While battery technology has improved, there will be times your Windows Phone battery will need to find a charger to make it through the day. The Aukey Quick Charge is a nice option to quickly re-charge your Windows Phone while on the road.
The charger has two charging ports, one of which utilizes Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 technology. With compatible devices, the quick charge technology is capable of charging compatible devices four times faster than the standard car charger.
We took the Aukey Quick Charge out for a test drive and found it to be noticeably quicker than your standard charger even without the Quick Charge boost. When time is of the essence, shortening your charging time by any amount can come in handy.
The design of the Aukey Quick Charge falls along your typical plug styled car charger. The charger plug has two USB ports and comes packaged with a 3.3 foot Micro-USB cable. One USB port is your standard output of 5V/3A and the second port (the orange port) is your quick charge port with an output range of 6.5v/3A, 9V/2Z or 12V/1.5A.
The Quick Charge 3.0 is backwards compatible with Quick Charge 2.0 and 1.0 devices. There are also safeguards in place to prevent overcharging, overcurrent and overheating of non-quick charge compatible devices.
While the Quick Charge has an appealing design, there is one small catch in using it. While some of the Lumia models have fast charge support, none of the models currently supports Qualcomm's Quick Charge technology. Not all is lost, however.
In a very unscientific test around town, the Aukey Quick Charge did perform slightly better than your standard plug-in charger and the Nokia Qi Car Charger. Using a Microsoft Lumia 950, the Aukey replenished battery power at an approximate rate of 5% in ten minutes. The others methods took about fifteen minutes to replenish 5% of my battery life.
One of the biggest battery drains on a Windows Phone while driving is navigational software. The Qi charger just cannot keep pace with the power needs the GPS and mapping software has. I did test the Aukey charger out while using HERE Drive+ and also found the charger struggled to keep pace with the power needs of the GPS but not as dramatic as you experience with a standard charger.
While our Windows Phones currently cannot take advantage of the Qualcomm Quick Charge technology, I was pleased with the Aukey Quick Charge's overall performance. It has a slim, simple design with two charging ports. While I wouldn't describe its performance as quick, I did see a faster charge rate than what you will find with a standard car charger. However, priced in the neighborhood of $25 the Quick Charge is priced a bit higher than the standard charger. The slight benefit may not outweigh the cost.
The dual ports will come in handy if traveling with friends or family. I live in a house divided with others sporting an iPhone and with the dual ports, all they need to do is have their USB cable and we can avoid fighting over the car plug. The only downside is that if you are sporting a Windows 10 Mobile device, you will need to pick up a USB-C cable in addition to the charger.
The Aukey Quick Charge 3.0 Dual Port Charger is available at Amazon.com for $24.99. It comes packaged with the charger plug, instruction manual and a 20AWG 3.3 foot Micro USB cable.
