While mobile phones are getting smarter, they still require power to run. Plugging your smartphone in before bed has almost become just as important as brushing ones’ teeth. And one thing to be said about charging devices: it never looks pretty.
Generally you’ll find a power strip overloaded with a metric ton of chargers and a mess of wires. That’s where the MonkyOh from felix swings in, promising a little humor and slick design to offset the madness. Now how does this device hold up on the general day-to-day? Is it the ultimate tool for smartphone charging?
Design
Let’s start with the design. Now marketing shows people like monkeys. The same could be said for the design of this device. I was instantly drawn to it. To break down the MonkeyOh’s look, picture a cute gorilla holding you cellphone. If that wasn’t enough, it comes in four colors. So there is a style for everyone. The white version certainly matched my iPhone 5.
Setup
Before you get to monkey around with charging your phone, you first have to set it up. For iPhone users you take your little charging cube, insert it in the back of the MonkeyOh head, and then plug in your iPhone cable. Now here comes the tricky part, you have to wrap the cord around the monkey. Though if you don’t do it tight enough, it will unravel or just plain look sloppy.
After a couple of attempts I was able to make it look like the box art. I was ready to charge my phone.
Function
There isn’t much to talk about in the function department. Essentially the unit holds your phone, and allows you to plug it into a wall outlet to charge it. The only issue I found was finding an outlet that would hold it properly. While trying it on my Wife’s iPhone 4s, we noticed it was a little loose in the socket. After a while I figuring it out we managed to keep it plugged into the outlet. It held up quite nicely and also added a little humor into the whole charging thing.
Overall
A neat little gift for any smartphone user. While it may not be the end all be all for charging, it’s certainly cute and has that little design flair that makes it stand out. Just be sure to have the proper setup for charging.