I tried this innovative gadget that looks a sci-fi prop but is actually a useful and cleverly designed power bank and charger combo

Power banks and chargers are perhaps not the most exciting piece of equipment for a creative on the move, but they can be essential. Being caught without power can be the difference between completing an important call and being left in the dark. Having one with you when you’re away from your studio can be extremely useful, even more so if it’s capable of quickly charging your phone, tablet or laptop so that you’re out of action for less time.

Redmagic is a brand that’s made a bit of a name for itself selling Android phones and tablets, but its entry into the power bank market couldn't be further from a plain rectangle. It’s nice to see an object as potentially forgettable as a battery pack get a bit of thought put into its construction, and while we may wish for more capacity, it’s certainly a compact proposition, and interesting in that it can be used to charge devices both at home and on the move. I think it'll be heading to the best power bank guide imminently.

• Buy the Redmagic Go Power Bank from Amazon

Key specifications

Design, build and display

Whoever chose to make the Redmagic Go Power Bank look like a banned narcotic from a ‘90s sci-fi TV show with a limited budget and a moral message to push, we salute you. Instead of being a plain black rectangle, instead we get a thick, dual-lobed metallic design, with one side a cylinder styled after a C-type battery, and the other a rounded-off rectangle adorned with a character Google Translate tells us means ‘deuterium’ (a stable isotope of hydrogen that contains a neutron in its nucleus, giving it twice the mass of regular hydrogen, but you knew that already). So far, so Star Trek: TNG - we even get the moral message we all needed to see: “Win more games”.

There's more. The Redmagic Go Power Bank is not a charger, but a Neo Charger - which probably refers to the way it can be plugged in and used as a wall charger, before being pulled out and taken with you as a power bank. The brilliance of the crazed genius who designed this combo knows no bounds - the captive USB-C charging cable is held at both ends, with one sliding to allow the strongly braided lead to act as a carrying loop if needed before stretching out to charge your phone. They’ve even managed to incorporate a flip-down US-type mains plug directly into the body of a power bank you can easily hold in your hand. A British three-pin plug was presumably not going to fit in quite the same way, but we applaud the audacity nonetheless. There's even a small display to tell you exactly how much juice it’s holding, activated at the push of a button.

• Looks sci-fi
• Good hefty cable

Design score: 5/5

Features

Being a power bank, the features should be self-evident. Alongside the captive USB-C cable/carrying handle, there's a single USB-C port marked in/out, which you can use to charge the bank if you don’t live in a country that uses Type-A two-pin sockets (and the captive cable does the same). While charging its battery, the display lights up to give you a percentage readout of how full it is.

When it comes to empty it out again, you get 65W of direct charging while plugged in, with 20W PD when using it as a power bank. The 5000mAh battery holds enough power to juice up your phone or mirrorless camera effectively, but is a bit of a stretch for a laptop, where larger capacities are preferred. Still, it’ll do in a pinch, and the ability to supply 65W means you won’t have to wait around too long, though it’s best used for short hops between power outlets.

Likewise, if what Redmagic is claiming is true, it should be a pack that lasts. The manufacturer says it will last for 1,000 charges before dipping below 80% capacity, against an industry average of 300 cycles, thanks to battery technology inherited from the electrical vehicle industry. This is obviously something that’s quite hard to test, but it’s an interesting claim that addresses a major source of anxiety around tech with non-replaceable batteries.

• Two charging options
• Built-in US power plug

Feature score: 3/5

Price

At $80, and not available in some parts of the world (and not suitable for many, thanks to its two-pin plug) there are lots of cheaper portable power banks with larger capacities. The INIU 10000mAh Portable Charger is $25, for example. What we haven't seen before is one with a built-in charger, and with this kind of eye-catching design, both of which will make it essential to some users.

Value score: 3/5

Who is it for?

• Travellers

People living in a Type-A plug area, mostly. While it will certainly be possible to plug the Redmagic Go into a different socket via an adapter, it’s one more thing to take with you. This amalgam of charger and power bank is convenient, and would be ideal for travelling to the USA, Canada or Mexico from a different area. For those able to purchase one (we weren’t able to find it on sale outside the US), the convenient merging of technologies means you can carry one device where once you would have had two, and that’s worth something.

Buy it if...

• You’re in the right part of the world
• You need charging everywhere you go
• You want to look like a Star Trek character

Don't buy it if...

• Two-pin plugs aren’t common in your area
• 5,000mAh isn’t enough
• You don’t want to look like a Star Trek character