When I travel, I always make sure to bring along all my cameras, phone, laptop, chargers, etc. It’s a lot to carry around, but I’d rather lug it all around with me than forget something and find myself disconnected from my technology. Still, there have been times where I’ve been stuck in an airport with no laptop or no way to charge my phone. The future looks slightly less bleak with something I noticed at the Dallas Fort Worth airport on my way home last night.
It’s called PowerPort and it handles all your charging problems in one spot, prints, gets you online, and offers up laptops to rent.
Charge anything
OK… Probably not anything, but they claim it can charge up to 1,200 makes and models of devices, which pretty much means that they’re including the 7 or 8 most popular connectors. If your device has some crazy proprietary connector and isn’t an iPod, you may be out of luck. Even so, In Philadelphia, I charged my iPhone in a laptop workstation area at the terminal and kept looking up from my more comfortable seat 10 feet away to make sure someone didn’t walk off with it. $4.50 might just be worth it to not have to worry about that if you have an expensive device in need of charging. Ultimately, I’d suggest having something like the Mophie Juice Pack or the Ecosol Powerstick with you, but in a pinch, $4.50 is an OK rescue price for a dead battery.
Rent a laptop
If I didn’t feel compelled to take my laptop everywhere, I would be all over this, and that may be its only flaw. I think people who really need to be online that much will generally have a laptop next to them at the terminal already. That’s not to say it’s a bad idea. When I saw it, I thought it was a great idea and a great price. For $6.95 an hour, you can have an internet-connected laptop to use while you wait for your flight. I see some possible problem areas. First, it’s an unmanned kiosk, so there’s nobody to check the laptops when they are returned after rental. The reason this gives me concern is that it’s like lending your laptop to someone right before and right after you use it. How can you be assured that your data is secure and that the laptop will be free of viruses or even be functioning properly when you get it? I’m sure that 99.5% of the time a laptop rental will go flawlessly, but it’s the last .5% I’m worried about.
Print documents
There’s not much to say about this except that you can print documents with the laptop rental at no additional fee. Of course, it’s a shared printer out in the open, so if it’s confidential, you should go grab it right away.
Surf the web
We’ve seen this in airports and hotels for a while. I’ve never been a big fan of using a public computer that is easily viewable by anyone to get online. If I’m looking up directions on Google Maps or just checking some sports scores, that’s fine, but if I’m logging into something, checking email, etc., I want a little more privacy.
Additional thoughts
This isn’t a paid post, nor did I actually try any of the services offered and the website seems to be lacking in detailed specifics, so if you want more information, go to powerports.com and poke around or contact the company directly with questions. I wanted to write about it because, as a tech consumer, I was excited about the concept and would have forked over a few bucks to use it if I didn’t already have everything I needed with me. If you’ve used it, I’d love to hear your opinions and experiences.
