PS Vita Portable Charger

I absolutely love my PS Vita and get a lot of use out of it. The battery lasts a while, but I often tend to play for long periods of time, especially when I'm out and have no access to other game systems. This portable charger works beautifully for that extra battery power, though. The box itself is quite durable and charges easily with the PS Vita charger. It gives at LEAST double on the standard battery length, if not more. I also get other uses out of it for things that charge via USB. Excellent purchase!

Update July 2013: Almost a year later this thing still works excellently! I have left it charged months at a time (it's probably a horrible thing to do) yet every time I was curious and pressed the power button to check the charge, it's always been green (even after 4 months!). Excellent product, highly recommended!Update: The owner's manual states it will take approximately 7 hours to fully charge the device; unfortunately, I was not present to record the time when the indicator light turned off. For size comparisons, please refer to pictures I have uploaded. Also, I would like to add that this fits snugly inside the Official Sony Travel Pouch and since the width (or depth I should say) of the device is similar to the power brick, you may use the power brick to see if this charger will fit in your travel cases however the other dimensions are different so account for those. I will update again after continued use!--Original Review--Author's Note: I will update this when I have used the device. These are initial impressions with information provided in the owner's manual that are not presented in the product information.The object is pretty weighty (135g) about as heavy as an iPhone 4 and the dimensions are 67 x 79 x 22mm (2.7 x 2.8 x 0.9 in).Input: DC 5V/1.0AOutput: DC 5V/1.5ABattery: DC 3.7 V, 5000mAhWhen Charging the portable charger the button indicator blinks:Green - Approximately 70% or more battery charge in the chargerOrange - Approximately 40 - 70% battery charge in the chargerRed - Approximately 40% or less battery charge in the chargerNot lit - Fully ChargedWhen Charger is supplying power to devices button lit continuously,Green - Approximately 70% or more battery charge in the chargerOrange - Approximately 40 - 70% battery charge in the chargerRed - Approximately 40% or less battery charge in the chargerNot lit - Fully Charged/No remaining charge in chargerRemember that this device outputs at 1.5A for your Vita (this is the minimum output required for the Vita to stay on and charge simultaneously) however, if you plug in another device; let's say an smartphone, the charger will adjust to the required current (around 1A) . In other words, it won't fry your smart phone's battery.IMPORTANT: Please note that this requires (!!) the Vita charger to charge the portable charger. The bottom of the portable charger has the input charging port which is the same port that the PS Vita requires to charge (USB port on the top and PS Vita charging port is on the bottom). In a way that's convenient because it cuts down on packaging and pricing if you own a Vita; however if you don't own a Vita you will need to buy BOTH the USB cord AND the AC adaptor. So if you are considering purchasing this without owning a Vita, look for an alternative as the USB cord and AC adaptor are pricey!The reason I bought this over other alternatives is the 1.5A that will allow me to play both my Vita and charge it simultaneously. As for the need for the AC adaptor, I think it's a great idea to reduce the amount of cords cluttered around. If I were to really travel somewhere far I would bring my Vita charger anyway so I don't see why people find this to be a fault.I will run a few tests to see whether this device can charge an iPhone 4S, HTC Evo 3D, and other USB charged devices <the battery charges the listed devices> I find around the house. I will also test to see if the charger can charge itself while simultaneously charging the Vita <does not work, you can only charge one or the other>. Feel free to leave any questions or tests you'd like done in the comments!

Doesn't charge/recharge if you don't have the official USB / Vita specific charging cables. Definately not recommended if you are using an alternate cables and at this point in the life stage of the console I don't know much people with a PCH-1000 console that still have the original cable.

To start off, this is a great portable battery. It's simple one button operation makes it very easy to use. I also really like how the power button lights up differently, with the same color code as the Vita itself, to let you know the status of the battery. I received mine, plugged it in to charge, and in about 2 hours it was good to go. The power button even blinks the different colors to let you know what the charging progress is. It is very compact, recharges itself quickly, charges the Vita properly, and is at a very good price point...unlike the memory cards. If Sony missed the mark with those, they definitely made up for it with this.As far as the battery itself, there are cheaper alternatives, but they will not work properly with the Vita. Here is why. Practically every other battery of this size, capacity, and even in the ballpark of this price point, only has an output of 1.0 amps. This battery has an output of 1.5 amps. The PS Vita's internal circuitry looks for this output, and if it doesn't see it, it won't charge while powered up. If you want to play while charging, or without shutting down completely, this is the only battery like this that will work. You can't go by the "5v, 5000mAh" rating, as others have suggested. If playing while charging is important to you, this is the battery you need.Something to be mindful of, is that this battery is all you get in the package. You will need the USB cable that came with the Vita, as well as the Vita power brick, to charge it. You can also use the Sony Vita car charger to charge your battery on the go, or you can charge it via most any USB cell phone charger, or USB 2.0/3.0 port. Remember, that like the Vita itself, this battery likes a 1.5 amp output for charging. The charger that came with an iPhone is only 1.0 amps, but the one that came with the iPad is 2.1 amps. That means that this battery will charge the iPhone, and even the new iPad (which requires a minimum of 1.5 amps) with no problem whatsoever, depending on your screen brightness (since that determines how much power the iPad needs to draw). It is so versatile, I have ordered two more of them to have on hand.Another nice thing about this battery, is that it fits very well in the limited edition clam shell case that came as part of the First Edition bundle. In that little cargo pocket up top I have the portable battery, the USB cable, the Vita headphones, and a few games wrapped up in a screen cleaning cloth. With two games in each of the elastic game pockets, I have all I need for a day out and about, and nothing is "crammed" in anywhere. That was not the case when I had to carry the AC brick/cord up there. This battery definitely cleans up the package nicely.As a side note, if you need or want additional USB cables, the Vita AC power brick, or the Vita car charger, I have seen them on clearance at most Target stores for between five and ten dollars each. They even have the Sony PS Vita travel case for five bucks.

This heavy little brick is a 5000 mAh charger. Requires vita 1000 charging cable. Requirements to charge the vita are 5v, any modern $20 charging block from the self checkout at Walmart has double the capacity nowadays.Mine arrived dead, and after having it plugged in for a full 24 hrs, still hasn't charged at all despite the charging light being on. I unplug it and it's dead. Probably just mine, as i see others with much better results.I'm sure this was a must have back in the early days of the vita, but you can get a 20,000 mAh battery pack now for $30. A good one.I'd only recommend this is you want to keep it in the package as a novelty.