OnePlus Power Bank: Sleek, powerful, and wonderfully affordable

Portable batteries are a dime a dozen, and you don’t have to go very far to find a cheap and powerful option. Amazon is full of some great choices, while companies like Mophie offer some high-end alternatives. But, quietly, OnePlus is throwing its name into the portable charger hat. And, like anything OnePlus does, the Chinese startup is going big—and cheap.

The OnePlus Power Bank was officially detailed earlier this month, and we got a model in to test out. While we haven’t had much time to use it, our initial impressions are already positive. It does what’ you’d expect a portable charger to do, which, um, is to charge your devices. But it’s also a lovely accessory to look at. Design is often overlooked when portable chargers are concerned, but OnePlus really made something that’s not only functional, but beautiful, too.

It’s a long, slim rectangle smooth soft-touch plastic surrounding the front and back, and two of the sides. The other two sides are filled with connection ports (two full-size USB and one microUSB) along with battery indicator LEDs that can be woken up with a gentle shake. There are no buttons, and only a small “OnePlus” logo stamped on front. Otherwise, the device is all subtle curves and slick lines. It’s about as minimal as a portable battery can get.

The Power Bank is a little on the heavier side at 220g, but you get a 10,000mAh battery, which should be plenty for both phones and tablets; you can charge two devices at once, and OnePlus says the device sports “a multitude of safety features [that] prevent overcharging and overheating.”

And you get all that for just $14.99. Sold. There are a lot of options out there, but not many that combine the power and beauty of the OnePlus Power Bank. The device was expected to go on sale last week, but unfortunately the store says coming soon. Since we got a unit in, however, hopefully that means consumers will be able to pick one up in the coming days. Once it does, I’m definitely picking up the black model, which looks wonderfully stealthy.