You’ll never have seen a charger as fun as the DAO 150W GaN, with its hallucinogenic lighting effects, animations and app control. But it does a very serious job charging up to four devices for a total maximum of 150 watts. Funny beast.
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There is generally nothing very exciting about a charger. We ask for power and stability, and durability. It took a company like Nubia, manufacturing REDMAGIC video game phones and a slew of accessories, to put a little pep in this product line.
Here is the DAO 150W GaN charger, an unsexy name, which appears as a small transparent plastic box, 11 cm high, 3.5 cm thick and weighing an astonishing 870 grams. When you plug it in, directly with its plug integrated into its shell or with a cable provided, everything lights up with multi-colored lights and a dashboard appears. On this board, you have the choice between some homemade animations, like big cat eyes looking at you, and photos from your phone that you can upload with the Goper application.
All that light fanfare can thankfully be turned off by double-tapping the top of the charger.
The serious aspect is the four sockets, two USB-C type, one USB-A and one DC for computer. The two USB-C sockets have a maximum capacity of 100 and 140 watts, the USB-A 30 watts and the DC, 150 watts. If multiple devices are plugged in, the charger will balance the current up to a combined maximum of 150 watts.
The dashboard isn’t just there to look pretty: you can see the load requested for each connected device. This is where we see that certain Android phones and a laptop can get up to 60 watts, that an iPhone does not exceed 20 watts and that small devices make do with less than 10 watts.
This information is also found in the Goper application. You can choose the animations according to certain “scenarios”, more discreet at night for example, and choose personal photos which will be displayed on the side of the charger.
The DAO 150W GaN additionally comes with a USB-C cable and a computer DC.
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The idea of providing a computer cable seems interesting, but the plug shapes are so varied that your device is unlikely to be compatible. You will need to check on the Nubia website that your computer is on the list.
The price of this extraordinary charger is quite steep, US$199 on the Nubia website.
One buys ?
Let’s be clear, we are here in the perfect example of engineering coquetry applied to a useful device, the charger, which does not need all these frills. Its usefulness for its primary task is undeniable, and it has everything to become your main charging station.
As for the benefit of all its lights, its dashboard and its app, it’s up to you to judge.
reference: www.lapresse.ca