Update: Check out the holiday deals of WakaWaka.
Now a days we are dependent on smartphones than any other gadget in our lives, we are doing everything from just phone calls to taking photos, booking tickets. Earlier days we used to use computers and now we have shifted to smartphone to complete our daily tasks. The more you use your smartphone the more you have to charge your phone or worry about getting disconnected from the world. Smartphones are not like feature phones you need to charge them quite often. That is where portable chargers are useful and you can carry these along with you. Recently I came across WakaWaka Power solar charger cum LED light, a company called Off-Grid Solutions make these chargers, Off-Grid solutions has committed to eradicate World’s energy poverty, “WakaWaka creates industry-leading solar smartphone charger using a sustainable business model for eradicating energy poverty in our lifetime.”, we will come to that later.
Meet WakaWaka Power, which is an LED light and a portable charger for your smartphone. The WakaWaka Power comes in a nice looking package with solar panels on one side and LED lights on the other. The design is stylish and sturdy, and the unit itself looks like a smartphone. The good thing about this is that you can take it anywhere you go, it fits well in your pocket. The company claims it is 200% more power efficient than its competitors, we will take their word on that. It weighs around 200gms and packs a 2200mAh battery. It comes with a foldable stand which can be used to place on a surface, or hang it or put it over a bottle.
How it works:
To charge the device place it in sun light and charge it, it will take around 8 hours to charge it fully. You don’t have to charge it full to use it though. You can charge your smartphone, iPhone or Android or Windows Phone doesn’t matter if it can charge by USB it can be charged with this. I tested it with all my phones and it works very well. It is able to charge my iPhone with in 2 hours as claimed by the company, I also tested it on other phones and the results vary little bit but not an issue though.
After charging your mobile phone completely you still have some charge left in WakaWaka Power to use as a LED light. The LED lights on full charge and on bright mode will come for more than 20 hours, and on the lowest brightness setting will give you 200 hours. It also has a setting for S.O.S lights, pressing the button and holding for 2 secs will bring the s.o.s lights.
WakaWaka Power:
WakaWaka means “shine bright” in Swahili. It started as a project on Kickstarter first, the mission of the company Off-Grid Solutions (OGS) is to eradicate energy poverty by leveraging natural energy source. The WakaWaka Power unit aims to replace Kerosene lamps used in developing countries. The company donates $10 for each unit sold to WakaWaka foundation, that uses the funds to finance education, micro-loans, and subsidies for poor in countries like Nigeria, Haiti, Nepal, India and Latin America. In 2012, OGS made a pledge to the Clinton Global Initiative to distribute at least 1 million WakaWaka’s in the next few years and educate a similar number of students in becoming Climate Heroes.
Conclusion:
WakaWaka Power is unit is useful for those who needs to be online most of the time, and away from power outlets most of the time. There is one other advantage with it, when you want to move out quickly you can charge it using your computer and it will serve as a battery backup for your phone. So far in my one week testing I am impressed with it and I will definitely recommend it as a portable solar charger. Not only it is useful as a solar charger for us, but it is most useful as a light source in developing countries, where power is still a luxury.
You can read more about WakaWaka.
