ChargeCard is an interesting idea of making a charging cable for our devices in the form of a credit-card. I pre-ordered this product back in March 2013 from Nomad (the creators), and finally received my order last week (mid December 2013).
Such long waiting time is not the first time (I had longer wait with Pebble Smartwatch), but I was not happy with this pre-order because they almost didn’t send me any email updates within the waiting period. No news, no update, no word at all ! Until early December I suddenly remembered that I haven’t heard about my pre-order for so long and decided to email Nomad. To their credit, they replied promptly, assuring me that I shall receive my order within a week. And I did receive my order. I wonder if I completely forgot about this pre-order and did not send them any email, will my product ever arrived?
There are three types of ChargeCard: micro USB, Apple 30-pin (works with iPhone 4S or older) and Apple lightning connector (works with iPhone 5 or newer). If you check Nomad’s website, they also have a new product called ChargeKey now (similar to CharceCard, in the shape of a regular house-key).
Now, my first impression upon seeing the actual product is a mixed feeling. The product looks nice, but it’s not as thin as I imagined. Maybe it’s my fault for not reading the technical specifications carefully. It is indeed the size of a credit card in term of width and height. However, it’s a lot thicker, about as thick as 4 credit cards stacked together. I tried it in my wallet and it immediately makes my wallet looks thicker, which is something I don’t like.
The flexible part of this “cable” is flexible and can be bent to 180 degrees without any problem. However I kept having this extra worries that the cable will break if I don’t handle it really carefully.
There is battery capacity in this product. It simply replaces your USB cable. To use it, you will still need a wall charger with USB plug, a turned-on computer with USB, or a portable backup battery.
I ordered ChargeCard with lightning connector and their packaging doesn’t show any logo of MFi certification from Apple. Based on my previous experience, lightning cables without MFi usually display warning message in our iPhone / iPad display when used. Luckily, my first test using ChargeCard shows that using this “cable” to charge an iPhone 5S with iOS 7.0.4 does NOT show the warning.
Overall, ChargeCard is a working product to replace a charging cable. It has very practical shape (which is good), but really not thin enough to stay in my wallet permanently. I will probably use it on long travel occasions, but not in everyday commuting.
Dear Mr. Robert,
I want to how thick is that ChargeCard compare with Credit Card (2 or 3times thicker) & how much the battery capacity?
Thanks a lot for your time
it’s about as thick as 4 credit cards, and there’s no battery, this is just a USB cable in the form of credit card.