Wildcharge

Multi-chargers, which charge several portable products, are nothing new. But the Wildcharge is slightly cleverer – instead of having to plug your devices in, just drop them on the metallic pad, which is itself plugged into the mains, and they will start to charge.

Each product needs a small adapter attached to it first, which makes it slightly more cumbersome, but once we had attached the adapters to our various phones, the Wildcharge worked very well.

The bundle we looked at came with a wrap-around skin for the iPhone, which made it slightly more cumbersome, but did provide some shock protection as well. If you use another device, it’s possible to buy the pad alone for £50 and pick up a separate charging cable for your device. Several devices can sit on the pad and charge at once.

Several charging pads and cables are available, including various sizes of USB connector for devices such as music players, although these cost extra (see the website for details).

If you only have one phone in the house the Wildcharge is pointless but for households with three or four devices, it’s a practical and stylish way to get power to all of them.