It’s a little thing, but I find it frustrating sometimes to fumble around for the proper orientation to insert my phone’s charging cable into the micro-USB port – especially in the dark. Generally speaking, it only takes 10 seconds at most for me to do this which really isn’t a big deal, yet, isn’t it always better to find a faster and easier way to do things? MagCable by aMagic is a magnetic USB cable which will make this process a snap and it will work with iPhones and Android devices.
The MagCable (either Lightning or micro-USB) comes with an adapter tip which is inserted into your charging port allowing the charging cable to connect to it magnetically. The cable is one meter long, supports high-speed data transfer and charging, has a fast charging switch (turns off data sync to charge faster), is reversible, has a smart light indicator to inform you of its charging status and enable you to find it in the dark, and is dust and waterproof. You may pre-order a MagCable (Lightning or micro-USB) with an adapter tip for $15 (estimated delivery date: November 2015). There are other ordering options as well. Please visit the aMagic website for more information. What an elegant, simple solution to save up to 10 seconds every time you need to charge your device. Just imagine what you could do with all that time!
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Looks pretty similar to znaps.net, except maybe a little bulkier. I’d love to see a review of each when they become available!
I noticed the similarities as well. But upon further examination there are some notable differences between the Znaps and MagCable:
-The MagCable is a CABLE WITH an adapter while the Znaps are just adapters/connectors to be used with your existing charging cable. Although aMagic has also provided just an adapter/connector (without having to purchase their cable) to work with your existing Lightning cable as well.
-In addition when you purchase the Znaps you must purchase an adapter for your existing charging cable as well as a micro-USB or Lightning connector which is inserted into your phone’s charging port, so Znaps are a little more expensive.
-On top of all that, the MagCable cable also has a fast charge button that will turn off data syncing on your phone to charge your phone faster.
Nice, thanks for the comparison, Kathleen! I backed the Znaps Kickstarter campaign and do think it’d be cool if there was a way to disable data transfer to increase charging speeds!
I wonder if Apple’s patent could be a problem for MagCable? Znaps answered these questions during their campaign.
Q: Why did you make an adapter instead of a cable?
A: If we made the whole cable to connect, it would’ve violated Apple’s patent.
Q:What about this patent from Apple https://www.google.com/patents/US7311526
A: Our patent lawyer did a patent search before we started the project. This is one of the reasons why we didn’t develop ZNAPS into a whole charging cable. We haven’t infringed on Apple’s patent.
Either way, the more competition the better. I support both!
Fascinating! I didn’t realize that that was the reason Znaps didn’t create a cable. I have to wonder too if MagCable has address this problem. All I could find was a question posted two days ago about Apple MFI certification:
[from Edward]: “And so do u guys gotten the APPLE MFI cert yet? Cuz I wouldn’t like to get a cable that is useless to my iPhone especially when it comes to the “reversible” charging for Apple devices. Hopefully u guys could get the “MagSafe Patent”/ MFI solved.”
[from aMagic]: “We’ve submitted application documentation but we have not heard anything back from APPLE yet.”
Just ordered two cables.
But this company’s shopping cart and order experience is the worst I’ve ever seen in 25 years of web purchasing. No way to go back to the start, change items, etc.
and they’ve described a 15 cm adapter as 1 meter.
I hope their product works better than the web pages.
Sandee,
Hmm, I hope you ordered what you intended to order. The 15 cm adapter (with an associated tip to insert into your phone’s charging port) is an adapter that you would use with your existing Lightning cable. If you wanted the actual MagCable CABLE (1 m long) with the correct adapter tip for your iPhone/Android phone, that is a different purchase option.
Thanks kathleen,
i think i ordered what i wanted to order although i can use both the cable or the adapter.
i really couldn’t tell well and it was so hard to go back that i order just a single package. I’ll go for more if I like then and they don’t create problems when charging either my apple products or Nexus.
But i can’t stress enough how awful that shopping cart is.
Will it cover the entire bottom of a Galaxy S5? The cover to that port broke off on my phone. The S5 use to be waterproof/dust proof with that cover. Just want it covered again.
This is a news post and not a review which means that I do not own a MagCable. Thus, unfortunately, I cannot say whether or not this will do what you want.
I imagine a combination of this thing and a modest amount of Sugru would do the trick.
Thanks for the suggestion Jo!
I will definitely be getting one for my Nexus 7 as plugging in the microUSB cable is a chore. Probably not for my iPhone because I have two Belkin docks that really need the lightning plug engaged to keep the phone steady. Would have been nice though for the other two places I keep my iPhone (car mount and nightstand mount)…don’t want to keep unplugging the phone insert.
…I just realized one problem: I have a OTG cable that allows me to simultaneously charge my Nexus and use my USB hub with it. I really need a microUSB adapter like the Lightning adapter they have.
If they made the Lightning adapter hopefully they will make the micro-USB adapter as well.