Every traveller has at some point been frustrated with the power cables they’re forced to travel with to charge their assorted electronics. The Echo Connect Plus aims to get them down to one connector.
The first dual connector licensed by Apple, the Echo Connect Plus features both Apple Lightning and Micro USB connectors, and is light enough to carry on your key chain. It eliminates the need for cables, with one end plugging into your device and the other into the USB port on your laptop or power bank. The Lightning port covers off your Apple devices, and the Micro USB pretty much everything else.
At launch, the Echo will be available in white, blue, purple and black, and features a hard plastic body around the connectors for protection and a soft plastic body in the middle to allow for some flexibility when connecting devices, and is made of durable TPU.
While there are two connectors, an internal “either or switch” means only one device can be charged at a time, as a security measure to protect user data.
The UK company behind the Echo Connect Plus has launched an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign to help launch the product, and is offering the connectors in a variety of options starting at US$19. After launch, it will retail for US$35. Interested distributors and partners also have the option of signing up on Echo’s home page.
It wouldn’t be a problem if Apple would use the micro USB connector like everyone else. I believe that the European union mandated that all cell phone manufacturers use a common (micro USB) charging connector, but Apple refuses to comply.
Apple: Think Different or get lost 😉