Wireless charging has been a feature of the iPhone since the introduction of the iPhone X in 2017. Nevertheless, I haven’t used it very much, in part because I have never been very inconvenienced by using a cord, and also, I like that charging an iPhone with a cord is much faster. But for the last few weeks, I have been trying out the first wireless charger that has peaked my interest because of its impressive versatility: the Power Bar from Einova by Eggtronic. (The company is going through a name change, so sometimes you see this called the Eggtronic Power Bar, but in the future it will likely be called the Einova Power Bar. A review unit was sent to me at no charge.) This device does so many different things that I think it has a lot of appeal. But it also has some drawbacks to consider as you compare this product to a traditional portable battery.
A wireless power station
The first of the many functions of the Power Bar is to serve as a wireless power station. There is a USB-C port on the side of the Power Bar. You can either use the included USB-C to USB-C cable or your own cable to provide a charge to the Power Bar. Note, however, that the Power Bar doesn’t come with the charger that plugs into a wall outlet with USB-C on the other end, so you need to purchase that separately, use one that you already have, or connect to the USB-C port on a computer.
With the Power Bar connected to power, you can use this single device to charge three different products at the same time. There are two 7.5W Qi charging spots. You can use them to charge two iPhones at the same time, which could be useful if you are traveling with another person. (Note that if both iPhones are larger, such as the “Plus” size models, they may be too big to fit side-by-side on the two charging spots.) I used the second charging spot for the case for my AirPods Pro. Just press the button on the side to turn on wireless charging and place your iPhone, your AirPods case, or both on the Power Bar to charge them.
The 7.5W speed means that you cannot charge as quickly as you can with the $30 Apple MagSafe Charger, which will charge up to 15W for most iPhone models (12W for the iPhone 12 mini), as long as you are using a 20W power adapter. But of course, if you are trying to charge as fast as possible, using a USB-C to Lightning cord with a 20W power adapter will charge about twice as fast as the Apple MagSafe Charger and about four times as fast as the Power Bar. Wireless charging is never about speed. It is about convenience. Just set down your iPhone and it starts to charge; pick it up and you are good to go.
The third charging spot provides 5W wireless charging for an Apple Watch. It works best if you use your fingernails to raise the charging spot — not a very elegant solution, but it works. You can use it without raising the charging spot, but the raised charging spot does a better job of holding the Apple Watch in the correct orientation to receive a charge, especially when a band is attached to the watch.
There is another shortcoming of the Power Bar as compared to the Apple wireless charging options sold by Apple: no magnet. Apple’s MagSafe charger contains a magnet to connect to the iPhone and, perhaps more importantly, ensure that the iPhone is in the correct orientation for charging. On the PowerBar, the Apple Watch charger has a magnet, so it works the same way. But the two Qi charging spots do not, so I sometimes I find that I would place my iPhone down and then have to move around the iPhone a bit until I hear the “ding” to tell me that the iPhone is in the right spot for wireless charging.
If you put the Power Bar on your desk with a USB-C cord connected to a charger or a computer, you will always have a place on your desk to charge all three of the Apple devices that support a wireless charge: the iPhone, the AirPods, and the Apple Watch.
A portable power bank
The Power Bar has another trick up its sleeve. You can disconnect the USB-C cord from the Power Bar and it still provides power. It can do this because it contains a 10,000 mAh battery. And thanks to the 30W USB-C port, you can recharge the Power Bar more quickly than many other portable batteries. Three blue lights next to the USB-C port tell you how much power the device has: Full to two-thirds, two-thirds to one-third, or one-third to almost empty.
There are actually two ways to use this as a power bank. First, you can use three wireless ports that I just described. When you use the Qi charging ports, a green light corresponding to that port will blink so that you know that power is being provided to that port. Second, you can use the USB-C port on the side to plug in a cable. That way, you get the speed advantage of charging via a cord — about four times the speed of charging with these Qi charging ports.
The Power Bar comes with two 3-foot cables that allow you to make three types of connections. First, as mentioned above, the device comes with a USB-C to USB-C cable. You can use that cord with the Power Bar to charge an iPad Pro or a laptop computer. Second, the Power Bar includes a USB-C to Lightning cable for charging an iPhone and accessories that support Lightning. Third, the Power Bar comes with a small USB-C to USB connector. This connector is useful for when you want to charge the Power Bar itself but all you have is a traditional USB charger or computer port, not a newer USB-C charger or USB-C port on a computer. It is faster to charge the Power Bar using a USB-C charger, but if you only have access to a slower USB charger, you can use this small connector to make that work.
Charging with a cable works well. For example, I used a fully-charged Power Bar to charge my iPad Pro 12.9″ (3rd generation). When I started, I had 13% power. About an hour later, during which time I continued to use my iPad Pro, my iPad Pro had 70% power and the Power Bank was empty.
And that is a very realistic use case for me. I have had times in the past when I was at a day-long CLE or deposition without easy access to a power outlet. And if I use my iPad Pro extensively throughout a morning, I can be down to 13% or something similar by the early afternoon. With this Power Bar, I can keep working on my iPad and add another 50% or more or power to it, which is more than enough to get me through the end of of a day, even a day with extensive use of the iPad.
If you are charging an iPhone, the 10,000 mAh battery should be enough to recharge most iPhones almost three times.
There is a shortcoming of the Power Bar versus similar batteries: size and weight. I recently reviewed the Anker PowerCore 10000 PD Redux. Like the Power Bar, that Anker PowerCore has a 10,000 mAh battery with a USB-C port on the side. But the PowerCore is more easily portable, weighing just under 7 ounces and with dimensions of 4” by 2” by 1”, with curved sides making it easy to hold. The Power Bar weighs just over 13 ounces and has dimensions of 7.3″ by 2.67″ by 1.02″. Of course, it needs to be bigger to have wireless charging, a feature that is not included with the Anker PowerCore. But whereas I have carried around the Anker PowerCore in a pocket many times, the Power Bar is really too big for that.
Conclusion
The Power Bar is very different from other portable batteries. If all you want is a portable charger, then I think that you would prefer something like the $40 Anker PowerCore so that you have a power source that is as small and light as possible. But if you want the ability to charge up to three devices at once, the Power Bar is better — although also three times more expensive. The Power Bar is also better for the conveniences of wireless charging. You can just put a Power Bar on a table and place an iPhone on it and start charging, without dealing with any wires that take up additional space on the table and get in your way. And you can charge an Apple Watch without having to use the special Apple Watch charging cord. Moreover, while the Anker PowerCore will go unused when you don’t need portable power, the Power Bar can remain useful by staying plugged in at your desk, ready to provide wireless charging throughout the day whenever you want it.
Click here for the Einova/Eggtronic Power Bar from Amazon ($119.99).
[NOTE: Shortly after this review was posted, the price on Amazon went up to $149.99. It also increased on the Einova website. I’m not sure if this is a temporary change or not.]