Digital Home Thoughts: USB Batteries

"I love innovation – who doesn’t? That said, my tastes lie specifically in the kind which make my life simpler and easier. We’re talking email over post, wireless over wired, LCD over CRT and potentially now ‘USBCELL’ batteries over your traditional AAs. Released as a teaser to the IT press over a week ago with the tagline ‘Time to recharge the battery market’, the details are finally out and they are oh so logical yet very cool. Produced by Moixa Energy, USBCELL batteries are simply batteries that recharge from any USB port. They require no separate recharging devices, cradles or cables and can be used exactly like a normal battery. The design itself is rather like a typical memory stick with its flip top lid and they could be set to deliver the same killer blow to the battery market that memory sticks did to floppy discs."



This is really neat from the W?BIC school of thought. In reality though, I don't find this overly practical. They cost way more than normal rechargables and offer less power. If you really wanted to recharge your batteries over USB, there are already very compact USB battery chargers available (you can buy one of those chargers and some batteries for less than a pair of these cost).