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Today’s can’t miss deals:

Huge savings on pre-owned Apple Watches, deals from as low as $261 shipped

Apple Magic Mouse 2 (open-box): $68 shipped (Reg. $80)

Car Tech accessories for iPhone: Aukey windshield mount $4 (Reg. $10), Mpow air vent mount $6 (Reg. $9), more

Review: How Amazon Echo changed my life + $130 special price ($50 off) for Amazon card holders

Sam’s Club One-Day Sale: iPhone 6s/Plus $100 off, iPad Air 2 64GB/128GB $150 off, PlayStation 4 $300, more

Meijer Black Friday ad: Xbox One/PS4 bundles $300 w/ $50 credit, much more

eBay calls on Black Friday shoppers to decide which products will get discounted this year

Amazon’s Black Friday Deals store is now open for business

Everything we know so far about this year’s best Black Friday deals and promotions

More new gear from today:

Bluetooth Speakers: Inateck Aluminum $30 (Reg. $43), SOL Republic Deck $40 (Reg. $50+)

Apple iPad mini 4 Wi-Fi 64GB in all colors: $460 shipped (Reg. $499)

• Bluetooth Earbuds: Powerbeats2 (open-box) $80 (Reg. $150+), QY8 Sweatproof $19, more
• Games/Apps: GOW/COD Black Ops 3 Xbox One w/ 2 games + Turtle Beach headset $358,more
• Daily Deals: Canon PIXMA Wireless Printer $22, Lumsing 8,000mAh power bank $9, more
• Amazon Gold Box – Perry Ellis Men’s Clothing: leather open-bottom jacket $130, more

More deals still alive:

Apple iPad Air 2 Wi-Fi: 16GB $399 (Reg. $499), 64GB $479 (Reg. $599), 128GB $559 (Reg. $699)

Apple iPad Mini 2, space gray or silver: $199 shipped ($70 off)

Apple iPad mini 2 128GB Wi-Fi + Cellular: $370 shipped (Orig. $829) wp.me/p1xTlR-Jdb https://t.co/3Nk2zXzOCl

—
9to5Toys (@9to5toys) November 03, 2015

App Store Free App of the Week: Rayman Fiesta Run goes free on the App Store for the first time (Reg. $3)

• Displays: LG 34″ UltraWide $570 (Reg. $699+), Acer 34″ Curved QHD $866, more
• Timbuk2 40% off sale: Hudson Laptop Briefcase $161 (Orig. $269), more
• Jawbone Big Jambox Bluetooth Speaker (Open Box) $115 shipped (Orig. $300)
• Beats by Dr. Dre Pill 2.0 Portable Bluetooth Speaker $120 shipped (Orig. $200)
• Buy PowerBeats 2 Wireless In-Ear Headphones, get a $50 gift card: $144 (Orig. $200)
• Pebble Time Smartwatch for iOS and Android: $150 shipped (Reg. $200)
• Get the latest Nest Learning Thermostat (3rd Gen.) for $212 shipped (Reg. $249)
• iPhone 6/s dual-layer case in Space Gray, Silver or Gold: $3 Prime shipped (Reg. $12)
• Foscam Plug and Play HD Wireless/Wired Pan/Tilt IP Camera $75 shipped (Reg. $100)
• Seagate 4TB USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive w/ 200GB of Cloud Storage: $130 (Reg. $150)
• Home Theater Audio: VIZIO 5.1-ch. Soundbar w/ Wireless Subwoofer $198 (Reg. $298+), more
• Factory Unlocked iPhones: 16GB iPhone 6 Plus $600, 64GB (Refurb) $450, more
• Magic Color Changing LED Light Bulb with Remote Control $9 (Reg. $33)
• USB-C 4-port hubs for new Macbooks by Aukey: $20 Prime shipped (Orig. $30)
• USB Power Deals: Lumsing 3-port Car Charger + Lightning Cable $8, more
• TP-LINK 802.11n pocket wireless router: $10 shipped (Orig. $40)
• SoundBot Bluetooth 4.0 Sports-Active Headphones $10 Prime shipped (Reg. $15)
• Fashion: 20% off at Amazon – Kenneth Cole Down Jacket $90 (Reg. $113),more
• Sling TV is giving away a 2nd gen Chromecast when you pre-pay three months
• Kindle First Books for November: Christmas in Good Hope, more
• Media: Breaking Bad Complete Series on Blu-ray $70 (Orig. $161), $3 DVDs, more
• JBL Voyager Portable Bluetooth Speaker $90 shipped (Reg. $119)
• Free PS Plus Games for November: The Walking Dead Season 2, more
• Free Xbox Live Gold Games for November: Pneuma Breath of Life, more

