Cherro’s Backup Battery Duo Are Two of the Best on the Market

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If you’re in the market for a backup battery for your phone, you’ll probably already know that there are easily thousands of them on the market, but you’ll be hard pressed to find some that actually will charge both your phone and your tablet more than 30%. I’ve been able to test quite a few of these battery cases, but the two battery cases I have in hand honestly hold their own in the market.

I was sent two mobile batteries, the Ingress Power Cube and the Cheero Power Plus 3 made by Cheero, the number one selling battery charger maker in Japan. Upon first opening the boxes to each I have to say, the packaging is simplistic and straight to the point, which is something I like when it comes to battery packs.

The first one I tried out was Cheero’s Ingress Power Cube. The 12000mAh battery is honestly beautiful. The box itself just looks really great, and the emblem on the front is reminiscent of the Transformer Decepticons emblem, which we’ll get into a bit later.. Once you open the box you get the standard items like the USB, the manual, and a pretty neat carrying case. The Ingress is pretty slim yet long in length which means it may fit in most back pockets, certainly a few purses. Me personally I enjoyed carrying both the Ingress and my iPhone in the carrying pouch.

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The ingress overall is just nice. I’ve never personally had any battery pack that went over 10000mAh, so 12000mAh was pretty nice. But the glaring features begin when you actually pull the plastic protection off of the battery pack. Once you do this you are greeted by a shiny design that would remind you of something like a black diamond or a jewel. It’s reflective colors are a reddish and green color on the inside which once you turn on completely, you’ll see more.

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Once you stop marveling over the design and turn the Ingress Power Cube on from the side left button, you’ll notice that you will have not one, but two outlets side by side, obviously 1a being for your smartphone, and 2a being for your tablet. And then beside that you have your standard USB port to charge the actual device itself. I will say that the Ingress after trying, did manage to charge my devices WHILE charging which I thought was really nifty, especially since I am attempting to be a minimalist (for my girlfriends sake). But the selling point when you turn it on is the beautiful, no, let me restate that.. damn beautiful Decepticon like icon glowing blue, green and white at the top of the Ingress. And the colors rotate from all green, to all blue and all white by using the circular button above the power button on the side, which is pretty tight if I must say so.

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After charging the Ingress for about 2 hours, it went from the two bars it came with to four white dots, which show after pressing that round button, or the power button, and the notification dots show up directly above the “Ingress” label.

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Charging my phone was actually pretty neat, especially out in public. I had a few people come to me and ask me what type of charger that was, and why it was glowing. Typically I look like a bit like a nerd when carrying around a battery case, to the point I’m sure people are saying “Why do you need to charge your phone in public?”.. Normally my answer would be “Remember that when you have 10% battery life and you’re running to your car”, but with the Ingress I had more people wondering about it, so I made sure to pass along information. Charging my iPhone 6 Plus on it (charging meaning putting it down and actually not using it), it charged from 35% to 90% in about 45 solid minutes. This is about standard for a backup battery. I failed to mention this earlier but the USB cable that came with the Ingress (as well as the Power Plus 3) are universal, so you can charge your phone, or the battery pack with it. Something you can’t do with a *cough* Mophie…

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Up next is Cheero Power Plus 3.

If the Cheero Power Plus 3 was the Ingress Power Cube’s big brother, it would be the more muscular brother that instead of winning “Best Dressed” in High School superlatives, it would hands down win “Most Likely to Succeed.”

For good reason because Cheero kept the Power Plus 3 as simplistic as possible. The 13400mAh battery is shorter, rounder, and although it has the same qualities as the Ingress, it packs a bit more in its frame, because it’s not the size of the boat…

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The white battery pack sports grey sides also comes with it’s own personal 2-in-1 USB/Lightning cable so you can charge either Android or iPhone, which I think is neat. Cheero at the time has an offer where if you are one of the first couple thousand people to purchase the Power Plus 3, you will also receive the cable. It’s not available to buy separately so it’s all or nothing.

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Above the “Cheero” branding near the end is where all of the magic happens. The Cheero sports the same two USB ports (1a & 2.4a), separated with the USB plug for charging the device itself in the center. On the far left is the power button which is easily recognizable, and easy to toggle on.

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Instead of having the glowing lights and all of the spunk of the Ingress, the Power Plus 3 has four on board dots that you’d probably see on more standard battery packs that glow when charging, and checking the battery life. When I plugged my phone into the Power Plus 3, it was already fully charged which was great because nothing like a new device and having to charge it up (why don’t more companies think of this?!!). I won’t fault Cheero for not completely charging the Ingress because it’s so great to look at.

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The extra 1,400mAH that you get in the Power Plus 3 from the Ingress matters as well. I did something a bit different with the Power Plus 3 versus the Ingress. I decided to charge two smartphones (my iPhone 6+ and my Nokia Lumia 1520) on the Cheero Power Plus 3 since they are two huge smartphone screens once they got down to thirty percent, and although I plugged the Nokia into the 2.4mAh slot, the iPhone 6+ was the first to charge up completely. The Lumia took an additional 15-17 minutes to charge up and after I charged them both I ended up with two dots of battery life, respectfully. Which meant that the Cheero charged not one, but two smartphones, and still had enough juice to possibly get me an extra 15-20% on my iPad Mini Retina if I decided I needed it.

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Overall, I personally like both, and I feel like you would too. I recommend the Power Plus 3 if you have two heavy use devices (two smartphones or a tablet and a smartphone). The Ingress probably would be the same way, but I can see me using the Ingress a bit more for when I want to just charge my phone, and maybe my Bluetooth headphones. The Ingress is more for when you’re at that MLB game that may be a long 10-11 innings. The Power Plus 3 is for when you forget your charger at home and know you’ll be out all day.

If you’d like to purchase either backup battery, the links are below:

Purchase the Ingress Power Cube

Purchase the Cheero Power Plus 3

Source: Manufacturer Supplied Review Unit

What I like: I LOVE the Ingress and the glowing features it has, but the Power Plus 3 charges virtually EVERYTHING at least 1.5 times; GET BOTH

What Needs Improvement: I feel like all Cheero products should come with that 2-in-1 charging cable

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About the Author

Greg Alston
Diehard Apple fanboy, and lover of all things tech. Born and raised in Washington, DC, Greg enjoys spending time with his wife, family, and friends, live sporting events, good bourbon, Tetris, and pizza. In that order.