Motorola P790 Portable Power Charger review: Motorola P790 Portable Power Charger

A portable charger is not something that most cell phone users might purchase until they actually need it. Of course by then, they may be hard to find, especially when you're in the middle of nowhere without an electrical outlet in sight. It's a good idea then, to purchase a simple portable phone charger and stash it in a safe place for emergency purposes. The Motorola P790 is one such device, and its compact and lightweight design makes for easy portability. However, it only works with phones that have a miniUSB port, which includes most Motorola and BlackBerry handhelds. It retails for $49.99 but you can easily get one for less than $40 if you shop around. To find more accessories like this, plus tips on how to use them, please check out our cell phone accessories help page.

The Motorola P790 almost looks like a miniature version of the Motorola Pebl U6-- it has a soft-touch rubberized surface in a compact oval design. It measures 3.0 by 2.02 inches by 0.93 inch and weighs around 2.8 ounces, making it really easy to slip in a purse or pocket. On the front of the device is a slider mechanism that slides up to reveal a connector, which you can then plug into your phone. Sliding it up also activates the charge, which is indicated by a green LED light on the charger. On the bottom of the P790 is a charging jack, which you then attach to an AC adapter to juice up the charger. Yes, you have to charge the charger before you begin using it.

Once we charged it up for a few hours, we then tested it with a Motorola Razr V3 that was out of battery power. The charger went to work almost immediately, and we managed to power up the phone and continue making calls. An hour later and the Razr V3 was fully charged again. We were duly impressed with such a speedy recovery, and the Motorola P790 charger certainly delivered on its promise. Since the P790 shares the same style of charger jack as most miniUSB phones, you could also get away with only using one AC adapter for both your phone and the P790. You could also use the P790 on Motorola Bluetooth headsets that have the miniUSB port.