New products & more:

Don’t Panic’s latest iPad Air 2 case is an astute all-in-one solution for every angle

New Fallout 4 launch trailer hits with a fresh look at gameplay and more

• Unboxing and Review: Halo 5 Xbox One Limited Edition Console Bundle [Video]
• Bosch made a robo-farmer that looks straight out of a galaxy far, far away
• The Room Three releases today, now available for download on the App Store
• Mellow Boards makes any skateboard electric and looks good doing it
• Pre-order Fallout 4 to receive Fallout 3 via Xbox One Backwards Compatibility
• PlayStation Now adds 105 titles as it aims to pick up more subscribers
• Mogees iPhone-connected sensor turns any object into a playable instrument
• Panasonic has a new line of solar powered products designed for those in need
• Amazon to offer midnight deliveries for Call of Duty: Black Ops III via Prime Now
• The LEGO Power Functions Idea Book teaches you how to build cars, contraptions and more

Filed under: Tips and Tricks Tagged: 9to5Toys, Amazon, app deals, Apple Magic Mouse 2, Apple Watches, Beats by Dre Powerbeats2, Best Buy, Car Tech accessories for iPhone, Daily Deals, free apps, Gold Box, video games

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Reporting on future Apple products isn’t easy — it’s actually one of the biggest challenges in the world of technology journalism. Back in April 2011, The Verge’s predecessor (This Is My Next) ran a much-discussed report on the “iPhone 5,” which was claimed to be teardrop-shaped, with an enlarged, gesture-sensitive Home Button, and a bezel-less 3.7″ screen. NFC, inductive charging, and a speaker and sensors hidden behind the screen were also said to be possibilities for the new iPhone. Not surprisingly, the report lit up the Internet, generating a lot of attention (and over 500 comments) for a fledgling web site. Though some people were skeptical, accessory makers actually took the report seriously enough to manufacture cases matching the claims.

As it turned out, the report was wrong — very wrong. Exactly none of those features actually arrived in either the “iPhone 4S” Apple announced in October 2011, or the real “iPhone 5” that debuted in September 2012. The report also didn’t forecast actual iPhone design trends in any useful way. From my standpoint, that’s the critical difference between most Apple rumors and the ones that are actually worth caring about: some early information, even if it’s imprecise, can help you make a better buying decision about an Apple product today or six months down the line.

A small group of nitpickers — notably including people who are fed information directly by Apple, off-the-record — have been taking shots at people who report independently-researched rumors, attempting to undermine the value of big, “not from Apple” scoops versus small, “not (officially) from Apple” tidbits. This may be an inside baseball topic that most people really don’t care about, but it’s worth at least considering for a moment…

It’s easy to take cheap shots, for instance, at KGI’s widely-read analyst Ming Chi Kuo. Kuo once worked at DigiTimes, a Taiwanese publication with a very checkered reputation for forecasting future Apple products, and like virtually everyone who has reported on upcoming Apple products, his personal, post-DigiTimes track record of predictions isn’t perfect. He tends to get product concepts and basic specifications right — no simple feat — but is less reliable on timing, implementation and other specifics.

