Proporta TurboCharger 5000 charges almost anything pretty much anywhere

The Proporta TurboCharger 5000 will charge almost any phone while you're out and about, but the headline feature of this dinky battery pack is that it can juice up your power-thirsty iPad at the same time.

The TurboCharger is a small device, about the size of a pack of cards, and made out of stylish matte plastic. On one end there are a trio of USB sockets. Two are outputs, for charging pretty much any device you can name -- as long as it has a USB charging cable, or works with the supplied connector heads -- and a single input, which is how you charge this charger.

The twin outputs are labelled 'low' and 'high' and this is to allow you to plug high-drain and low-drain devices at the same time. There's no reason you can't plug a phone into the 'high' socket though -- it won't vanish in a ball of flames or anything. Just don't expect much if you connect an iPad to the 'low' output.

Included in the pack is a smart-looking carry case, as well as all the connector heads you're likely to need for charging various devices. There's an Apple adaptor, mini- and micro-USB, and connectors for phones from Nokia and Sony Ericsson, and the Nintendo DS Lite. There's also a wind-up cable, into which you plug these various connector heads.

While iPad charging is fine and dandy, what about those of us who opt to use the delightful Samsung Galaxy Tab? No dice, we're afraid, but it's really not Proporta's fault. Like the iPad, the Galaxy Tab needs quite a bit of power to charge, but sadly it's more than the device can provide -- the Tab needs a 2 Amp supply, whereas the TurboCharger can deliver 1.5 Amps.

What we loved about the TurboCharger was the generous battery capacity -- 5,000mAh -- which will charge most mobiles two or three times at least before the battery is exhausted. You can also charge two devices at once.

What we weren't so keen on was the LED power indicator, which is a little difficult to interpret. For example, the three lights often remain lit for longer than we think they should, which means there's less charge in the battery than you might think. Far from the end of the world, but worth bearing in mind when you're in the field.

The Proporta TurboCharger 5000 costs £40 from Amazon, but will repay that many times over when you find yourself stuck on a non-moving train, with your battery flat and in desperate need of entertainment.