You’re charging how much?!

As you may know, recently I trialled the Vodafone HTC Magic. This I found to be a thorughly enjoyable experience and I’ve had no problems since recommending this handset to those to whom it would fit.

One thing I didn’t touch upon during the review however was the rather awesome pleasure of being able to charge my handset via USB.

As you may know, recently I trialled the Vodafone HTC Magic. This I found to be a thorughly enjoyable experience and I’ve had no problems since recommending this handset to those to whom it would fit.

One thing I didn’t touch upon during the review however was the rather awesome pleasure of being able to charge my handset via USB.

Over-charging?
The Nokia CA-100: Guilty of over-charging?

This is not a new feature.

Many handsets have had this functionality built-in for years. Nokia however have only recently started to roll this out across their device range.

First dabbling with the 6500 and then later the E75, the two latest flagship devices – the N86 and the N97 – both come with USB charging out of the box.

So far so what?

Well, what about the other 30 or so million of us out there that don’t have a one of these devces?

What about us?

How do we charge our respective not-quite top-of-the-range-but-still-pretty-kick-ass-thank-you-very-much Nokias?

“Just use the blimmin’ charger you get in the box!” – I hear you cry.

Yes. Quite.

That’s all well and good but I don’t want to carry a standard Nokia charger around with me everywhere I go. No, I want to charge via USB.
The good news is that help is at hand in the rather slim shape of the Nokia CA-100 USB charger (pictured above) – Huzzah!

This is not a new accessory.

The pricing however, that’s a different story.
Allow me to explain.

I’ve owned several of these funky little things. Often just throwing them in my bag for later use and/or living with one constantly about my person wherever I go.
When I first bought one of these, it was back in August ’08 and at just £10, it was perfect; small, branded and guaranteed to get the job done.

Thing is, because they’re so damn small I got into the habit of losing them.
So I bought more. I bought them two at a time. I bought them for other people.
Ten English Pounds is Ten English Pounds and for someone like me, who doesn’t ever want to worry about where his next charge is coming from, the CA-100 is an essential piece of kit.

Recently I ran out (again) and so, off I trotted to my nearest Nokia store to stock up my latest bag of gadgets with USB charger loveliness to discover the price had been whacked up by a staggering 110%!

How much?!
How much?!

I’m sorry, what?

Why has something that was only £10 just under a year ago suddenly shot up in price like this?

I accosted one of the Sales Assistants in store and asked them what on Earth was going on.

“Er… Shipping and delivery costs have gone up.”

“What? And have ramped up the price by over 100%?”

“Er… Yeah. Sorry.”

I stormed out. Fuming.

You would think in this day and age the price of chargers would be decreasing not going up!

What to do next? Well, like any good mobile citizen I immediately jumped on the internet and got myself to the Nokia online store.

Obviously, what with there being very small overheads with any online marketplace, the price is bound to be fixed there… Surely?!

No.

£14.00 + Delivery

With delivery options as follows: Standard (3-5 Days) – £3.99. Express (1-2 Days) – £9.99.

So that’ll be £17.99 or £23.99 please, thank you very much.

I give up!

I’m going travelling very, very soon and I need something to keep me charged on the go. I simply cannot justfy paying DOUBLE for this accessory. I can’t.

Ridiculous.

Yes I know I can get a dodgy, knock-off version from eBay – but they’re dodgy and unreliable.

Why oh why are these things a) so damn expensive and b) so damn expensive TODAY when they were so damn cheap LAST YEAR.

Answers on a postcard please…