Having watched Apple for years, this doesn’t surprise me. Contrary to what the nitpickers suggest, Apple has delayed products at the eleventh hour or the very last minute over issues such as quality control, component shortages, or problems with either partners or software. As a rare public example of this, the white iPhone 4 actually got announced but went unshipped for months; less publicly (but still reported by business publications), a major, long-awaited Apple TV update was held up by problematic negotiations with cable companies and content providers. No matter how good Kuo is at forecasting design and engineering changes, manufacturing and distribution involve a lot of moving pieces, and delays are just a reality.

So even if nitpickers want to downplay some of the specifics in Kuo’s reports, they serve a useful purpose for consumers: providing a good general sense of what’s coming up in the future. I would argue that it’s highly valuable for the marketplace to know in advance that the next iPhone will probably include Force Touch, and that it will be an important feature for the device, even if the specifics of how the technology works prove (months later) not to be accurate. People deserve to be able to make an informed decision about whether to buy what’s on the market now or hold off for a personally important feature that might be coming next.

Apple clearly doesn’t like when people delay their purchases — Steve Jobs once lamented that people can get trapped in endless cycles of waiting for what’s next, rather than buying now — but that’s Apple’s perspective as a company that makes money only when it sells things. To that end, Apple has a popular web site, gigantic marketing budget, and teams of people dedicated to selling products. I seriously wonder about any supposedly independent writer who sees it as his or her mission to push Apple’s code of pseudo-secrecy on other journalists, bloggers, or analysts.

It’s not Kuo’s job to carry water for Apple; it’s his job to forecast what Apple is likely to do next, for the speculative benefit of the investment community and public at large. Even if he’s not right all the time, his work provides valuable food for thought, and lets millions of people make more informed — if not perfectly informed — decisions about how to spend their money. I’m glad he does what he does, critics be damned.

More From This Author

Check out more of my editorials, How-To guides, and reviews for 9to5Mac here! I’ve covered a lot of different topics of interest to Mac, iPad, iPhone, iPod, Apple TV, and Apple Watch users. 

Filed under: AAPL Company, Opinion Tagged: AAPL, Apple, DigiTimes, KGI, Ming-Chi Kuo

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Last week, Apple seeded the first beta of the upcoming iOS 9.2 release to developers, and we’ve discovered that the new update will add support for Arabic in Siri. Apple previously built in the fundamental elements of understanding Arabic to iOS by adding Arabic support to the Keyboard Dictation and QuickType features in iOS 8 last year. Apple adding Arabic support to Siri follows up on Apple expanding its retail presence to the United Arab Emirates by opening up a pair of flagship stores in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

A local YouTube video shows off examples of Siri in Arabic:

Apple has not yet said when iOS 9.2 will be released, but the new update will also bring support for improved Safari support in third-party App Store applications, WiFi-based calling via Macs for AT&T users, and it will also likely bring support for the new American Express Apple Pay partnership for Canada and Australia. Since launching Siri in the fall of 2011, Apple has slowly added new languages in both major and minor iOS updates, and iOS 9.2 will be the latest to follow that pattern.

Filed under: AAPL Company Tagged: Arabic, Siri, uae

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I know, it’s almost a blasphemous headline, and I can feel the comments system bracing itself for impact even before anyone has read a word of my arguments. Especially as Apple has engaged in lengthy lawsuits against Samsung for copying its own features.

But while Apple doesn’t blindly copy, it does learn from other companies, and it does so all the time. Indeed, you could say it’s one of the key things that sets Apple apart in the tech world: it doesn’t scrabble to be first to market with new technology. Apple instead sits back and watches, looks at what other companies do and then figures out how to create a better version.

Touch ID is a classic example. Fingerprint readers have been around forever in laptops, and Motorola put one into a smartphone – the Atrix – way back in 2011. But early fingerprint readers were inconvenient, requiring you to scroll your finger across them, and unreliable. Apple waited until it could do the job properly.

So what are some of the things Android manufacturers have done that I think Apple could usefully learn from … ? 

