We recently reviewed the WoodPuck: Bamboo Edition Qi Wireless Charger Pad from Fonesalesman, based out of the UK. They were nice enough to send us a 4000mAh QiStone Wireless Power Bank to test out as well, and we’ll be taking a look at this portable wireless charging solution in our QiStone Wireless Charger review.
Design
Keeping with the nature theme of the WoodPuck, the QiStone+ features a stone finish design. While it may look like a shaped rock, the QiStone is still light enough to carry with you. It features four soft pads on the bottom for surface grip, a microUSB port for charging the QiStone, and a full sized USB port on the back. Most portable chargers require you to plug your device into it in order to recharge. While the QiStone does have that feature, its main attraction is its ability to charge your Qi compatible devices wirelessly – simply place your device on the QiStone and it will begin charging. In addition, should you choose to, you can charge an additional device via the USB port on the back.
Performance
The QiStone works great. As with all Qi wireless chargers, charging isn’t as quick as plugging your device into the wall, but it was on par with other wireless chargers I’ve used. When your Qi compatible device is set on top, the QiStone emits an audible beep to indicate it is charging your device. A blue light on the side indicates an active charge and a series of 4 green lights indicate how much charge is left in the QiStone. The Fonesalesman logo on the top of the charger also doubles as an on/off button to help you conserve even more charge when not in use. As well, if no charging is detected after 30 seconds, the QiStone goes into sleep mode.
I was able to charge up my Nexus 5 from a near dead state and a second phone plugged in and still had one green light indicating some charge left in the QiStone+. I had no issues using it with my Nexus 5 housed in a Caseology TPU case and it wirelessly charged a Moto360 just fine as well. The QiStone also keeps its charge relatively well, I charged it up on a Friday to full capacity and when I went to use it on the following Monday it still had 4 green lights showing, although it did seem to drop to three lights pretty quickly indicating it was at about 75% capacity.
The QiStone will also charge your device while it’s plugged in and charging itself, however it will take longer for it to recharge back up to full capacity.
Price/Value
If you purchase from the Fonesalesman site, the QiStone+ version (which allows you to also wirelessly charge the QiStone+ itself, a feature not on the regular QiStone) will set you back £44.99/€61.98/$68.67USD. It may seem a bit pricey but the fact that it has both wireless and wired charging is a great feature. However, and as is usually the case, the QiStone is also available on sale through Amazon and will only set you back $45 for the QiStone or $60 for the QiStone+. While a neat feature, I’m not sure being able to wirelessly recharge the QiStone is worth an extra $15.
The QiStone also comes with a carrying pouch and two microUSB to USB cables – one longer and a short one for charging devices from the QiStone. In addition, the review sample we received also included two microUSB port covers (one white and one black), as well as a smart button for Android devices which works with the KlicK app from the Google Play store. The smart button works quite well, simply insert it into your headphone jack and set up the app to respond to one, two, three clicks (or a single long click) to launch the app of your choice.
Wrap Up
The QiStone Wireless Charger Bank is a decent looking portable Qi wireless charging device. If you’re looking for a wireless charger to use on the go, this charger from Fonesalesman is definitely worth a look.
[rwp-review id=”0″]*We were sent a review unit of the QiStone Wireless Charger Bank for the purposes of this review.
Last Updated on November 27, 2018.
