Batteries

A photography equipment company called Kessler has introduced a peculiar adapter designed to turn DeWalt power tool batteries into portable power banks for USB devices and select camera gear. The adapter works with two commonly available power tool batteries, the kind you'd use to power a drill or impact driver. The upside to this unusual device is the fact that you can buy these batteries in hardware stores across the nation.

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If you simply base it on fan renders, Samsung's second foldable phone will be awesome. But if you base it on the previous Galaxy Fold and a few leaks, the Galaxy Z Flip might be something of a mixed bag. As we move closer to the announcement and launch of the foldable flippable phone, more details are starting to come in and, based on this latest pair, the Galaxy Z Flip might indeed offer an overall better experience than its predecessor.

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It looks like Goal Zero will refresh all of the models in its Yeti X of line of lithium power stations in 2020, and it showed up to CES this year with information on what to expect. Goal Zero's power stations are stand-ins for more traditional gas generators, and in the case of the Yeti X line, they can be charged either through the use of a solar panel or by plugging them into a wall outlet.

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Leaks and alleged insider information are regular occurrences in the mobile and tech industry and sometimes it might be difficult to separate the chaff from the wheat. There are some claims that sound so outlandish to be true but still end up surprising the public. The upcoming Huawei P40 won't be that, however, at least as far as once rumored feature goes. Huawei itself officially shot down the speculation that its next flagship phone will have a revolutionary kind of battery.

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Unlike Huawei's previous flagships, the Huawei Mate 30 almost flew under the radar, thanks to its unavailability in many markets. You rarely hear about it unless it's in relation to the US blacklist and how it misses out on Google Play apps and services. On its own, however, the Huawei Mate 30 is a formidable and advanced Android phone and it seems that the Huawei P40 will continue that trend and will deliver features no smartphone has today: graphene batteries.

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Despite having a probably more energy-efficient mobile operating system, iPhone owners have been begging Apple for a larger battery. Those prayers have been answered, to some extent, when Apple launched the larger iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s. Of course, the need for more hours of battery life never ends and Apple may be giving next year's iPhones just a wee bit more battery not by enlarging the iPhone yet again but by shrinking at least one part inside.

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Goal Zero has added a new, compact model to its portable power range, with the Yeti 200X promising a lot more juice than the typical external battery. Even though it's capable of recharging your phone up to twenty times, the Yeti 200X is still about the same size as a six-pack of Coke.

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Whether it's a planned outage or an unexpected one, losing power at home is never fun, but with some straightforward preparation it needn't be a nightmare. With big chunks of California going offline this week - myself included - it's been a good opportunity to test out my emergency plan, including some low-tech preparation and some high-tech gadgets like the latest battery backups. Here's what has worked for me, and how it might help you.

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With Google's big pixel event coming next week, the Internet is once again heating up with rumors and leaks about the Pixel 4 phones. Given how those have run in the past few months, there is very little left to talk about, unless you start comparing the Pixel 4 to its predecessor, the Pixel 3. A new info dump doesn't exactly revealing many new things but does confirm the details surrounding the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL and, at least in some aspects, those details can prove to be disappointing.

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The larger 44 mm series 5 Apple Watch may have not changed that much from its predecessor but, almost ironically, the smaller 40 mm model has a better story to tell. While the innards remain the same, the battery has changed considerably in more than appearance. While the exact reason and effects are still officially unknown, the new aluminum-encased battery in the smaller Apple Watch 5 could be good news for repairing the advanced wearable or at least keeping its safe.

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With the release of the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro with iOS 13 came a new feature called Optimized Battery Charging. This feature limits the charge your iPhone battery can take at a time - with some intelligent caveats - so that your iPhone battery will last as long as possible. Android users have had similar solutions before, but never like this.

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Today we're taking a brief look at Android 10 (what once was Android Q) and it's most sought-after all-encompassing feature: Dark Mode. Before we get to launch for Android 10, quite a few items need to be addressed - and probably won't be, but we can dream! Users of a certain list of smartphones already have access to this Dark Mode via the latest Android 10 Beta - and as they can attest, it's not all its cracked up to be.

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