Waterproofing

iPhones are expensive devices, and while home insurance or AppleCare+ can lessen the financial pain, there’s also the hassle factor of getting a phone repaired or replaced. No matter how careful we may be with our phones, spills and drops in water can happen.

Apple’s latest iPhones are surprisingly water-resistant, but there’s a big difference between water-resistant and waterproof. It would be great to see a fully waterproof iPhone 7.

Sony led the way with waterproofing phones, working for a long time on varying levels of water-resistance before launching the first fully waterproof phone, the Xperia Z, back in 2013. The phone could even be used underwater, its advertising showing someone using it to take photos while swimming with their family.

Sony has admittedly cut back on the level of waterproofing offered in its latest model, likely for cost reasons, but other manufacturers also offer completely waterproof phones. Samsung, for example, launched its fully waterproof Galaxy S4 Active, also in 2013.

Shatterproof glass

Still on the topic of protection, Apple has steadily increased the strength of the glass used in its iPhones, but they still can and do break. Motorola last week announced the DROID Turbo 2, whose headline feature is what the company claims is a completely shatterproof display. We’ll have to wait to discover whether the claim is true, of course, but it’s not a statement the company will have made lightly.

Now, you can of course argue that it’s not in Apple’s financial interests to make iPhones waterproof and shatterproof: a decent chunk of income is generated by replacing damaged or destroyed devices. But Tim Cook has said on a number of occasions that Apple tries to do the right thing even if it comes at a financial cost – citing accessibility functions and environmental friendliness as examples.

Similarly, you could argue that those who want to protect their phones can buy a case. But it’s always struck me as crazy that Apple goes to enormous lengths to make sleek, slim phones and then the first thing almost everyone I know does is hide it away inside a case. Making the phone itself more robust has to be a better way to go.

Better speakers

The speakers in the iPhone are reasonably impressive, but there are Android handsets with better ones.

Play a movie on an iPhone 6s and an HTC One M9, with its BoomSound and Dolby Audio features, and there’s just no comparison. Both the 24-bit audio and the front-facing speaker make a huge difference. And HTC isn’t really in a position to object to Apple borrowing a feature …

The new Moto phones, too, manage to fit in front-facing speakers without needing much space beneath the screen to do it – the Moto X Style/Pure being a prime example.

Thinner bezels

When Apple was first working on the iPhone, Steve Jobs was insistent that nothing should detract from the display. He wanted as few buttons and switches as possible. It was, he argued, all about the screen.

It was also an aim Apple had with the Watch, going to a great deal of trouble to achieve such a deep black in the display that it blends invisibly into the surrounds, giving it a bezel-less appearance.

Apple pulled off another optical illusion with the iPhone 6. By making the edges rounded, falling away from the display, it makes the bezel look thinner than it really is, because your eye sees the edge of the black glass and kind of ignores the fact there’s some aluminum sticking out beyond it. In reality, the total bezel thickness is very similar to the iPhone 5.

Look at the above photo of an iPhone 6s next to the Sharp Aquos Crystal 2 and tell me you aren’t just a little bit jealous of those insanely-thin bezels? And that’s just a mid-range Android phone from last year – you can pick one up now for less than a hundred bucks. (I’m almost tempted to get one as a spare phone …)

Depending on how you hold your phone, you could argue that ultra-thin bezels would result in accidental touches, but the size phones are now, I think most people cup them in their hands rather than wrap their fingers around them, so I’m not convinced this would be an issue.

Better battery-life

Finally, if there’s one iPhone complaint I hear about the iPhone above all else it’s the battery-life. Apple’s argument about this is two-fold. First, the company aims to find the optimum balance of battery-life versus slimness. Second, iPhones have lower power needs than Android phones because the integration of hardware and software makes them so much more efficient.

All the same, over 90% of you told us that you want better battery-life – and 60% of you would accept a slightly thicker phone as the price of getting it. And it’s not like you’re alone in that.

