There are so many ways to charge your phone nowadays that a charging cable is an essential part of a gadget bag. One problem I have is carrying around the long, Apple cord that gets tangled up while in my purse. We have finally started seeing Apple-certified Lightning cables come out, so I was happy to get the chance to try out the AluCable Mini Lightning cable by Just Mobile. At just 4″ (10 cm) long, there’s no way it can get in the way, right?
Inside of the nice packaging, you’ll find one short Lightning cable. When I say short, I mean it. From end to end it is about 6.3″. (The 4″ is the cable itself, not including connectors.) It is much shorter than I had anticipated. For my purposes, however, that was a good thing.
As you can see, the cable is about as long as the phone itself. It plugged in easily to the phone, and it felt secure and fit perfectly. If you talk on the phone while plugged in, this cable will not work unless you want a portable battery hanging from your ear.
I tried the cable with my most portable battery, and the USB end fit perfectly into it; it worked as well with my computer and a power brick. The cable charged my devices at the same speed as my other cables. Â You should have no worries about it damaging your phone, as the ends do not even get warm while in use.
Each end has premium aluminum finishing and a solid connecter. I really liked the little J|M logo, as it gives it a nice touch. Since the connecter is thick, it gives great leverage for pulling it from the USB port. The cable is also tough enough that it withstood me yanking it from my phone by the cable itself several times.
The only flaw I found with this cable happens with most cables not manufactured by Apple. The Lightning end is quite a bit thicker than that of the Apple cable (0.51″ vs 0.31″), meaning any case that you have will need to have a good-sized hole for the charging port. Otherwise, the Just Mobile AluCable Mini is a great little cable to throw in with your travel gear. It is sturdy enough to handle most of what you dish out and short enough that it takes up hardly any room. I would highly recommend this for a purse or travel bag, especially if you use portable batteries often.
Product Information
| Price: | $19.95 |
| Manufacturer: | Just Mobile |
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“…meaning any case that you have will need to have a good-sized hole for the charging port.”
I’ve broken out the Dremel or X-acto knife for many cases for this very reason.
I’d like to go even shorter…
http://amzn.com/B00E9B8V5M
Looks like this one suffers from the larger connector problem too…
20 dollars for a tiny cable? Are you people insane?
@Mike Pizano While I wont defend the price, I will say I have had many cables for my iPad, iPod and iPhone and have found that over time most, even the Apple supplied ones come up short in quality and durability.
@jhon I too have felt your pain in the size of the oppening for the charging cables on phone cases. Luckily the only case I have had an issue with using a just mobile cable has been my Incipio Atlas case.
With my 30 pin connectors, I bought cheapo ones and certified ones.. the ones that I still use for my iPad? The certified ones.. half of the cheapo ones broke within a month and the other ones get so warm that I am afraid to use them overnight as to start a fire.
So I tend to go now with Apple certified.. 🙂 That’s why $20 to me isn’t bad for the piece of mind of knowing my $600 device isn’t going to get damaged due to a cheap cord.
I have never had an issue with cheap micro USB cables.
Me neither for the micro-USB (Though I’ve bought only one and it was free after rebate from Fry’s so I am not sure the original cost) but for the 30 pin, I have. 🙂