Aukey reached out to me to test some of their new OmniPower charging products so of course I obliged. They sent me their 63W dual USB C PD wall charger, 27W single port PD wall charger, 18W flush-fit PD car charger, 4-in-1 USB C hub with 100W PD passthrough and wireless charging, and finally their 8000mAh portable battery with PD and wireless charging. They also sent braided USB C to C and a C to Lightning cables.
I actually already owned the car charger, as my previous one had died and I was looking for the smallest form factor possible. I've had it a few months now and it reliably fast charged my P3XL, and I've had no issues with the 4XL either. It is incredibly compact, an I personally like that it doesn't have an LED. It only offers 18W, which is plenty for a phone, but if you're looking to charge a laptop off of it it won't charge as fast.
The 63W dual USB C charger was the device I was most excited about, as I have many USB C devices at this point so consolidating chargers for traveling is appreciated. It is not small by any means, but for a 63W dual charger it is very compact. The folding plug helps, but it is mostly due to the use of GaN, which I am very excited to see being used a bit more. When charging two devices it uses what Aukey calls Dynamic Detect, providing the right amount of power to each connected device. It can achieve max output of 45W on one port and 18W on the second; if charging just one device it will max out at 60W on the bottom port. That last part is important to remember, because there is no marking on the charger that indicates the bottom port is required for higher powered devices. When I first tried it I had the laptop plugged into the top port and got a low power charger warning. Switching the ports resolved this, and there was no power dip on either the phone or laptop when a second device was plugged in. That said, my Chromebook Plus doesn't pull more than 45W so if you're using something like a MacBook Pro it'll max out at 45W while another device is plugged in.
The single port 27W PD charger also uses GaN, and Aukey claims that it is the smallest of it's kind. It is simply a tiny cube, no bigger an an original iPhone charging brick, and the folding plug makes it even more compact to pack. Again, my P4XL charged with no problem. Even though my Chromebook OEM charger is 45W, this 27W charger did not give me a low power charging warning.
The 8000mAh battery pack is interesting in that it offers Qi wireless charging, though only at 5W. Given the slow charging combined with the inefficient nature of both wireless charging and battery packs this is more of a novelty to me, but nonetheless it does work. You have to double press the power button to activate it, so it is not constantly sending power to the coils. As for standard charging it has 2 USB A ports; one a QC 3 and the other a 5V/2.4A. It touts a low current mode to charge small devices like trackers or headphones that don't require as much juice as a smartphone. The USB C port puts out a max of 18W via PD. The battery is relatively slim, and about the same footprint as my 4XL. It's thin enough that you could conceivably have both the bank and phone in your pocket and use wireless charging, but unless you find yourself without a cable I wouldn't see why you'd want to.
The 4-in-1 USB C hub, which is about the same footprint as a generic wireless charging cube, though much thicker. It is well constructed, with a slightly rounded but grippy rubber top and a metal base. The heft of the metal as well as a rubber foot makes sure it doesn't slide around. There are four ports: HDMI with 4K output, USB C with 100W PD passthrough and 2 USB 3.0 A ports which can transfer at 5Gbps. To enable wireless charging you need to plug the hub into both a USB C charger and the C port on your laptop, but with the 100W pass through charging this will allow you to charge both your laptop and phone at the same time. The USB C passthrough charging speed is obviously dependent on the charger it is connected to. It's a very handy device given that more and more laptops are losing traditional ports like USB A and HDMI.
Lastly are the charging cables. The Lightning cable is 1.2m/3.9ft and the USB C is 2m/6.6ft. Aukey touts the graphene skin as allowing the cables to be thinner and more flexible, but still deliver fast data and charging speeds and the USB C is rated for PD up to 60W. They didn't give exact specs on the Lightning cable, but the marketing materials mention that it pairs well with 18w PD chargers so I'm assuming it is more limited in it's capabilities. Both cables are very high quality and I will definitely be using the USB C one on a frequent basis.
