• Card reader
• Car charger with USB output
• Headset
• AC travel converters.

Price: $105.00

• Card reader. This portable multi-card reader is a small device specifically designed for fast, easy data transfer and exchange using multiple types of memory cards (such as MMC and SD) without the need for an adapter.
   
• Headset. Use it with the Language Teacher program, listen to recorded books, listen to music.
   
• Set of AC travel converters. This is actually the Foreign Adapter Kit TS-534AA with 4 adaptors (the 4 most common international adapter plugs). It allows you to connect to international power outlets, because it contains plugs for Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia, South America, China, Tahiti, Caribbean, North America, Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, South Pacific Islands, Great Britain, Ireland And Hong Kong.

• The automotive power supply plugs into an accessory plug in your car (or your rental car) to provide USB power to the device you want to charge. This was originally developed for the iTravl electronic translator. But because it's USB, it also works with the 850-series translator and the 900-series translator. In fact, it will work with any mobile device (or cradle charger for it) that charges via USB.
  
  That's a pretty long list, and it includes many models of such devices as:
  • GPS.
  • PDAs.
  • PocketPCs (all models).
  • Digital cameras.
  • iPods.
  • iPhones.

About USB

USB is a defined term, and any USB devices must follow the IEEE standard for USB. For power supplies, as an example, it means 5V output.

Mobile devices and battery drain

Mobile devices are always on. Nobody wants to reboot a smart phone just to make a phone call. Thus, a mobile device constantly drains its battery even if the screen is turned off or it goes into standby mode. After a few days, that drain can be significant. For most reliability, don't go more than a couple of days without charging for an hour or two.

How to have healthy batteries

When using any USB charging source, follow the charging limits of the li-polymer battery device you are using. Note that, typically, the manufacturer does not provide the correct information. So, we'll do that here for you.

Most mobile devices do not have robust charging circuitry, to save weight and space. Thus, the only way to prevent overcharging (and thus destroying) the battery is to avoid overcharging. Typically, this means to stop charging after 8 to 12 hours maximum.

The actual permissible time under charge is a function of the battery capacity in mAH and the charging rate of the adapter/charger. But it's not simple division to know that time. The output number on a charger is its initial rate. That rate slows dramatically as the battery charges--think of back pressure when you are trying to blow up a balloon and how it gets harder as the balloon fills with air. Same thing in a battery.

Li-poly batteries accept partial charges and do not develop memory. Charge them frequently for a couple of hours and they'll last a very long time.