recommend you charge the battery at home and then use the hyrdrogen to once the battery has depleted.
that doesn't even make any sense. apple doesn't have any hydrogen charging competitors because they don't use it themselves.
also, who has apple bought to shut down and silenced? they bought iTunes and siri and incorporated them both as a main features.
DOA.
For the same money, one could buy several Li-ion battery packs and charge his devices for years before needing any replacement packs. Li-ion cells are very light so they're good for backpacking and camping as well.
I must admit though that this Upp could make a killer IED in the right hands.
For the same money, one could buy several Li-ion battery packs and charge his devices for years before needing any replacement packs. Li-ion cells are very light so they're good for backpacking and camping as well.
I must admit though that this Upp could make a killer IED in the right hands.