I'm a bit of a geek with these things so I'm always looking to try out the latest and greatest. I've got a drawer full of PD chargers and battery packs that go unused for one reason or another, but these will definitely be added to my frequently used items. The 63W charger is great because at this point most of the devices in our house are USB C, and the 27W is so small it will easily get thrown in my bag. I'm excited about GaN and I really hope to see small chargers with lots of ports. I've been using Aukey products for a while now, and this new lineup is definitely something I'd recommend. They are offering XDA members 50% off any of these OmniPower products on their website through the end of the month, and it looks like the discount applies to some of the items that are already discounted, so for example the battery pack is only $15.
https://shop.aukey.com/collections/omnipower
Code XDAONLY
I actually already owned the car charger, as my previous one had died and I was looking for the smallest form factor possible. I've had it a few months now and it reliably fast charged my P3XL, and I've had no issues with the 4XL either. It is incredibly compact, an I personally like that it doesn't have an LED. It only offers 18W, which is plenty for a phone, but if you're looking to charge a laptop off of it it won't charge as fast.
The 63W dual USB C charger was the device I was most excited about, as I have many USB C devices at this point so consolidating chargers for traveling is appreciated. It is not small by any means, but for a 63W dual charger it is very compact. The folding plug helps, but it is mostly due to the use of GaN, which I am very excited to see being used a bit more. When charging two devices it uses what Aukey calls Dynamic Detect, providing the right amount of power to each connected device. It can achieve max output of 45W on one port and 18W on the second; if charging just one device it will max out at 60W on the bottom port. That last part is important to remember, because there is no marking on the charger that indicates the bottom port is required for higher powered devices. When I first tried it I had the laptop plugged into the top port and got a low power charger warning. Switching the ports resolved this, and there was no power dip on either the phone or laptop when a second device was plugged in. That said, my Chromebook Plus doesn't pull more than 45W so if you're using something like a MacBook Pro it'll max out at 45W while another device is plugged in.
The single port 27W PD charger also uses GaN, and Aukey claims that it is the smallest of it's kind. It is simply a tiny cube, no bigger an an original iPhone charging brick, and the folding plug makes it even more compact to pack. Again, my P4XL charged with no problem. Even though my Chromebook OEM charger is 45W, this 27W charger did not give me a low power charging warning.
The 8000mAh battery pack is interesting in that it offers Qi wireless charging, though only at 5W. Given the slow charging combined with the inefficient nature of both wireless charging and battery packs this is more of a novelty to me, but nonetheless it does work. You have to double press the power button to activate it, so it is not constantly sending power to the coils. As for standard charging it has 2 USB A ports; one a QC 3 and the other a 5V/2.4A. It touts a low current mode to charge small devices like trackers or headphones that don't require as much juice as a smartphone. The USB C port puts out a max of 18W via PD. The battery is relatively slim, and about the same footprint as my 4XL. It's thin enough that you could conceivably have both the bank and phone in your pocket and use wireless charging, but unless you find yourself without a cable I wouldn't see why you'd want to.
The 4-in-1 USB C hub, which is about the same footprint as a generic wireless charging cube, though much thicker. It is well constructed, with a slightly rounded but grippy rubber top and a metal base. The heft of the metal as well as a rubber foot makes sure it doesn't slide around. There are four ports: HDMI with 4K output, USB C with 100W PD passthrough and 2 USB 3.0 A ports which can transfer at 5Gbps. To enable wireless charging you need to plug the hub into both a USB C charger and the C port on your laptop, but with the 100W pass through charging this will allow you to charge both your laptop and phone at the same time. The USB C passthrough charging speed is obviously dependent on the charger it is connected to. It's a very handy device given that more and more laptops are losing traditional ports like USB A and HDMI.
Lastly are the charging cables. The Lightning cable is 1.2m/3.9ft and the USB C is 2m/6.6ft. Aukey touts the graphene skin as allowing the cables to be thinner and more flexible, but still deliver fast data and charging speeds and the USB C is rated for PD up to 60W. They didn't give exact specs on the Lightning cable, but the marketing materials mention that it pairs well with 18w PD chargers so I'm assuming it is more limited in it's capabilities. Both cables are very high quality and I will definitely be using the USB C one on a frequent basis.
I'm a bit of a geek with these things so I'm always looking to try out the latest and greatest. I've got a drawer full of PD chargers and battery packs that go unused for one reason or another, but these will definitely be added to my frequently used items. The 63W charger is great because at this point most of the devices in our house are USB C, and the 27W is so small it will easily get thrown in my bag. I'm excited about GaN and I really hope to see small chargers with lots of ports. I've been using Aukey products for a while now, and this new lineup is definitely something I'd recommend. They are offering XDA members 50% off any of these OmniPower products on their website through the end of the month, and it looks like the discount applies to some of the items that are already discounted, so for example the battery pack is only $15.
https://shop.aukey.com/collections/omnipower
Code XDAONLY