The iPhone 6s has a 1715mAh battery in a device measuring 138x67x6.9mm. The Samsung Galaxy S6 is very slightly longer and wider, though a touch thinner, at 143x70x6.8mm. Yet in that tiny bit of extra space it accommodates a 2250mAh battery. I suspect that’s a size hit many would be willing to take for 30% longer battery-life.

So, are my views blasphemy, or do they have some merit? As ever, let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Top image: iPhone 7 concept by Martin Hajek

Filed under: iOS Devices, Opinion Tagged: Android, Apple Inc, Apple v Android, Apple versus Android, iPhone, iPhone 7, Opinion

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Pebble has announced that its first circular smartwatch, the Pebble Time Round, will begin shipping on 8th November, and will be available in Best Buy and Target the same day, priced at $249.99. The watch offers significantly less functionality than the Apple Watch, but a much longer battery-life thanks to its always-on color e-paper display.

This Sunday marks the debut of the world’s lightest and thinnest smartwatch at Best Buy and Target stores in the US, giving customers a chance to see and feel Pebble Time Round in-person. Pebble Time Round will also be available online at Amazon.com, BestBuy.com, Target.com, and Pebble.com.

The smartwatch was first available for preorder back in September.

In addition to the round shape, the latest Pebble also has a slimmer 7.5mm design. It’s available with a choice of bands in 14mm and 20mm widths.

Filed under: Tech Industry Tagged: Pebble Round, Pebble watch, smartwatch

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There have been an increasing number of reports from iPhone users running iOS 9.1 that Touch ID is proving slow or unreliable. The issue was first spotted by Forbes earlier this week.

The complaints are similar: users running iOS 9.1 find Touch ID either refuses to recognise a user’s fingerprint, has become highly unreliable or doesn’t even register a fingerprint pressed against it. Users have tried hard resets (holding in the power and home button for 10 seconds) and complete factory resets without any success.

The issue appears to be affecting a small minority of users, but enough to suggest that it is more than coincidence …

Apple was last year forced to pull the iOS 8.0.1 update after reports of problems with both Touch ID and cellular connectivity.

Separately, some users – myself included – are regularly being required to enter our passcodes to unlock our phones, a message saying this is required after 48 hours. Apple’s support page says that a passcode unlock is a requirement when the phone hasn’t been unlocked at all for more than 48 hours, but iOS 9.1 seems to have introduced a bug for some where Touch ID unlocks are not being counted.

A very old Apple Support Communities thread dating back to an unrelated issue with profiles has been resurrected with reports of this latest bug.

An Apple patent for using Touch ID as a ‘panic button‘ was published yesterday.

Filed under: AAPL Company, iOS Tagged: Apple Inc, iOS, iOS 9.1, iOS bug, iPhone, passcode, Touch ID

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As expected, Apple Watch is now available for purchase in India. The launch of the device comes a month after Apple made its iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus available in the country. In India, Apple Watch is available from Apple’s official retail channels and starts at Rs 30,900.

Both the 38mm and 42mm models of the device are available in India. You can purchase Apple Watch in Gold, Rose Gold, Space Gray, Silver Anodized Aluminium; polished Silver or Space Black stainless steel, and 18-Carat Rose Gold and Yellow Gold (via Times of India).

The stainless steel models of Apple Watch start at 48,900 and Rs 52,900 for the 38mm and 42mm Stainless Steel Case respectively, including a white Sport Band. With a Link Bracelet, the price increases to Rs 95,900, while the Classic Buckle model comes in at Rs 60,900.

The 38mm 18-Carat Rose Gold model comes in at a hefty Rs 8.2 lakh paired with a white Sport Band, while the 42mm gold edition costs Rs 9.9 lakh and ranges to Rs 14.2 lakh. Like in the United States, Apple is also making its bands available separately, as well.

Times of India reports that the Indian government is considering relaxing local compulsory laws that currently prohibit Apple from opening wholly owned stores in the country. According to the report, Apple has been in India recently meeting with officials.

