Never have to borrow a charger or a pen with Power Pen

Oddity gift shop Firebox says that there are two most borrowed items today: your pen and your phone charger. If so, wouldn't it be nice if you were never to be put in that situation that you'd need to borrow one or the other or, worse, both? That certainly seems to be the thinking behind the design of the Power Pen, a multi-talented instrument that acts as a pen, an emergency power reserve, and a digital writing instrument as well.

Recently there have been quite a number of small smartphone chargers that try to masquerade as key fobs for fitting in you keyring. Simple and portable as they may be, when not in use, they just sit there, waiting. Power Pen, on the other hand, can be put to work for a completely different purpose when not charging your smartphone. At its most basic configuration it is a capacitive stylus. But swivel it quickly and you get a ballpoint pen.

The "Power" part of the contraption comes from the 700 mAh battery hidden inside. Of course, this isn't enough to give your phone a full charge or even half, but like many other mini battery chargers of late, it can give your device a longer lease on life. At least until you are able to reach a wall socket. Twisting one end of the pen reveals the tip for charging, available for both micro USB and lightning connectors. The cap on the other end hides the full sized USB for charging the pen itself.

Of course, there are a few drawbacks to this almost ingenious idea. The first is that if you are in the middle of charging, you are left without a decent writing instrument. You can still write with the popped off point, but that would be a tad uncomfortable compared to the full thing. Second, if this pen gets lost, which most pens are often fated to do, then you have lost your pen and your charger all in one.

Still, if you've got your sights on just this kind of accessory, you can order one now for 24.99 GBP, around $39.10.

SOURCE: Firebox