Recommendations sought for something with USB out to charge iPhone 4S that will be on only to make calls, take pics and post updates to blog. will also be used to charge iPod nano which will be playing about 12 hours/day*. I’ll be on the road for at least ten days, possibly more. Mains power will have to be snatched where I can get it.

Solar power for UK in early April? Bar mounted turbine? whatever?

I have no idea what’s out there and less idea what’s actually any good. My mind is open.

* yes, I R fanboi. But I like the Samsung Galaxy SII too, so please keep it on topic and not on phone choice jingoism. Ta

how about something that takes AA batteries? You could just buy them along the way as needed. I’ve been thinking about getting a Powerchimp Lite, although I’m not convinced it’ll be juicy enough for heavy use.

a 6000AH auxiluary battery charged from the mains.

solar unless its come ALONG way was utter shite in new zealand in 2008

solar monkey was so bad i actually gave it away rather than carry the weight – i was only trying to charge a nokia 3110 !

i subscribe to the phone off unless using it method now and get a week out my iphone 4 without being terribly thrifty

You can get dyanamo based smart phone chargers. Not sure if that is a good option for you.

I’ve got this: http://www.dealextreme.com/p/white-light-led-flashlight-emergency-usb-charger-with-cell-phone-adapters-18883 It charges from a LIon battery which is replacable so you carry a couple and charge them up when you get power. I found even travelling in the Aussie outback you could get a bit of power occasionally. It’s pretty light (once you bin the case and adapters) and the torch is OK so you won’t need another one.

I bought a Mophie charger for my iphone on ebay last week for £19 and it doubles the battery life, weighs 60g and doubles as a protective case for the phone. Charges via USB and seems very good so far.

Proporta make good kit, look into that. It’s what I see most in the hands of mobile bloggers when I’m at tech events.

That and powermonkey/gorilla kit.

I have no idea of the comparative power requirements, but I’ve used a Powermonkey-type solar charger to keep a Garmin Edge 705 charged over a 1-week trip – in Scotland – in April 🙂 It’s mostly gonna depend on how often you use that phone.

Fuel cell. Not commercially available though. May or June is latest estimate.

http://www.phonesreview.co.uk/2011/07/05/myfc-to-launch-powertrekk-mobile-phone-fuel-cell-charger-in-q4/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2085694/PowerTrekk-Mobile-phone-charger-runs-water.html

how about something that takes AA batteries?

Might be the best idea, and the one I like most just now. There’s gonna be lots of places on the route I can buy AAs

Phone will mostly be off, I suspect that the iPod will be biggest user of juice.

The power chimp can take AA or AAA (using the supplied adaptor). Beware that it uses a pretty dum bit of electronics to step the voltage so you get quite a bit of heat built up to pump out the 5v for a USB connection to a phone.

I use a power monkey explorer. Solar works weakly, but if you leave it strapped to your bag all day long you might get a full charge after a few days of watery UK sunshine. Much better in summer on the continent.
It will charge from a 3pin or a USB, but not from batteries.

I’m just about to go down the Dynamo hub option for touring along with a Tout Terrain Plug 2 – as long as your cycling over 8km an hour you have power for any USB gadget and well as powering your lights.

I use one of these Powermonkeys. Nothing wrong with the way the power is stored, plenty of adaptors etc but…, the slider button used to turn it on can very easily get turned on in a bag or something and it seems to discharge when this happens. Not helped of course by the pulsing LED indicator light which constantly flashes when charging. I mean WTF? surely it makes more sense NOT to use up additional power on pointless lights?