Currently, Indian trade laws prohibit companies from opening manufacturer-owned retail outlets unless a certain percentage of the manufacturing is done within the country. Should the Indian government choose to loosen these requirements, then Apple could open its own retail locations in the currently. Currently it sells it products via authorized resellers and via dedicated pop-up stores in Croma. Apple CEO Tim Cook has met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the past to discuss opening retail locations in the country and perhaps bringing with it a portion of its manufacturing.

India is a market of growing interest for Apple, as growth in the country is currently outstripping that of China. 

Filed under: Apple Watch Tagged: Apple, Apple watch, India, retail

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Original story from Electrek.

Digital license plates are a relatively new concept that could open up the transport industry to an array of new features. Beyond the Big Brother-like properties the implementation of the technology could enable, like location tracking or alerts for expired registrations, it could also greatly facilitate fleet management and transfer of ownership – things that are crucial for the future of mobility to embrace autonomous driving and ride-sharing.

We learned that among Apple’s hundreds of recent hires with automotive experience, the company hired a veteran software engineer with an expertise in fleet management software and especially digital license plates.

Before going to work at Apple as a “Secret Agent” on “special projects” according to his LinkedIn profile, Rónán Ó Braonáin was Director of Engineering at Reviver, a stealth startup working on what Braonáin called “the world’s first digital license plate”.Prior to his stint at Reviver, Braonáin spent 5 years as a software engineer at BMW before becoming Chief Technology Officer at Vision Fleet, a company offering electric vehicle fleet management software and financing to businesses.

From an economic standpoint, the adoption of a digital license plate standard makes sense – at least for the government. The state could save millions on administrative costs related to car registrations and bring in significantly more revenue by changing the display to “expired registration” or something similar to incentivize drivers to pay their registration fees.

The technology has the potential to significantly reduce the workload of the DMV and could also be useful to further automate tolls and parking fees, but the potential for innovation goes way beyond cutting administrative efficiency.

Digital license plates could facilitate to process of sharing a vehicle or participating in a subscription based car-sharing program by allocating plate identifications to drivers over vehicles or maybe even a combination of both. In a world where car-sharing programs are becoming increasingly more popular, digital license plate technology could find itself a key technology to facilitate the adoption of new models of mobility.

There are some hurdles to overcome before the technology can make it to market. Visibility and durability under harsh weather and road conditions being the main technical challenges, but if Apple is indeed working on the concept for Project Titan, it could potentially give more legitimacy to the technology and help the effort to try to make it a standard.

Also noteworthy, Braonáin worked on BMW’s time-of-charge program for electric vehicles. Here he describes his latest position at the company:

Programmed smart charging applications in Java EE to make EV charging (a) more green, based on wind energy availability, (b) cheaper, based on adherence to a TOU tariff plan, (c) customisable, based on customer preferences and mobile app control.

Furthermore responsible for smart home HW/SW; its installation at the office; and integration of the EV into the smarter future home.

BMW started testing this program, now called “BMW i ChargeForward”, with a select few BMW i3 owners in the Bay Area.

Mark Gurman contributed to this report.

Picture: Digital license plate from Reviver.

Filed under: Apple Car Tagged: Apple, Apple Car, BMW, digital license plate, Project Titan, Reviver

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Google’s iPhone and iPad note capturing app is out with a feature update today in the latest version. Keep users can now add an app widget to the Today view in Notification Center for capturing material in the app from anywhere with a swipe down.

iOS users can also add a new Keep extension using the latest update for sending websites and other information to Keep without opening it and leaving the app you’re already in. Finally, the new version lets Keep users copy notes with Google Docs for the first time.

Google Keep lets you capture notes using labels and colors as well as photography and images on-the-go. Keep also supports capturing voice memos and making lists that backup and sync to your Google account. The new iOS widget lets you jump right into the app to create new note, lists, photos, and voice memos.

After only being available on Android for a couple years, Google brought Keep to iPhone and iPad just a few weeks ago. Download the latest version of Google Keep from the App Store to use the new features for free.

