How to choose a charger with the right power output for your mobile device? | Ask Us Anything #34

Welcome back to another episode of Ask Us Anything, where we gather your questions from the internet and answer them.

In today’s episode, we answer how to choose a charger with the right power output for your mobile device, what password managers the SoyaCincau team uses and how to charge the Apple Magic mouse.

Which charger is right for me?

Well, the charger’s output and whether you need a GAN-based charger depends on how you’re going to charge your devices. If you’re going to charge them one at a time, you should get a charger that matches the input of the highest wattage device. For example, if you have three devices with a 15W, 18W and 20W power input, you should choose a charger than can output at least 20W.

So this 20W Power Delivery charger or PD charger from UGREEN will do just the trick. Modern PD chargers are equipped with Programmable Power Supply or PPS for short. This means that they can adapt their wattage based on the device’s requirements. Therefore, in this case, the charger can lower its output to 18W and 15W when those phones are connected.

On the other hand, if you’re planning to charge all three devices at the same time, then you will need to buy a GAN charger, as only this type of charger can output high wattages while remaining compact. In this case, you will need a GAN charger that can output more than 53W and this 65W GAN charger from UGREEN is a good example.

There are a total of 3 USB C ports and 1 USB A port. You can connect all three of your devices to any one of these ports and the charger will automatically allocate the required wattage for each port.

You can also check out my previous AUA episodes where I recommend a GAN charger for laptops and a compact 100W GAN charger.

What password managers do we use?

To answer this question, I went around the office and asked the team what password managers they are using.

Both Amin and Alex are using 1Password. Alex likes it for its ease of use, compatibility with Windows, web browsers, Android, iOS, and iPadOS, and he can quickly unlock the app using FaceID or fingerprint. Amin meanwhile appreciates the support for two-factor authentication for tighter security and the service is reasonably priced. Both had no complaints based on their experience with 1Password.

In case you’re interested the service starts from USD2.99 (RM14.14) per month if billed annually.

Now, Jon being the hardcore Apple user that he is, chose to use iCloud Keychain. He likes it because he doesn’t need to sign up for another service as it is baked into Apple’s operating systems, and it works seamlessly across his Apple devices. However, he did say that Apple’s password manager does not play nice with Maybank’s MAE app at the moment, which goes the same for 1Password as well.

Lastly, both Dzamira and yours truly use the password manager built into Google Chrome.

Both she and I like it because we don’t have to download any additional software, plus it’s free. Dzamira does note that sometimes, the password manager can be a little glitchy and not save the password or fills in the wrong credentials in the text field. I used to experience this occasionally, but not anymore.

Another thing that I like is that Safari on my iPad can access the usernames and passwords stored on Google Chrome once I authenticate with my fingerprint.

If you’re wondering what your favourite SoyaCincau personality uses, Rory said he uses his brain because the upside is that it’s free, but the downside is that it forgets things sometimes.

How do you charge the Apple Magic mouse?

To charge the Apple Magic mouse, you will need a Lightning cable to connect to the charge port at the mouse’s bottom. A 5-minute charge returns 9 hours of use while a full charge takes about 2 hours. While it’s charging you cannot use the mouse, not even the touchpad on top or the buttons, as it is turned off.

We’re looking for driven, like-minded creatives to join our growing team!

I would like to announce that we are looking for people to join the SoyaCincau family. There’s an opening for Videographer, editor and graphic designer, and BM Tech writer. If any of these positions caught your attention, you can find more information here.