Anker’s latest charger options slightly show for smarter charging

In case you’ve ever wished extra details about how your telephone is charging, or perhaps a little bit of management over the charging course of, Anker’s latest charger would possibly simply be for you.

Anker launched its new Nano Charger with Sensible Show earlier this 12 months. Whereas at first look it appears like a typical charging brick, it’s acquired a number of neat options tucked inside that make it stand out. I acquired to check out one of many Nano Chargers firsthand to see simply the way it works.

First up, let’s begin with the specs. The Anker Nano can help as much as 45W charging — fairly spectacular given how small it’s. It’s additionally acquired 180-degree foldable prongs, permitting you to regulate the way it plugs in (or fold them out of the way in which for journey). And eventually, the Nano charger has a show.

Whereas not the primary charger I’ve tried with a display screen on it, the Anker Nano has a number of extra smarts to it. The show reads out details about the charging standing, together with the charging pace, temperature information, and telephone battery stage. Many of the screens even have a cute little blue blob that hangs out and makes faces or strikes round. For instance, while you plug within the charging brick, the blue bob bounces onto the display screen.

Useful charging data at a look

The Nano charger additionally sports activities a contact button on the highest of the brick, which helps you to toggle between a number of shows. The primary show exhibits the present charging wattage and battery stage, the second exhibits the temperature gauge, and the final is a settings display screen to toggle between charging modes. There’s an auto mode and a ‘Care’ mode that goals to maintain your telephone’s battery temperature decrease than different 45W chargers. You can even press and maintain on the contact button to flip the show. Nonetheless, I discovered the button controls have been finicky, particularly when it got here to switching between charging modes — this required an ungainly swipe gesture that the contact button hardly ever interpreted appropriately.

Anker says the Nano charger can acknowledge varied Apple gadgets and robotically alter charging to fulfill the wants of these gadgets. Particularly, the corporate says the charger can acknowledge the iPhone 15, 16, and 17 sequence, in addition to some iPad Professional fashions, together with the 11-inch (2020-2024), 12.9-inch (2020-2022), and 13-inch (2024). I solely had an iPhone 16e at hand to check with the charger, and it labored nice.

Whereas Anker didn’t specify Android compatibility, the charger additionally appeared to work positive with my Pixel 10 Professional, although it didn’t max out the charging pace. Google charges the ten Professional for as much as 29W wired charging, however once I tried it with the Anker Nano, it caught across the 20W mark, presumably an element of the Nano being geared towards iPhones.

Cool thought, imperfect charger

Barely sluggish Pixel charging apart, I got here away from my testing of the Anker Nano pretty impressed. It’s a splendidly compact charging brick, making it an ideal possibility for journey, and the tiny show affords attention-grabbing charging insights and enjoyable visuals.

That stated, the charger isn’t good, and I feel there are some things holding it again. For one, the scale is nice however I want Anker had included one other plug within the brick, even when that meant rising the scale slightly. With just one plug, the Anker Nano received’t be capable to change the compact charger I already maintain in my backpack, which has two USB-C ports and a USB-A port.

Greater than that, I discovered having the show on the charging brick to be considerably inconvenient once I wished to learn it. Most retailers in my home are tucked behind furnishings of some variety, and even the place I exploit powerbars or extension cables, I attempt to maintain issues out of sight. So when it got here time to plug within the Anker Nano, I didn’t have many spots the place the brick would even be seen with out rearranging issues. And sadly, the Anker Nano must be seen if you wish to profit from the show.

It’s a small factor, however I can’t assist however really feel like having a small show constructed into the cable itself would serve slightly higher. That method, you possibly can maintain your charging brick tucked out of sight, however nonetheless see the related data on the cable. That stated, it’s good that the Anker Nano is an all-in-one answer that works with most cables and retailers — it retains issues easy.

The Anker Nano charger is accessible from Anker’s web site for $49.99. It is available in 4 colors to match the latest iPhone 17 Professional fashions: Aurora White, Black Stone, Misty Blue, and, coming quickly, Orange.

The black and white colourways are additionally out there from Amazon Canada for $44.99 (although on the time of writing, it was on sale for $39.99).