Most battery packs do the job. Yes. But none do it with the style and panache of the ULTRA’GO mini Power Station. Calibre has spent a lot of effort on the design aspect, and the 100% aluminum enclosure is something most other battery packs cannot match. The 3500mAh capacity means you may even be able to charge some smartphones twice over, before the power station’s battery runs out. All in all, we believe spending Rs 4799 on this device is something that will fall in the “money well spent” category.
Build & Design: A block off the MacBook?
Yes, there are many battery packs available to buy, but this one does the job in style. Packs in a 3500mAh battery inside an 100% aluminum enclosure, and yet remains just 1cm thick and weighs 135 grams. Just to give you a better idea about the dimensions, the numbers read – 7.6 cm x 7.6 cm x 1 cm. Quite thin and light, and can even be put in the jeans or trouser pocket, if you don’t want to use the microfibre cloth carry case that Calibre ships with the ULTRA’Go Mini. The minimalistic design stands out, and that is the charm of this battery pack.
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There are multiple colour options are available as well – Titanium Grey, Burgundy Red, Charcoal Black and Metal Silver. We have the Metal Silver colour option, and that resembles the finish on the MacBook Pro with Retina to the hilt! If you did not know who made this battery pack, you would be forgiven for assuming that this was an Apple-made accessory. This design won the prestigious Red Dot Design Award this year, and we aren’t surprised about that.
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What the ULTRA’Go Mini brings to the table is a whole bunch of positives, and the build quality, design and the materials used are just the positive starting point. We are yet to come across any battery pack that feels so premium.
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Performance: Very impressive
As we had mentioned, the ULTRA’Go Mini packs in a 3500mAh battery. Simply put, with one single charge of its own battery, this can fully charge a completely discharged iPhone 5 twice, and still have some juice left to top up the phone!
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There is a micro USB port to charge the battery in the ULTRA’Go Mini. There is a full USB port allowing you to connect any device specific USB cable to it for charging. Calibre ships the device with a micro-USB cable, but we were easily able to use the Lightning to USB cable easily.
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We have used this device to charge a variety of smartphones (Android, iOS and BlackBerry 10), and the charging times are very much at par with what you would get from a wall charger, which is not something that most portable battery banks can claim. Just to give you an idea about the numbers – a fully discharged iPhone 5 charges full 100% (verified by the Battery Doctor app) in 2 hours and 50 minutes. With the ULTRA’Go Mini, the same scenario is repeated in 2 hours and 52 minutes, again verified by the Battery Doctor app, to ensure exact 100% charge.
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The ULTRA’Go Mini has a built-in charge vibration signaling method. When you open the flap covering the ports, the device vibrates. One vibration means 25% charge in the pack’s battery, 2 vibrations means 50% charge, 3 vibrations means 75% and 4 vibrations means 100%. Calibre says that this is the world’s only portable charger that deploys the vibration signaling method. This does remind us of the Nokia DC-16 portable charger, which has the LED method to show how much charge the pack holds at any given point of time. This is, at the time, the alternative method that a lot of alternative products are deploying.
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Buy or not buy: A must have accessory
The ULTRA’Go Mini Power Station is one that really impresses us with the overall package – excellent build quality, good capacity and universal compatibility. For the money that you spend, you get a rather well thought out package, which includes a microfibre cloth carry case to protect the aluminum build from getting scratched during storage. All in all, we believe this is a must have convenience accessory that you must buy for your smartphone.
Price: Rs. 4,799