If you’re like me, you have quite a few USB powered devices lying around your desk. The nice thing about USB devices is how versatile they are. You can charge your iPhone from your Mac, PC or wall charger. However, wall chargers, or “wall warts” as some like to call them, can get pretty darn annoying after awhile. If you’re trying to plug your iPhone, iPad and MacBook into the same wall outlet, you’re pretty much out of luck on a standard two-plug wall outlet. That’s why the people at Newer Technology made the Power2U, a standard wall outlet with two USB ports.
The Power2U fits any standard North American wall outlet and looks almost identical to any other outlet which resides on your wall. The two USB ports are located towards the center of the outlet and have two spring-loaded flaps which protect them from “vampire” energy draw. The outlet also features Smart Power, which determines how much power to output to each device you have plugged in. For instance, your iPhone won’t have as high of a power output as your iPad.
As far as installation goes, the Power2U can be installed the same way as any other outlet. Just turn off the power in your apartment or house, pull the old outlet out and connect the new one. Other World Computing, an official Newer Technology reseller, has an installation video on their website to ensure a safe install.
Once installed, you can plug in your USB devices to charge. No longer will you have to worry about plugging in “wall warts” or running out of outlets. Because of this, I can highly recommend the Power2U as it does what it’s advertised to do: add two USB ports to your wall. If you’d like to purchase a Power2U for yourself, head over to Other World Computing’s website and prepare to drop $14.99 per outlet. You can buy the Power2U in four different colors: black, white, ivory and almond.
