This is going to be my 4th review of a wireless charger. This time it’s dodocool DA128 I’m looking at. I’m at the disadvantage here because no matter what charger I use (apart from the $60 Pixel stand I used for 12h) I’m capped at 5W. It is what it is, but I can still tell you what the charger is best for. Did I mention $15 price tag?
Design that matters – dodocool DA128
It’s a charger, it’s not a great product to write about as let’s face it. If I’m going to write about the tech specs you will bounce off the page quicker than I can load the ad on your screen (I’m sorry, I need these to buy breads, my local corner shop doesn’t accept wireless chargers as payment method).
What I’m going to talk about for a brief moment is the design. I played with 2 stands (Pixel Stand and Choetech) and a Dodocool car grip with wireless charging (I like this thing). It’s the first time I got my hands on the flat charger and here are my immediate impressions.
Portable
Unless your stand folds, you will struggle to take it anywhere with you. The shape of the stand makes it unreasonable to throw it into a bag. That’s not the case with the flat dodocool DA128 wireless charger. You can even slip it in the back pocket, and it would not feel any different than a wallet.
Jokes aside, dodocool DA128 lives now in my bag. It fills a small internal pocket and I just connect it with a portable battery bank (also from dodocool – I promise they did not make me mention all their products in a single post, they just really good at reaching out to me and sending me actually useful products).
If anything, I would get a 90 degree microUSB cable to decrease the space taken on your desk, but other than that, I’m totally ok with my phone slowly charging up at 5W instead powering it through with 10W (Oh Google I hate you sometimes!!).
Office yes, night table no!
As with all products, not everything is perfect. The flat design of the dodocool DA128 makes it a pretty poor bedside table charger. Unless your bed is higher than the night table, you won’t know for sure if the phone is placed correctly on the charger. The dodocool DA128 has an charging LED but to my disappointment, it the light does not change it’s colour to show the charge in progress.
I’m sure you could learn how to position the phone and not to miss the overnight charge, but just get a stand instead. You will be able to see the time and other fancy features of the Pixel 3 phone.
Conclusion
If you buy products from the company (or a reseller) you trust, you are unlikely to be disappointed with a charger. The dodocool DA128 is made for a purpose. It’s probably not made for Pixel 3, but I have my quick charge options sorted, and I don’t mind letting the phone slowly filling up with the juice while I work. It’s better for your battery life. Got words to share? I have a Reddit thread for that!