Filed under: Apps Tagged: Docs, Google, Keep, notes

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When Zolt announced the Laptop Charger Plus ($100) at CES this year, I was skeptical that the accessory — a practical, logical power solution — would actually make it to market. Zolt promised that it would work with any laptop, including Macs with MagSafe connectors, and at that point, zero third-party MagSafe accessories were available to purchase. But a week ago, a company called Beaver sent us Quarter, the first MagSafe-based battery pack and car charger. And now Zolt is sending out review samples of the finished Laptop Charger Plus, complete with both MagSafe 1 and MagSafe 2 cables (the $20 “Optional MacBook Accessory Cable”), which will hit stores in less than two weeks. Are MagSafe accessories finally about to become a real thing?

The Laptop Charger Plus continues the concept Twelve South pioneered with the $35 PlugBug, leveraging a MacBook wall adapter to charge both your laptop and a USB-based device, such as an iPhone or iPad. But Zolt’s execution goes several steps further, as it fully replaces any 11″ or 13″ MacBook’s wall adapter with something smaller while adding two extra USB ports. Even if the price is a bit steep, the all-in-one functionality may justify the expenditure for travelers with limited bag space…

Zolt’s box is primarily focused on common laptop power tips from major PC manufacturers, ranging from Asus to Dell, HP to Lenovo, Samsung and Toshiba. The Laptop Charger Plus comes in graphite (shown), orange, or violet, and sits in the middle of the box, while a black cable connects to all of the PC tips. As previously noted, Zolt sells the MagSafe cables as a $20 add-on to the system; they were bundled along with our review unit. Finally, though the manual mentions an included carrying case, it was nowhere to be found in the box.

Each of Zolt’s computer charging cables has a specially molded USB plug that’s deliberately designed not to fit into a conventional USB port — this is to avoid a situation where you try to connect the MagSafe adapters or PC charging cable to a regular USB port. Similarly, while the Laptop Charger Plus has three ports, the PC and Mac charging cables will only fit into the top one of those ports, one at a time. You’re not supposed to connect your iPhone, iPad, or other mobile device to the computer charging port. The two regular USB ports each have enough power to charge any iPad or iPhone at full speed, subject to one limitation: the power draw of your computer.

Total power output from the Laptop Charger Plus is 70 Watts. Zolt says that it’s designed to charge “most 40-65W laptops and UltraBooks,” plus at least one additional device such as an iPhone or iPad. Any MacBook of 13″ or less in size will work with the Charger’s power output without an issue. However, in the event that the total power drawn exceeds 70W, an LED on the unit will flash twice, noting that power is being prioritized to the mobile devices, reducing power to the laptop. A constant blink means that the unit is shutting down because of a short or other overaggressive power draw. During my testing, the adapter became warm but not hot to the touch while in separate use with a 13″ Retina MacBook Pro and an 11″ MacBook Air, which is expected behavior as per the manual. I wasn’t able to get the white light to flash during regular charging, though I suspect that there are circumstances where a 13″ laptop, an old iPad 3/4, and an iPhone 6 Plus all operating under full loads would be able to create a power draw issue.

The Laptop Charger Plus is small — 3.6″ long by 1.3″ wide, with folding blades for easy storage. That’s not much larger than a typical 4,000mAh tube-shaped battery pack, and markedly smaller than most MacBook wall adapters. The blades can be rotated 90 degrees to improve access to the 3 USB ports as needed, and your choice of included PC/Mac cables can be wrapped around the Charger for storage.

Should you get the Laptop Charger Plus? Mac users will probably flinch at the total price of the unit plus the MagSafe cabling, which is almost twice the price of most Apple MacBook power adapters. But if you need something that’s much smaller than carrying around two or three Apple adapters, Zolt’s design accomplishes a lot given its size. And from my perspective, the more MagSafe charging options that people can choose from, the better.

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Filed under: Mac, Reviews Tagged: laptop charger, MagSafe, power adapter, Zolt

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