Under a thousand: A super basic, super handy magnetic wireless power bank
Amazon Basics magsafe power bank
Power bank attached to an iPhone 15 Pro (Express Photo)
Power banks that support wireless charging can be extremely handy if you use a smartphone that can charge wirelessly, as they save you from the hassle of carrying a cable and make the charging process as simple as placing the phone on the power bank. And well if the power bank can attach magnetically to the back of your phone, that is an added convenience. While such power banks do exist, they tend to cost a fair bit, generally in the region of Rs 2500. Which is why we were very pleasantly surprised by the rather elaborately named Amazon Basics 5000 mAh Li-Polymer Wireless Power Bank. It is generally available for a price in the range of Rs 999 – Rs 1299 and can go lower if you use some of the offers available with it. Not surprisingly, it goes out of stock very fast, so we would recommend keeping a sharp eye out for it.
Getting the basics right, in keeping with its (Amazon) Basics name
Amazon Basics power bank
It can magnetically attach to an iPhone (Express Photo)
The Amazon Basics Wireless Power Bank is a great example of a product getting the basics right at a very affordable price. The power bank comes in typical plain white packaging like most Amazon Basics products do. Opening it reveals the power bank along with a Type-C to Type-A cable for charging it, and also for charging devices attached to it. The power bank is white in colour, with Amazon Basics branding on one side and a very elaborate marked wireless charging area on the other. The wireless charging area is rather wide and is magnetic too, so the power bank can actually stick magnetically to a phone with a magnetic back, such as most of the recent iPhones which support MagSafe charging.
The base of the power bank has a row of four LEDs to show battery and charging status, a USB Type-C port and an on-off button. At about 130 grams in weight, and around 10 centimetres in length, it is compact and small enough to be carried in a pocket. And it also does not add too much bulk to the phone when attached to it. The white colour makes it a little prone to picking up smudges and dust, but that apart, this is a compact and easy-to-carry portable power bank.
A small, versatile power bank
For something that small in size and price, the Amazon Basics Wireless Power Bank packs in a rather impressive feature list. It has a capacity of 5000 mAh, which might seem a little on the lower side, but is generally more than sufficient to charge most phones up to 60-75 per cent. Amazon claims that the power bank supports 15W MagSafe wireless charging and also 20W wired charging through the USB Type-C port. What’s more, you can even place a device on the wireless charging pad and charge it while recharging the power bank, which lets you use the power bank as a sort of wireless charger. And of course, the power bank can attach magnetically to the back of iPhones 12 and above and charge them in the process. It can also charge TWS that support wireless charging such as the AirPods Pro, the Galaxy Buds Pro and the Pixel Buds Pro. The power bank also lets you charge two devices at the same time – one wirelessly and one through a wire.
Delivering some very handy charging convenience
Magsafe power bank
It is slightly thicker than an iPhone 15 Pro (Express Photo)
The Amazon Basics Wireless Power Bank is especially useful for iPhone owners as it is small and light enough to let one use the phone even when it is charging wirelessly from the power bank. It can also charge other phones like the Nothing Phone (2) (review) and the Pixel 8 wirelessly but does not attack magnetically to their backs. Unlike some other wireless power banks, this one does not come with a magnetic ring that can be attached to other phones, although you can get third-party ones and they work fine generally. The magnetic attachment was reasonably strong and is very good even if you use it with a MagSafe-supported case.
In normal cases, however, there is a discernible change in both the strength of the attachment and charging speed. And yes, it lets us charge devices wirelessly even while charging the power bank, and also while using a wired connection from the Type-C port. The power bank was generally able to recharge about 75-80 per cent of our iPhone 14 and about 65-70 per cent of our iPhone 15 Pro (review), which is decent enough for a power bank of this capacity. We were also able to charge one device wirelessly and another by a wired connection at the same time, which is a neat touch, although of limited use, given the relatively low capacity of the power bank.
Not a wireless charging speed merchant, but still very handy (especially if you have an iPhone)
Amazon basics power bank
With a USB-C port and wireless charging, it can charge up to two devices at once (Express Photo)
The only significant catch in this Amazon Basics Wireless Power Bank is its wireless charging speed. While it charges at about 20W over a wired connection (you can get an iPhone 15 from 0-50 per cent in about half an hour), the wireless charging speed is significantly slower and definitely does not seem to be the 15W that the website claims. In fact, we would put the wireless charging speed at closer to 5W or 7.5W – it never seemed to hit 15W with the iPhone 15, the Pixel 8 or the Nothing Phone (2). While that is really way too slow to quickly recharge your phone (it took almost 90 minutes to go from 0-50 per cent on the iPhone 15), it is enough to make sure that your phone’s battery levels do not drop while you are charging it. The corner of the power bank close to the on/off button also sometimes tends to get a little warm while you are charging a device wirelessly, so we would advise a little care. In a neat touch, the LED closest to the USB port turns green to show the power bank is charging another device. The power bank itself takes close to three hours to get charged using a 20W charger (it has a maximum charging speed of 18W).
It is not the speedy wireless charger that the copy on the website suggests, but even then the Amazon Basics Wireless Power Bank is a super handy power bank for those who want steady wireless charging along with relatively brisk wireless charging on a tight budget, At close to Rs 1,000, this is a power bank that is pretty much in a zone of its own. It’s versatility and magnetic attachment are particularly handy for iPhone users magnetic attachments is a huge plus for iPhone users – in fact, when we needed to get some quick charging while using the phone, we attached the power bank magnetically to the back of our iPhone 15 and charged it through a cable – the magnets kept it firmly in place and the wire charged it quickly enough. Definitely worth looking out for if you want wireless charging and fast-ish wired charging both in a compact, portable power bank and do not feel up to spending a bomb on it!
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